With Tottenham Hotspur being 1-0 down at half time in yesterdays match against Hull City, Mauricio Pochettino made an unusual move and opted to substitute the right-back Eric Dier with Romanian centre-half Vlad Chirches for the entirety of the second half.

Tottenham Hotspur were struggling to get the ball forward and create meaningful opportunities within the first forty-five minutes, movement of the ball was slow and Hull City looked significantly threatening. It could be argued that Gaston Ramirez’s red card was enough to allow Tottenham Hotspur to re-enter the game, yet some observations lend an alternate perspective for other factors at play.

It was interesting to note that the player which Eric Dier passed the ball to most in the game was Hugo Lloris, whereas the most frequent receivers of Vlad Chiriches’ passes were actually attacking midfielders Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela, this showed that this substitution led to a clear shift in forward momentum and attacking play, which ultimately led to more opportunities in the second half.

The most frequent receivers of Vlad Chiriches’ passes were actually attacking midfielders Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela

He was also responsible for more direct goal scoring opportunities, one notable moment which would have earned Chiriches an assist was his well-placed cross to Roberto Soldado which unfortunately did not meet the back of the net.

Eric Dier has been a serviceable right-back, but it is clear he is much more defensive minded than Vlad Chiriches, whose tendency to hold possession and take the ball forward is certainly more suitable to a full-back role, and could prove useful if Kyle Walker’s return is later than expected.

What do you think, would you like to see Vlad Chiriches in the right back role?

Let us know in the comments box, or on Twitter or Facebook.

