Antonio Conte has been quizzed about his decision not to pick Joe Rodon after another defensive calamity this afternoon.
Tottenham came into today’s match against Wolverhampton Wanderers on the back of a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Southampton in midweek.
The loss to the Saints saw Conte’s side conceded two late goals to throw away the advantage with Emerson Royal and Davinson Sanchez at the heart of the collapse while Ben Davies was at fault of the opener.
The Italian decided to drop Royal for today’s match but persevered with Sanchez and Davies, having picked the same defensive backline.
Davies and Sanchez were again all at sea with their defensive decision-making. While Davies’ clearance was the catalyst the Wolves’ opener, his compatriot Rodon once again watched on from the bench.
Rodon has failed to start a Premier League game this season, despite Conte having suffered injury issues to both Romero and Dier in recent months (transfermarkt).
Conte told Football.London following the defeat about the lack of involvement of Rodon: “We are talking about a really good guy. His commitment is very high but in this moment maybe, maybe I’m making a mistake to pick different players but my evaluation is trying to put on the pitch the best player. If I didn’t do this maybe I did different consideration.”
SpursWeb Opinion
There is something fundamentally wrong if Eric Dier misses the Manchester City game next weekend and Conte once again picks Davinson Sanchez. The Colombian continues to prove time after time that he does not have the concentration levels to be a top class defender.
Rodon has not been given the opportunity to stake his claim for a place in the side which is very strange considering the level of performance we are witnessing from some of his squad.