Tottenham: Do Spurs Have Enough Depth on Defense for Grueling Fixture List?

There have been plenty of brutal realities delivered to the fans of Tottenham Hotspur during the club's preseason friendlies.

One of those harsh realizations is that Gareth Bale is most likely on his way out of the club at some point before the end of the transfer window.

Instead of focusing on the attack, which has added Roberto Soldado and Nacer Chadli to its ranks this summer, it is time to start shining the spotlight on the other harsh realization of the preseason, which is the ongoing deficiencies of the back four.

In the club's latest preseason friendly against Monaco on Saturday that resulted in a 5-2 humiliation in a barren Stade Louis II, the Spurs defense looked shaky at best.

Luckily for manager Andre Villas-Boas, the back four of Kyle Walker, Zeki Fryers, Jake Livermore and Danny Rose is not his ideal setup.

Rose and Walker will most likely start on the flanks when Spurs open their season against Crystal Palace on August 18.

However, more uncertainty is surrounding the center-backs at the moment with Jan Vertonghen's preseason injury potentially turning into a crippling loss for a club in search of a strong start to the season.

The center-back pairing that will probably find themselves in the starting 11 at Selhurst Park in a week and a half will be Michael Dawson and Younes Kaboul, who are a massive upgrade from Fryers and Livermore.

While Spurs fans would love to not see the young duo of Fryers and Livermore in the back four at any time this season, the reality is that that could actually be a pairing employed by AVB in an actual match.

Behind the proposed starting defenders for the season opener and Vertonghen, Tottenham do not have much depth to rely on if someone else goes down.

Yes, they do have the experienced left-back Benoit Assou-Ekotto and versatile full-back Kyle Naughton in the squad, but other than those two, AVB's options are scarce at best.

If Tottenham were just competing in the English Premier League this season, a crop of seven quality defenders would be considered acceptable, but that is far from the case for the North London club in the 2013-14 season.

Looming on the horizon is the start of the grueling stretch of matches in the UEFA Europa League, a competition that Spurs regrettably qualified for last season after their failed bid to attain Champions League status.

The march toward the competition's final in Turin begins for Spurs on August 22 when they enter the competition's playoff round.

If Spurs win their two-legged tie against a to be determined opponent, it will qualify them for the group stage, which last season saw them make trips to Slovenia, Greece, and Italy.

The daunting schedule in front of Spurs in the group stage will force them to play a continental match on Thursday and then force them to kickoff with just two days rest on the domestic front.

A fixture list like the one Tottenham are about to face this season requires more depth in defense than they currently have, especially if they want to make a deep run in the Europa League.

One has to expect that once Spurs sell Bale, which according to Jacob Steinberg of The Guardian, is something that is not as imminent as we all thought, an investment in defense has to be made.

On the off chance that Bale is not sold and Spurs fail to sure up their back line, they would be taking a huge risk, especially if they run into an injury crisis like they did toward the end of last season.

If said injury crisis does indeed become a factor, the likes of Livermore and Fryers could be employed, especially in the lesser fixtures in cup competitions.

Based on what we all witnessed on Saturday afternoon, that is not a potential defensive duo that anyone associated with the club wants to see in the near future or at any time ever to be brutally honest.

With that teeth-cringing prospect in mind, securing the depth in the back four should turn into a priority before the summer transfer window shuts its doors at the end of August.

Do you think defensive depth is becoming a major issue at Tottenham?

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