Does Tottenham's Aurier deserve the criticism he gets?

Serge Aurier’s time at Tottenham Hotspur has been mixed, to say the least.

The right-back got off to a faulty start by getting sent off on his debut at West Ham United in 2017, and it’s been a somewhat turbulent ride ever since. His reputation for being obdurate preceded him in London, so observers were waiting to fault-find, which made that maiden appearance particularly prescient.

Fast forward two-and-a-half years later, and the Ivorian defender still divides opinion. On the one hand, his inconsistency and penchant for slipping-up sees many tag him a liability, whereas he intermittently turns in performances that cause people to ask why he fails to reproduce it frequently.

Given Aurier’s rap sheet, the former is bound to make the headlines, with decent-to-good showings not getting as much attention or corresponding plaudits.

Against RasenBallsport Leipzig, Spurs’ last game before football across Europe was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, his misjudgement of the flight of Konrad Laimer’s diagonal in the build-up to the home side’s second was strongly criticised by former England international Rio Ferdinand.

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"We highlighted Aurier before the game as a weakness in the first game when they got in countless times in the first-leg," Ferdinand told BT Sport after the German outfit’s 3-0 win. "He is not in a bad position here, but watch his body movement.

"He turns around full-circle, misjudges the header and from here it is a fantastic ball and an even better header.”

Co-pundit Peter Crouch labelled it a 'terrible mistake', and maybe both had a point owing to how it was a repeat offence by the ex-Paris Saint-Germain defender in a high-profile match.

When Chelsea visited the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in December, the right-back got his body shape all wrong in dealing with an Antonio Rudiger diagonal, which resulted in the concession of a corner from which Frank Lampard’s side opened the scoring.

Some will say those sort of gaffes probably justify the unceasing criticism of the defender, who hasn’t quite lived up to his billing since moving from Paris nearly three years ago.

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Fans of the Lilywhites believe Aurier's performances have been a step-down from the days of Kyle Walker marauding down the flank when Mauricio Pochettino had the North London club threatening to win the Premier League, or even when his understudy Kieran Trippier – now at Atletico Madrid – came into the side. 

There’s a feeling that the 27-year-old’s momentary moments of brilliance doesn’t quite make up for his defensive lapses, with supporters often reminded what they lost in the two England internationals.

However, upon closer inspection, maybe Aurier isn’t a lost cause given encouraging showings under Jose Mourinho early doors.

Put it down to the managerial bounce or the lifting of the gloomy atmosphere that characterized Pochettino’s last few months, but it only does the Portuguese manager a disservice over his recognition of Aurier’s strengths and weaknesses, which immediately caused an improvement in form.

The ex-Manchester United boss spent time in punditry after his sacking by the Red Devils, giving him time to assess teams in the expectation that an opening was in the offing.

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And Mourinho’s meticulous preparation was evident right from his first match at West Ham in the team’s set-up, with Aurier’s positioning particularly noteworthy. Ostensibly, the Ivory Coast star was playing at right-back, but he often occupied a wide-right position which was designed to amplify his strengths going forward and mask his defensive flaws.

In possession, Spurs attacked in what looked like a 3-2-5 with Aurier among the quintet in the final third. It paid off too as it was in his far-right position from which the auxiliary winger supplied the away side’s third in the 3-2 success at the London Stadium.

Mourinho stuck with the blueprint when the North London side hosted Olympiacos in his first Champions League game, to devastating effect as the hosts won 4-2, having trailed 2-0 after 20 minutes.

Aurier was involved in three goals – set up Dele Alli for the team’s first, restarted play quickly with a throw-in for the hosts’ equalizer and netted a brilliantly sliced effort for a 3-2 lead. It was the Ivorian’s first goal of the season and first strike since January 2019.

Three goal contributions in just two games began a run of very good performances from the Lens academy graduate, and it felt like his new trainer had finally found a way of making Spurs’ unconvinced supporters buy into the much-maligned player.

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Despite Tottenham failing to keep clean sheets, there was an admission that it was largely due to a lack of balance and few individual mistakes, a departure from the days where the Ivorian was singled out for criticism.

However, a horde of injuries to key players in Mourinho’s scheme led to a drop in results for the side, subsequently affecting Aurier’s form.

This has brought back old criticisms of the African, an unfortunate turn of events due to the fact his coach had to chop and change personnel and tactics in the weeks leading up to the Premier League’s suspension.

Still, the Ouragahio-born star has been one of Spurs’ best players this season: four assists places him joint-second with Dele and behind Heung-min Son with seven and is fifth in the side with five goal contributions.

In addition, he’s created four big chances, third behind Son (10) and Dele (six), while he sits behind the South Korean for key passes per game – 1.5 to 1.2 for the right-back.

Defensively, Aurier makes 3.1 tackles per game, well clear of Jan Vertonghen and Davidson Sanchez, who make 2.1 and 1.9 respectively, while he’s only behind the Belgian centre-back for interceptions per match – 1.6 to 1.5.

A notable stat shows that outside Liverpool’s Trent Alexander-Arnold (12) and Andy Robertson (seven), the ex-PSG man is only behind Everton’s Luca Digne (five) for league assists from full-back.

Evidently, the right-back isn’t as bad as publicised, with observers failing to focus on his positive contribution at Spurs.

Aurier showed just how good he can be in the right system, and maybe it would be wise to see how things play out under Mourinho, with a healthy squad and for an extended period, before proceeding with the lazy witch-hunt of one of Tottenham’s best players.