Kieran Trippier and the curious case of scapegoating

Most football fans love a scapegoat whom they can blame whenever things aren’t going well on the pitch, and the Spurs fanbase is no different. The latest player to have taken that mantle seems to be Tottenham full-back Kieran Trippier.

Let me make this clear at the outset that this is not an attempt to defend Trippier’s mistakes or negate his obvious limitations. I think it is natural that fans criticise players who aren’t doing well. However, there is a difference between criticising a player and subjecting him to vitriol.

If one is to base his or her opinion of Trippier by just following Spurs twitter during matches, one would think he is not even good enough to be a professional footballer, let alone a player for a Champions League team.

It is amazing how quickly fans have forgotten how wrong they were about Moussa Sissoko. The Frenchman who was a laughing stock among Spurs fans until last season has completely turned things around and has been one of Tottenham’s best players this year.

While most Spurs fans have admitted that they were completely wrong about Sissoko, they seem to have not learned the most obvious lesson from the saga – don’t question Pochettino’s selections as he sees these players on the training ground every single day.

Further, Trippier’s case is even more mind-boggling as unlike Sissoko, he has put in many top-class performances in a Spurs shirt during his four seasons with the club. He has fantastic attributes that are clear for all to see – his fantastic delivery and ability to time his runs into the final third.

Yes, he does get beaten for pace particularly when playing as a part of a back 4 but when Pochettino plays a back 5, very few players offer the attacking threat that the England full-back does.

So my plea to Tottenham fans is simple; whatever you think about Trippier or any other Spurs player, try not to add to the toxicity on social media by disparaging them. While people have a right to vent their frustrations on social media, it certainly doesn’t help players to lambast them particularly since they are all on social media these days.

Trippier is a good player who is currently having a bad season. There is no doubt that he will recover from this spell and redeem himself, by which time fans will have probably moved on to their next scapegoat.

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