Should Tottenham Hotspur Use DeAndre Yedlin in an Attacking Role This Season?
The United States men's national team were safely through to the knockout phase of the Gold Cup prior to Monday's concluding Group A game against Panama. The most notable American intrigue relating to the fixture was set to revolve around boss Jurgen Klinsmann's selection decisions: rest his mainstays and vary things for a third game, or attempt to establish some continuity and rhythm to his team's work?
Tottenham Hotspur man DeAndre Yedlin would have been hoping for a little favourable variation after he was dropped for USA's second game against Haiti. Still, even if Klinsmann's choices did end up benefiting him, a feeling of uncertainty may persist in the 22-year-old's mind.
Yedlin's immediate club future is up in the air with Kieran Trippier's addition to Tottenham's right-back ranks (also including Eric Dier, Ryan Fredericks and the most recent first-choice Kyle Walker). He too may have cottoned onto the possibility that an attacking role—most likely the right-wing position he has been occupying for his country this summer—is where his future lies, perhaps as immediately as this season.
The lack of a declarative assertion about Yedlin playing further forward for Spurs is because of the ambiguity over his short-term prospects.
It might have been unrelated, but the above social media post followed reports—led by the Sunday Telegraph's Jason Burt and Sky Sport's Lyall Thomas—that the Premier League side were looking to loan Yedlin out to gain regular football that may not be so forthcoming in north London.
MLSsoccer.com's Greg Seltzer offered the rebuttal that no decision had yet been taken. That makes sense given head coach Mauricio Pochettino will almost certainly prefer to see Yedlin up close back in training first. The player's aforementioned brief comment could suggest he knows he is part of his boss' plans.
Still, given the choices the club has made in relation to Yedlin, him spending time elsewhere would be in keeping with their patient efforts to develop him into a legitimate Premier League player.
Making only one competitive appearance last season—off the bench in April's 1-0 loss to Aston Villa—Spurs have taken time allowing the former Seattle Sounder to adjust to life in England. He arrived earlier than originally anticipated when his signing was announced in the summer of 2014, so if anything, Yedlin has been ahead of schedule.
"It is important for his development that he is given the time to adapt to his new surroundings both on and off the pitch and we believe that by coming to us in January it will give him the best opportunity to do so," Pochettino told Tottenham's official website in December.
As Yedlin acknowledged to Bleacher Report's Alex Dimond in May, he has understood the need to bide his time.
"Of course you want to just get in there and play," Yedlin said. "But I think in the long run, it is better that they have been patient with me, and it’s better that they’ve allowed me to adapt to life here."
The arrival of Trippier could signify Fredericks and/or Walker will be moved on. It almost certainly suggests Dier will be used at centre-back this season.
It is hard to escape the conclusion that Spurs feel the former Burnley man is ready to compete for the right-back spot in a way Yedlin is not—at least so far as keeping up standards of a team competing for a top-four place.
His brief appearance against Villa showed a full-back willing to get forward (notably picking out Roberto Soldado with a fine diagonal 30-yard pass midway into the Villa half), but that he might need to adjust to the physicality of the Premier League (he was comfortably out-muscled by Christian Benteke in one instance facing his own goal). A loan move elsewhere in the Premier League would give him the benefits of experience without the burden of immediately fulfilling the expectations for him at Spurs.
So if Spurs do not believe he is ready to play at right-back, what would be different about him playing right wing in 2015-16?
Possibly nothing.
Concerns Bleacher Report's Joe Tansey had about the combination of Yedlin in right-midfield and Timothy Chandler at right-back in the friendly win over Guatemala were somewhat backed up by the pair's underwhelming work in the Gold Cup defeat of Honduras.
Yedlin's searing speed and attacking threat from the position were seen in one of USA's best first-half chances. Fabian Johnson broke from left-back and played his team-mate in behind the Honduran defence. Goalkeeper Donis Escober was ready, though, and successfully narrowed the angle after Yedlin's first touch forced him to check his run ever so slightly.
He won a second-half free-kick after his cross-field effort to seize a loose ball in the opposition half was denied by Alfredo Mejia's hand. His pace was also on display on either side of that moment, too. Once covering for Chandler after the full-back lost it upfield, the other time skipping past two Hondurans and breaking forward centrally only for his through ball to Clint Dempsey to be intercepted.
Mostly, though, Yedlin cut an isolated figure out on his flank. He saw little of the ball in the early going, and when it did come his way, it was often over-hit as if his team-mates expected his quickness to account for their sloppiness and inaccuracy.
He and Chandler doubled up decently defensively at times, but going forward, the latter too often took up space that should have been Yedlin's, subsequently minimising the winger's ability to impact the game.
However, there was a hesitancy about the Spurs player's performance which emphasised the difference between attacking from full-back and midfield (the ability to attack space created by those ahead of him and having to create it with your own skill and nous). Honduras defenders Henry Figueroa and Brayan Beckeles did not let Yedlin run straight past them, and he noticeably became reluctant to try again, opting instead to pass back to Chandler or Michael Bradley in midfield.
Despite Yedlin's clear attacking attributes, translating from full-back to winger is not easy. Gareth Bale made the successful jump at Spurs, but just offering some attacking threat does not mean a defender can play further forward (see England's unfulfilled contemplation of using Wayne Bridge there ahead of Ashley Cole in the middle of the last decade).
Although the Honduras match was not a check in the column of Tottenham trying him there, it is not a notion that should be discounted prematurely.
When Yedlin is able to get in full-flight, it is really is a sight to behold. Against the Malaysia XI All-Stars and, particularly, Sydney FC in Spurs' post-season tour, there were several startling examples of his ability to cover considerable distances in impressive times.
You can only read so much into friendlies (so it would also be churlish to too severely chide the instances he was caught out of position). But it is hard to imagine Pochettino did not look at the moments Yedlin drove his team forward and did not consider the possibilities of deploying him as an attacking weapon.
The Argentinian certainly has more room for manoeuvre in the wide attacking positions than at right-back. Only Aaron Lennon and Andros Townsend (with whom Yedlin did link decently at times against Sydney, incidentally) offers explosive pace there, and the former seems certain to leave White Hart Lane after being loaned to Everton last season.
Nacer Chadli, Erik Lamela and Alex Pritchard can go direct, too, but they are not so likely to stretch a defence in an instant in the way Yedlin can.
Pochettino has plenty to think about here.
Using Yedlin as cover on the wings and as a go-to game-changer is a tempting short-term idea that could be the making of him in the long-term. But doing so would require giving up on the idea of him as a right-back (at least at Spurs). Time not spent working on his game as a defender would leave him way behind the likes of Trippier and Walker.
If right-back is what the coach and player himself have in mind, then ultimately a year away from Tottenham may be the sensible call. He will either develop sufficiently here (indeed, as Walker did following his initial transfer from Sheffield United) or find out he does not quite have what it takes at the level (see someone like Chris Gunter who has found his level in the second tier).
The matter is somewhat complicated by the similar debate around him in the USMNT setup. But while Pochettino will have an eye on how Klinsmann uses Yedlin, ultimately he will have to make his own judgement.
So far as the player is concerned, publicly he is content to let others decide what is best.
"To contribute to the team as much as I can and help us reach our goals," was his response to a Spurs official website question to his hopes for the upcoming season. "I just want to be the best player I can be and play to the best of my potential."
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