Why Danny Rose Is Under Most Pressure for Tottenham Following Win over Hull

Enforced and otherwise, Tottenham Hotspur head coach Mauricio Pochettino made several changes to his team to take on Hull City. One-nil down at half-time, Tottenham's poor performance prior to the interval did not bode well for their success.

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Helped by Gaston Ramirez's sending off, Pochettino and his side eventually figured things out in the second half. Those involved in the encouraging turnaround 2-1 win will be confident of retaining their places for next week's game against Everton. Or at least getting the chance to stake a further case for more match time in Thursday's Europa League meeting with Partizan Belgrade.

Those who missed out on the weekend could be facing a battle to regain their place in Spurs' starting XI. Perhaps none more so than left-back Danny Rose.

Absent because of a rib injury suffered in the 2-1 defeat to Stoke City earlier this month, Rose's replacement Ben Davies did not have the best of starts against the Tigers.

Jake Livermore's opener partly came about from the full-back's half-hearted attempt to block the midfielder's long-distance shot. Davies turned his back on it rather than stand his ground.

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The Welshman did not make the same mistake just over 10 minutes later. After Hugo Lloris dropped a ball into the Spurs box, his full-back was on hand to keep Hull away from their goal.

From there Davies grew into his first Tottenham league start. He got the better of his duels with opposite number Ahmed Elmohamady, and he provided a consistent outlet for his team-mates down the flank. Those forward runs also helped distract the home side as Spurs looked to pull them apart following Ramirez's dismissal (ably instigated by Christian Eriksen following his move deeper into midfield).

The Wales international was understandably pleased by the end result in this long-awaited personal opportunity.

The performance will not have cemented Davies' place long-term. But in the wake of less-than-convincing recent showings from Rose, it may have handed the ex-Swansea City man the initiative in the contest to be first-choice left-back.

It is not currently clear how long Rose will be out. If his team-mate's enforced absence lasts beyond this week, Davies might be guaranteed a run regardless of performance-related arguments.

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Either way, a change had been due at left-back prior to Rose suffering his recent knock.

The 24-year-old was not performing much worse than anyone else in the struggling Spurs defence. But with a rival increasingly proving his worth in cup competition, he was not doing enough to remain automatic starter.

Spurs were given an unnecessary disadvantage in the 2-1 win over Aston Villa when Rose was too easily beaten by Charles N'Zogbia in the run-up to Andreas Weimann's opening goal.

A week later against Stoke City, he was caught out of position after his clearance was swiftly returned. Mame Biram Diouf got in behind him and squared to an unmarked Jonathan Walters after Federico Fazio was forced to try and cover for his full-back.

Rose had not been especially commanding prior to this down-fortnight, but he had been adequate defensively and useful going forward. Altogether he was doing just enough to keep Davies out.

Isolated within better form, the aforementioned mistakes (or misjudgements) might have been excused. Coming just amid average-to-decent work, reliability could no longer be claimed. Nor could it be denied Davies might do better if given the chance.

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Rose's steady early-season work resulted in a call-up by Roy Hodgson for England's games with Norway and Switzerland. He did not feature, but the recognition was testament to the full-back's consistency.

Getting back in the England squad anytime soon will be tough given the competition for places. Rose is capable of replicating the solid form that got him there, though.

Unless Pochettino really is that big a fan of him, however, Rose's chance of getting back to that may be on the infrequent side for the near future. The advantage to start for Spurs at left-back looks to have gone to Davies. The pressure is on Rose to find a way to get back ahead of him.