Tottenham Hotspur defender Pedro Porro has opened up on his difficult start to life at Spurs and the struggles he faced to adapt to the new role under Ange Postecoglou.
Back in January of this year, Porro completed a switch from Sporting to Spurs on an initial loan deal which became a permanent move in the summer for a fee of €45m (£39.7m – Guardian).
Since joining the club, the 24-year-old Spaniard has made 29 appearances for Spurs, scoring three goals and providing seven assists across all competitions (Transfermarkt) and has cemented his place as Postecoglou’s first-choice right-back ahead of Emerson Royal.
However, not everything was plain sailing for Porro in the early months of his career in North London with former Spurs boss Tim Sherwood having been extremely critical of the defender in th wake of hs debut at Leicester, a game which they lost 4-1 (Daily Mail).
Porro has shown great determination to grow into his role in N17. This season, he has adapted well to the inverted full-back role that Postecoglou expects him to play and is showing a plenty of tactical flexibility.
(Photo by Andrew Kearns – CameraSport via Getty Images)
Porro opens up on adaptation to new role
Speaking to the Telegraph, about his difficult start to life at Spurs, here is what Porro had to say about his difficult period.
“I remember the first few weeks I struggled with everything. On my debut I said to myself: ‘These guys are on a motorbike. Either I wake up or they’re going to eat me.’”
“I had to do more gym work. Before, I didn’t do anything in the afternoons, just preventive work, but when I arrived in England I had to do double sessions because the pace and intensity of the Premier League is diabolical.”
On playing in a new tactical system as an inverted full-back under Postecoglou, he added: “This tactical system is new in my career because I have never played inside. I feel very comfortable in this role although at first it took some getting used to in pre-season. Ange tried to advise me, to make me see how I had to position myself to receive the ball better on the inside.”
“It may seem easy but finding the spaces is not. And that also requires a high level of concentration because you can’t forget to defend. In the last two years of my career, I have improved especially in that defensive order. Before maybe I was a player who was mainly concerned with attacking, but now I have to do more things. And honestly I’m enjoying defending. Attacking is always more fun, but this other ability has given me confidence.”
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I will be the first one to admit that I was not very impressed by Porro’s debut for Spurs at the King Power Stadium. That said, he was coming to a new league and needed some time to adapt. The talent was always there.
Now, Porro has made the right-back role at Spurs his own. He was always comfortable going outside but is now adept at coming inside too. Postecoglou is making the perfect use of the Spaniard.
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