Former Tottenham man urges Levy to splash cash, as weak squad emphasised by Postecoglou choice

Heurelho Gomes has told Tottenham they need to sign “more backups” as Ange Postecoglou playing Emerson Royal at centre-back shows the lack of depth in the squad.

After a fantastic start to the season which saw Spurs top the Premier League after 10 games, they have dropped away. That can largely be attributed to injury problems.

Key players James Maddison and Micky van de Ven both missed months after being injured in the same game. Van de Ven’s centre-back partner also joined him on the sidelines for a short while.

When that happened, right-back Emerson was forced to play at centre-back.

He was joined there by Ben Davies for the four games he started in the heart of the defence – both men are naturally wide defenders.

Tottenham lost two, drew one and won the other of the Premier League matches they started alongside one another at centre-back.

After Van de Ven returned at centre-back, Spurs went unbeaten for four games, winning two of those.

The run without proper central defenders at the back compared to how they fared with them highlights the need for more depth, thinks former Tottenham keeper Gomes.

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Gomes urges Tottenham to add depth

“I think that they need to have more backups. For each position. Because it’s a long season and they suffered a lot at the back with the injuries they suffered between first half of the season, you know,” he told Chris Cowlin.

“So I think they need to have very good backups because they have a very good team. But they need to have a good back up.

“Like Emerson was playing as a centre-back. He did well to be honest but it’s not his position, so I think they have to think about it.”

Tottenham have since added Radu Dragusin to the backline, but his full debut saw the north Londoners get pumped 3-0 by London rivals Fulham.

Tottenham still light at the back

With the Romanian, Van de Ven and Romero, Tottenham currently only have three centre-backs in the squad.

They let Eric Dier leave for Bayern Munich and Japhet Tanganga and Ashley Phillips are both out on loan in the Championship.

While Postecoglou could not have foreseen the injury problems his squad has had, he could have planned ahead better.

For next season, the manager should look at adding more options to his backline so that Tottenham aren’t caught short again.

That way, if they go on another good run but have more injury troubles, those might not be quite as detrimental as they have been this term.

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