Postecoglou hails ‘super’ Spurs star who has ‘really adapted’ to his new role

After Tottenham’s 2-1 victory over Liverpool, Ange Postecoglou singled out Pedro Porro for praise, acknowledging that the right-back has adapted admirably to the challenges of the inverted right-back position.

Only a few weeks prior, Gary Neville sharply criticized Porro’s ability to play an inverted full-back, saying that the 23-year-old believed he was “Rodri meets Xavi” (Sky Sports).

Since the Spaniard had only played as a wing-back for the previous two years and had displayed some defensive flaws, it is fair to say that the verdict was still out at the time on his ability to play in that position.

Porro, a former player for Sporting Lisbon, is now paying back Postecoglou’s confidence by growing better and better with each game.

In the 2-1 victory over Liverpool on Saturday, the right-back gave what was possibly his greatest performance while wearing a Tottenham jersey.

Joel Matip’s own-goal conversion of Porro’s low cross in stoppage time secured all three points for Tottenham thanks to his faultless defensive play, great neatness with the ball, and significant contribution in the final third.

Postecoglou is really impressed with Pedro Porro

“Pedro has been super,” Postecoglou said to Spurs Play following the victory over the Reds. Although he didn’t play in the opening game, he showed great adaptation in the preseason.

“I think he and Destiny have adapted pretty well to it, even though we’re demanding a different type of job from what our full-backs are used to.

“They’re attempting to learn and comprehend it. Given how talented he is in football, I believe he is well suited to it in many ways. He is a superb athlete as well as a very excellent football player technically. It was still visible today.

While we all knew of Porro’s quality on the ball, the Spaniard has shown over the last couple of weeks that he is a fantastic one vs one defender, which I have been pleasantly surprised by. “We needed both he and Destiny to be at it today, along with Micky because when you see the speed they have up front with the transition we were going to need our guys to be really on it defensively.”