Tottenham Hotspur make the long journey to St James’ Park on Tuesday and changes are required if Thomas Frank’s team wish to avoid another defeat.
Tottenham Hotspur once again find themselves in a crisis, with poor performances on the pitch leading to unrest in the stands.
Spurs have suffered five defeats in their past seven matches, conceding 11 goals in the three most recent of those fixtures.
Next up Thomas Frank and his players will take on Newcastle United away from home, a fixture which has already caused Tottenham a defeat this season.
It has been more than four years since Spurs were victorious at St James’ Park and three changes must be made if they are to have any chance of getting a result on Tuesday.
Cristian Romero will be back from his suspension
The Tottenham centre-backs were not the players at fault for the goals conceded against Fulham. However, there is an argument to be made that either Kevin Danso or Micky van de Ven should have retreated to the goalline when Guglielmo Vicario left his net and conceded possession.
With Cristian Romero returning from his one-match suspension, it makes sense to put him back in the team in place of Danso.
Although the Spurs captain was poor against PSG in his most recent start, he is still the far superior right sided central defender at the club.
Wilson Odobert should replace on of Tottenham’s centre forwards
Frank tried starting both Randal Kolo Muani and Richarlison against Fulham and this strategy failed to bear fruit. The strikers were wasteful, failed to get on the end of balls and Richarlison in particular contributed very little during the match.
Spurs will likely go back to a system which includes a left winger and Wilson Odobert has mostly been the preferred choice to start in recent weeks.
The 21 year old’s attacking stats are not great, but his end product does appear to be improving. He did manage to register his first goal of the season against Copenhagen in the Champions League and then followed this up with an assist against Manchester United.
Xavi Simons must be trusted to deliver for Spurs
It is no secret that Xavi Simons has not been good enough since joining Tottenham. However, repeatedly choosing to bench the midfielder is doing nothing for his confidence.
Despite his disappointing displays, Simons is one of very few players in the Tottenham first-team squad capable of creating a good number of chances.
Spurs did create against Fulham, but the play was very one dimensional, with a heavy emphasis on crosses into the box. Simons has the capacity to offer something different and Frank needs to look beyond the times when the German has fallen short of the mark and put him back in the starting lineup.
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