Senior Tottenham players back calls for increased gametime for Joe Rodon

There are increasing calls among the Tottenham dressing room for Joe Rodon to see more action than he currently is, according to reports.

Spurs slumped to their third consecutive Premier League defeat with a 2-0 reverse against Wolves that saw Bruno Lage’s side overtake Antonio Conte’s side in the table in the process.

And it was largely Tottenham’s own doing too, with defensive mistakes playing a massive part in both goals, while the Lilywhites offered little in attack and were booed off by the 60,000 fans in attendance at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.

FULL-TIME Spurs 0-2 Wolves

Raul Jimenez and Leander Dendoncker’s goals earn Wolves their fourth away win in a row#TOTWOL pic.twitter.com/uZwOvDtj3v

— Premier League (@premierleague) February 13, 2022

Much of the focus was on the defensive performance, with Spurs now having conceded 8 goals in the last 3 games, and yet the option of Joe Rodon has glaringly been left on the bench.

Rodon in the cold?

One of the more curious choices across the tenures of both Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte’s regimes has been their reluctance to use defender Joe Rodon, especially within the context of defensive calamities offered up by Ben Davies and Davinson Sanchez on a more than occasional basis.

Speaking after the loss, Antonio Conte was asked about the defender, and revealed that he didn’t feel he was good enough to play for Tottenham.

‘With Joe we are talking about a really good guy,’ the Italian said. ‘We are talking about a person whose commitment is very high every day…. but in this moment (pause)… yeah maybe I make a mistake to pick different players, maybe. Maybe.

‘But my evaluation is to try to put on the pitch the best players at the moment’, Conte continued. ‘If I didn’t do this then it means that maybe I did different considerations.’

However, there are some within the Tottenham dressing room itself who feel Rodon cannot do worse than current options. As per senior Tottenham writer Alasdair Gold:

‘football.london understands that some of the squad’s senior players have been pushing the claims of Rodon behind the scenes in recent weeks, with his ability to play in any of the three positions in a back three, having been a left-sided centre-back at Swansea.’

With Eric Dier due to return imminently, it remains unclear whether Rodon will get a chance to show Conte what he can do, but he cannot be worse than current options.

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Premier League table

#	Team	MP	D	P
1	Manchester City	25	47	63
2	Liverpool FC	23	41	51
3	Chelsea FC	24	30	47
4	West Ham United	24	11	40
5	Manchester United	24	6	40
6	Arsenal FC	22	9	39
7	Tottenham Hotspur	21	1	36
8	Wolverhampton Wanderers	22	2	34
9	Brighton & Hove Albion	23	2	33
10	Southampton FC	24	-7	29
11	Aston Villa	22	-4	27
12	Crystal Palace	24	-3	26
13	Leicester City	21	-5	26
14	Brentford FC	25	-14	24
15	Leeds United	23	-19	23
16	Everton FC	22	-10	22
17	Newcastle United	22	-20	18
18	Norwich City	24	-36	17
19	Watford FC	23	-20	15
20	Burnley FC	20	-11	14

Player	Team	Goals
Salah, Mohamed	Liverpool FC	16
Jota, Diogo	Liverpool FC	12
Sterling, Raheem	Manchester City	10
Son, Heung Min	Tottenham Hotspur	9
Vardy, Jamie	Leicester City	9
Bowen, Jarrod	West Ham United	8
Antonio, Michail	West Ham United	8
Dennis, Emmanuel	Watford FC	8
Ronaldo, Cristiano	Manchester United	8
Maupay, Neal	Brighton & Hove Albion	8
Smith-Rowe, Emile	Arsenal FC	8
Raphinha	Leeds United	8
Mane, Sadio	Liverpool FC	8
Mount, Mason	Chelsea FC	7
Fernandes, Bruno	Manchester United	7
Mahrez, Riyad	Manchester City	7
Gallagher, Conor	Crystal Palace	7
De Bruyne, Kevin	Manchester City	7
Silva, Bernardo	Manchester City	7
Ward Prowse, James	Southampton FC	6

Player	Team	Red Cards	Yellow Cards
Dennis, Emmanuel	Watford FC	0	7
Neves, Ruben	Wolverhampton Wanderers	0	8
Salisu, Mohammed	Southampton FC	0	7
Rice, Declan	West Ham United	0	7
Maguire, Harry	Manchester United	0	6
Fernandes, Bruno	Manchester United	0	6
Gallagher, Conor	Crystal Palace	0	6
Pogba, Paul	Manchester United	1	5
McGinn, John	Aston Villa	0	6
Canos, Sergi	Brentford FC	0	6
Westwood, Ashley	Burnley FC	0	6
Alonso, Marcos	Chelsea FC	0	6
Moreno, Rodrigo	Leeds United	0	6
Norgaard, Christian	Brentford FC	0	6
Tarkowski, James	Burnley FC	0	6
Laporte, Aymeric	Manchester City	1	5
Shelvey, Jonjo	Newcastle United	0	5
Mings, Tyrone	Aston Villa	0	6
Llorente, Diego	Leeds United	0	6
Cash, Matty	Aston Villa	0	6

Player	Team	Assists
Alexander-Arnold, Trent	Liverpool FC	10
Salah, Mohamed	Liverpool FC	9
Bowen, Jarrod	West Ham United	8
Robertson, Andy	Liverpool FC	8
Jesus, Gabriel	Manchester City	7
Pogba, Paul	Manchester United	7
Mount, Mason	Chelsea FC	6
Cancelo, Joao	Manchester City	6
Antonio, Michail	West Ham United	5
Dennis, Emmanuel	Watford FC	5
Fernandes, Bruno	Manchester United	5
James, Reece	Chelsea FC	5
Kovacic, Mateo	Chelsea FC	5
Barnes, Harvey	Leicester City	5
Redmond, Nathan	Southampton FC	5
Mahrez, Riyad	Manchester City	4
Ward Prowse, James	Southampton FC	4
Saka, Bukayo	Arsenal FC	4
Benrahma, Said	West Ham United	4
Lacazette, Alexandre	Arsenal FC	4