Danny Rose Assessment

Player Assessment: Danny Rose

The third of a series of articles taking a look at the Premier League performances of the Tottenham players and looking forward to next season. The third player we assess, left-back Danny Rose, had an excellent season nailing down his place as first choice. I'll look at the players individually and then group the full-backs together, the centre-backs and so forth so you can compare against each other.

Danny Rose

This was the season Danny Rose became a Tottenham player. Derided, often wrongly, by poor positioning and defensive play, many Spurs fans didn't see him making the giant strides he has this season, myself included.

Tottenham have had a left sided weakness for a few years, ever since Gareth Bale was freed of defensive duties and given licence to impose himself on games. He of course did that to great affect but that meant Danny Rose had little assistance. Initially Clint Dempsey was asked to cover Bale when he could and when bale left we had a similar problem with Christian Eriksen playing on the left.

Mauricio Pochettino, Danny Rose told us, told him eight times he could turn him into an England left-back and perhaps that confidence was the key deciding factor. Some people respond to adversity, some buckle underneath it. You wouldn't say Danny Rose was buckling under the attitude towards him but neither was he responding with improved performances.

If you took a poll of Spurs fans now there wouldn't be many who would want to get rid of him, the attacking threat he provided all season down the left was one of our key weapons. His three goals were a bonus too, the goal against Chelsea was simply down to him reacting and his pace to get him to the ball first, Ben Davies for instance wouldn't have got there. Rose also weighed in with four assists to cap an excellent season and leaving us feeling confident about him for the next season.

Premier League Statistics Only

Danny Rose
Played: 28
Minutes: 2,370
Total Passes: 1,071
Pass Completion: 78.43%
Forward Passes: 67.23%
Key Passes: 23
Key Pass Time: 1 every 103.04 minutes
Chances Created: 27
Chance Creation Time: 1 every 87.88 minutes
Shots: 24
Shot Accuracy: 37%
Goals: 3
Assists: 4
Positive Attacking Action: 1 every 27.88 minutes
(Total Minutes divided by Shots, Goals, Assists, Key passes, Chances Created combined)
Tackles: 125
Tackles Won: 56%
Blocks: 9
Interceptions: 101
Clearances: 60
Take On Success: 59.52%
Heading Success: 46.15%
Defensive Action: 1 every 13.94 minutes
(Total Minutes divided by Blocks, Clearances, Interceptions)

After a successful season Rose can look forward to the next campaign and set his sights on the England left-back place. He ought to add to the one call up he received from Roy Hodgson and consistent performances next season will surely see it come.

Ben Davies will be looking to improve and put pressure on him so Rose needs to keep working at his game. He defensive positioning has improved as has his defending, he still sleeps at times but at others reads the game and clears danger so concentration can still be improved. Another of his failings was when he went forward he would take his time getting back as if that didn't affect him. He has certainly improved in that area also and seems to be one of the youngsters thriving under Pochettino.

For sheer consistency all season as well as his performances I'd place him together with Hugo Lloris and Harry Kane as one of the top three performers for Tottenham Hotspur this season.

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