Kieran Trippier: Why Watford are right to fear Tottenham’s ‘Bury Beckham’

Flying fullback | Kieran Trippier
Clive Mason/Getty Images
Dan Kilpatrick @Dan_KP31 August 2018

Kieran Trippier’s transformation from bargain buy to ‘the Bury Beckham’ has surprised almost everyone at Tottenham, including his own manager - but nobody at Watford can claim not to have seen it coming.

Mauricio Pochettino has admitted Spurs got “lucky” when they signed Trippier for £3.5million from Burnley in 2015 because he was only ever supposed to keep first-choice Kyle Walker on his toes.

Three years later, Trippier has made the right-back spot his own for club and country, and the 28-year-old is increasingly a more decisive player than Walker, now at Manchester City, ever was for Spurs.

After scoring a brilliant free-kick in England’s World Cup semi-final defeat to Croatia, Trippier proved it was no fluke with a similar effort to restore Spurs’ lead in the 3-1 win over Fulham a fortnight ago, before delivering the corner from which Harry Kane broke the deadlock in Monday’s 3-0 win at Manchester United. He was also involved in the second goal at Old Trafford, releasing Christian Eriksen, who crossed for Lucas Moura to score.

If Trippier’s status as one of Spurs’ most important players is still hard to get used to, Watford, who host Tottenham at Vicarage Road on Sunday, have always been aware of his quality.

Trippier’s rise has been signposted by standout performances against the Hornets, and without them he might not have made the grade under Pochettino at all.

Trippier had played fewer than 10 Premier League minutes for his new club when he was handed his full League debut at Vicarage Road in December 2015 as Walker was given a rest ahead of the gruelling Christmas schedule. His crossing caused Quique Sanchez Flores’s Watford problems all afternoon, and he was rewarded when his delivery set up Heung-Min Son’s late backheeled winner.

Two months later, he was given another rare start, against the Hornets at White Hart Lane, and delivered again, scoring the winner - his first Spurs goal - after a lung-busting run that Walker would have been proud of.

Together, the two games suggested both that Trippier’s crossing could be a valuable weapon for Spurs and that he was adapting to the physical demands of playing full-back in a Pochettino team.

Despite finishing his maiden campaign with just five League starts, Trippier had shown he could be trusted at Spurs in the top flight.

The Champions League was a new challenge, however, and the following season, in 2016-17, the Watford game was again to prove a significant turning point for Trippier.

In November 2016, he was ruthlessly exposed by Thomas Lemar in a 2-1 Champions League defeat at Monaco, which sealed Spurs’ embarrassing group-stage exit, and he was at fault for the Frenchman’s winner. Trippier had to wait six weeks for another appearance and, given Pochettino’s ruthless side, it was easy to wonder if he would ever regain the manager’s trust.

But two assists for Harry Kane in a 4-1 win at Watford suggested his confidence was intact and again proved Pochettino could rely on him. In the return fixture he was to grab another assist, underlining his status as Watford’s nemesis, and finished the season ahead of wantaway Walker.

For the first time since joining Spurs, Trippier will visit Vicarage Road this weekend as the club’s undisputed first-choice right-back and one of their star performers.

Spurs will be without Erik Lamela (hamstring), while Son is still at the Asian Games, where his South Korea face Japan in tomorrow’s final in a bid to retain the gold medal, which would exempt him from national service.

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