Tottenham Don't Need Kevin Wimmer; They Have Cameron Carter-Vickers

Tottenham Hotspur’s first-choice central-defensive pairing is one of the finest in the Premier League. You’ll struggle to find a better combination of balance, cohesiveness, raw defensive skills and ball-playing talents than that of Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen.

They’re immovable as a duo. When they’re fit, they play.

It has left Tottenham’s other centre-backs exceptionally short of game time, and Kevin Wimmer—signed last summer from FC Koln—is now reportedly unsettled and willing to consider a move away from the club, per Kleine Zeitung (h/t HITC).

Indeed, the weekend’s Premier League match against Liverpool saw Wimmer fail to make the squad of 18, amid murmurs among the press pack at White Hart Lane that he and Mauricio Pochettino had fallen out over playing time.

He had originally been slated to begin the season alongside Alderweireld due to Vertonghen’s ankle injury sustained during Euro 2016, but the Belgian made a miraculous recovery and lined up fit on the opening day.

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With Eric Dier having been redefined as a superb holding midfielder, Wimmer technically represents the only dedicated senior backup to the Toby-Jan axis. That he is disgruntled and may fancy a move, then, is concerning, given that Spurs will need more than two or three centre-backs to compete on multiple fronts this season.

But pre-season laid the groundwork for a new potential star to rise, as Cameron Carter-Vickers was handed a significant chunk of playing time in the absence of the club’s recovering Euro 2016 participants and impressed greatly. He was the reserve central defender named on the bench against the Reds and might just be on the cusp of a first-team breakthrough.

Athleticism and Size Allows Tight Marking

Carter-Vickers stands a shade over 6’0" and is still growing. It’s conceivable he'll reach 6’2” or 6’3”, enabling him to become a dominant aerial presence in the years to come.

The 18-year-old's speed and quickness will raise eyebrows, with his long legs churning into gear fast and allowing him to cover short and long distances in rapid time. It’s rare you’ll see a man his size move as quickly as he does—particularly in the first five yards.

Credit: Wyscout

As a result of these athletic gifts, he naturally gravitates to the riskier side of the game. Rather than stand off attackers and give them a yard to keep them firmly in sight, he matches up closely and marks tightly, backing himself to match strikers over the top and into the channels. Perhaps coming up against Jamie Vardy would see a change of tact, but for the most part, he sticks tightly.

Credit: Wyscout

His reading of the game is very strong, too, and he makes a habit of anticipating through balls being played into the path of forwards. He’s either there to cut them out or match the runner stride for stride, shepherding him away from the box and into the corner—where he’ll feed in a long leg and try to fish the ball out. He’s pretty aggressive in his tackling and will not stand off, watch and block; he’ll often take the first step and try to dispossess, which brings its own limited set of risks that are worth running with.

Aerially there’s work to be done, as it’s a culture shock stepping up from youth to senior football in this area. Pre-season proved as much, with Carter-Vickers flashing excellence but also finding himself walled off a number of times—an indicator that his core and upper-body strength is, quite understandably, not yet up to par.

Plays Left, Plays Right

We’ve seen on countless occasions how the wires in a central defender’s brain can cross when asked to move from one side to the other. Even great defenders such as John Terry struggle mightily when forced to swap over. You have to think twice about every movement, and it often leaves the passing lane open on your weaker foot, necessitating that you shift the ball sideways, not forward and into space, building play.

For Carter-Vickers to display such ease with swapping sides, from right to left and from left to right, is downright jaw-dropping and was the reason behind his switch during the International Champions Cup game against Juventus.

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In that game, a fervent Juve press had more or less nullified Spurs’ attempts to build out. With a young defensive line in place and a limited passer in Victor Wanyama picking it up off the back four, they were essentially locked in their own territory for much of the opening 25 minutes.

But then Pochettino made a tweak, swapping centre-backs CCV and Dominic Ball, moving the former over to the left—ostensibly his weaker side. It was a move designed to improve (ignite) Spurs’ buildup play, and it worked, but it meant taking a right-footed CB and placing him on the left.

All of a sudden, CCV’s crisp, accurate passing was releasing Will Miller (playing out of position at left-back) down the touchline and allowing Spurs to move the ball into attacking territory. For that to be the catalyst for significant improvement—particularly given seniors Wanyama, Tom Carroll and Ryan Mason were all in midfield and could not do the same—is to the American youth international’s credit.

Passing Tendencies

There was a marked difference in how Carter-Vickers moved the ball in pre-season with the senior side—against Juventus, Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan—to how he moved the ball in youth competition last season. He was much more reserved and played it much shorter, which is perhaps to be expected in the face of superior opposition.

Much of his ball work was recycling and shifting outwards during the summer. Flicked passes out to the full-backs—but at an angle that allowed them to run onto them—were common, as he played it reasonably safe and racked up the percentages. Very rarely did he attempt to launch a longer diagonal, but at youth level he’s more than willing to shift the point of attack using those.

One type of pass he does like—for better or for worse—is the chipped 20-30-yard effort forward into a midfielder or striker. It’s a bit hit-and-miss, as it’s sometimes a little inaccurate and can often force the recipient to bring it down while moving back toward his own defence. Invariably, it ends up back with CCV shortly after that.

Credit: Wyscout

But no one’s expecting Carter-Vickers to burst onto the scene and immediately show an Alderweireld-esque passing range; that comes with time, and there’s a certain level of confidence required before you start attempting that when it really matters against better, more seasoned defenders.

We’ve seen with Mason Holgate, who has made the breakthrough with Everton this season, that full-backs in the Premier League are far more alert to a youth player’s attempted switch passes than what the player is used to; Holgate has surrendered possession cheaply several times in being too ambitious.

That CCV sticks to the basics is perfect, because that’s what he’s nailed: moving the ball on simply and swiftly when building attacks and then anticipating, reading and dispossessing in defence.

The next two years will be very interesting for him as his physique changes, but if his progress over the last two seasons is anything to go by, Pochettino will have himself one hell of a defender at his disposal soon enough.

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