Tanganga’s baptism of fire: Mane, Sarr, Mahrez

Guest Feature

by James O’Conners

When Jose Mourinho announced his starting line-up in January against runaway league leaders, Liverpool, it was a major surprise to see 20-year-old Japhet Manzambi Tanganga in the XI for his Premier League debut.

Mourinho succinctly explained his selection in his post-match interview for that game, saying: “He’s fast, he’s very fast and I think you need fast people when you play against [Mohamed] Salah, [Sadio] Mane and people who are fantastic at attacking space behind.”

His selection came on the back of two other key factors, too. 

Firstly, Ben Davies had sustained a serious injury and Jan Vertonghen had really struggled in his early matches as a narrow, stay-at-home full-back in his place.

Tanganga with another top performance in another big game for Spurs vs Man City.

It’s true that he doesn’t offer much going forward, but his athleticism, poise & tenacity in one-on-one combat are really exciting.

4 tackles, 3 interceptions, 3 clearances, 3 aerials won. ?? pic.twitter.com/jlvW9ymK1Z

— Ed Dove (@EddyDove) February 3, 2020

Mourinho’s plan upon arriving at Spurs has been clear for most games, as he explained: “If you want to know what I wanted to do, look to my first game against West Ham [United]. 

“That’s the way I thought I was going to develop the team. Defend with a back four, attack with a back three.”

Against Liverpool, though, Tanganga was at right-back in a narrow, defensive back four with two wide midfielders tasked with tracking Liverpool’s rampaging full-backs. The role of the youngster was to defend in a direct battle with Mane.

He has a strong start in that match, clearing off the line and making some good interceptions as he defended switches of play in the air or engaged Mane early on the ground. 

As the game went on though, the Senegal winger began to use clever movements and feints to beat the rookie between-the-lines and when Liverpool got the winner, it was Tanganga who was beaten by Roberto Firmino as he arrived in the box to finish.

Overall, in a match where Spurs barely had possession, it was a promising first outing in defensive terms. Late on, he moved over to left-back when Danny Rose was taken off, with the England international subsequently being loaned out to Newcastle United.

He picked up the man of the match award after that in 2-1 win against Middlesbrough with a strong outing at right-back in the FA Cup, a game where he had the most touches of the ball on the pitch and made some good driving runs, even if his passing lacked penetration.

He was moved over to left in his next league outing, where he again faced a Senegalese winger in Ismaila Sarr of Watford. 

After a shaky start which saw him misjudge a high ball and get booked for taking down the winger in the 19th minute, his response was excellent.

Tanganga defended maturely and thoughtfully to avoid getting a second yellow, and although Sarr put in some good delivers, the young defender did well not to allow himself to get beaten regularly by dribbles.

He was dribbled past just once and made five tackles in the game. 

Make no mistake, he had come up against a very dangerous and in-form opponent who threatened constantly, but his pace allowed him to give a good account of himself despite very little protection in front of him.

Naturally, he had issues playing on his weaker side, struggling on his left foot and even when taking throw-ins, both things he would rarely have been forced to do at academy level as a centre-back.

Against Manchester City on Sunday, he was selected at left-back and faced a very in-form winger in Riyad Mahrez. 

Mourinho has very often used a right-footed left-back in his managerial career, with William Gallas, Cesar Azpilicueta, Davide Santon and Ashley Young all used in that role, seemingly for their ability to cover the inside.

Against Mahrez, Tanganga very rarely allowed the winger to come in-field to influence proceedings. The Algerian only managed one shot in the match, two dribbles and two key passes and although this was far from a poor Mahrez outing, it was not as influential as expected considering the 67 percent possession the away side enjoyed.

The left-back managed to win four tackles and four aerial duels, as well as making three interceptions, and although he had some naive moments to leave his position late in the game and get bypassed, he was solid overall.

It’s been a good start to life for the youngster at the top level, but he will really need to improve his passing with both feet, even under an often risk-averse coach like Mourinho. 

Former Spurs manager Tim Sherwood, in his often abrasive way, described the youngster on Premier League TV by saying “he’s not a friend of the football,” an inference that Tanganga is not yet of much use in the possession phase of the game.

In those three Premier League outings, he has completed 30 of his 51 attempted forward passes, a success rate of 59 percent. If he were attempting long killer passes like Toby Alderweireld, that would be an acceptable success rate, but he largely plays safer balls towards teammates and his 21 giveaways across three games when trying to play forwards is something that needs to be worked on.

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Mourinho left Tanganga out for the home game against Norwich City when Spurs were expected to dominate proceedings and that is likely to be the blueprint the coach uses for the rest of this season: use the youngster in tough away games or matches against the rest of the top six or seven clubs, but play more a progressive full-back in friendlier games.

Defensively, Tanganga has shown a lot of promise, and Mourinho’s assertion that he can “read the game and learn” as well as absorbing coaching points in training and video analysis sessions means that his ceiling is that regard appears to be very high. 

Maybe Spurs won’t miss Vertonghen at all should the Belgian depart in June on a free transfer as expected.