Ange on Archie’s display in midfield at Fulham: “He did well in there”

Ange Postecoglou was impressed with Archie Gray’s first start for us in midfield at Fulham on Sunday.

Still only 19, it was Archie’s 38^th appearance in all competitions in his first season at Spurs.

Employed across the defensive line for most of the season, with a spell off 11 straight starts at centre-back from 12 December-15 January, the England Under-21 international stepped into midfield at Craven Cottage, the ‘holding/number 6’ role alongside Rodrigo Bentancur and Yves Bissouma.

Even though the afternoon ended in disappointment with the home side striking on 77 and 88 minutes to take the points, Archie took his chance in the central areas in a tricky test against the likes of Sander Berge, Andreas Pereira and Emile Smith Rowe. He later showed his versatility again by moving back to centre-back as Ange switched things around in the second half.

Asked about Archie’s display in midfield, Ange said: “I thought Archie was good. We know he’s a player who is very adaptable, there was an opportunity to get him in there and it was important for him to get some game time because he hadn’t played the last couple of matches, and when we get back (from the international break) we’ve got the turn arounds again of Thursday-Sunday, so it was good for him to get some experience in the middle of the park, and I thought he did well.”

We now have 17 members of the first team squad out on international duty. Our next match is against Chelsea in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge on Thursday 3 April (8pm).