Djed Spence says he is ‘coming for everything’ amid England call-up rumbles

Tottenham’s Djed Spence is riding a wave of sublime form at the moment and his reaction after his latest performance against Ipswich Town suggests that he is determined to keep getting better.

In a space of a few months, Djed Spence has gone from someone who appeared to be a long way down Ange Postecoglou‘s pecking order to someone who is now one of the first names on the team sheet.

The 24-year-old has been Tottenham’s best player of late, dominating wingers defensively in one-v-one situations whether he plays at left-back or right-back, while also striding forward with the ball with relative ease even when he is surrounded by bodies.

There have even been calls for Djed Spence to be included in the England squad, and one would think that Thomas Tuchel would struggle to leave him out on his current form.

Djed Spence reacts to Tottenham’s win over Ipswich

Spence started in his preferred right-back role for just the second time this season at Portman Road Stadium on Saturday, with Postecoglou opting to bring Destiny Udogie into the side at left-back and rest Pedro Porro.

Predictably, Djed Spence dominated former Spurs winger Jack Clarke down the Ipswich left and delivered another flawless display to help the away side emerge with a 4-1 win.

The defender got Tottenham’s all-important third goal to seal the result, with his deflected strike finding the back of the net after he was found smartly by James Maddison at the edge of the box.

Djed Spence took to social media after the win to post: “I’m coming for everything”, which is a clear indication that he is hungry to make up for lost time and do more.

Ange Postecoglou admits he made things hard for Spence

Postecoglou’s decision not to use Spence earlier this season might appear even more baffling in light of how well the full-back has done over recent months.

However, Postecoglou admitted he has made it hard for Djed Spence on purpose to test his hunger, and revealed that the player passed the test with flying colours.

When asked if he has been surprised by Djed Spence’s performances, Postecoglou said last week:  “To a certain extent [I’ve been surprised], but I’ve always kept an open mind about these things. There’s obviously a player there, there was never any doubt about that. Why it hadn’t worked out, you always try to figure out, there must be a reason. So I don’t know if it’s a surprise but it’s a credit to him.

“I made it difficult for him, to be fair. I didn’t make it easy for him, it’s not like I said to him ‘Djed, you’re here, we love you, stay’. I purposefully made it difficult for him because I thought that was going to be the test. To see, earlier in the year when he wasn’t playing or part of squads, how he was training, he was reacting to things, and he never got disengaged.

“He was always engaged and that made an impression on everyone – me, the coaches, his teammates – and from then on, it’s just been all about him. All I did was say ‘You’ve earned a shot at it, here it is’ and he’s been brilliant. You know there’s a player there and sometimes you just need certain things to click into gear.

“The penny drops at different times for different players. For some of them, it drops at 18, for some it drops a bit later when they realise this is what I have to do to get the most out of my career, and it’s a credit to him. He’s an outstanding player, I’m super pleased we’ve still got him in the building. It would have been super easy for him to be playing elsewhere.

“You try different things, you want to try to get the best out of players or at least get them to be the best version of themselves. It wasn’t just tough love. That probably doesn’t work with Djed either because he’s probably had that at some of his previous experiences and it hasn’t worked out well.

“Me and the other guys were certainly very encouraging for him, but I wasn’t going to give him the opportunity to play, that was the bit I was going to hold back for as long as possible to really test how much he really wanted it and what he was prepared to do to get that opportunity.”

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