Djed Spence: Spurs’ answer to their right-back problem?

This article breaks down his defensive, playmaking, and offensive stats from the 2021-22 season, which he spent on loan at Nottingham Forest from Middlesborough. 

If you’re a Spurs fan who knows nothing about Spence and want to know what all the excitement is about… look no further than this breakdown. 

 

Defensive 

At the beginning of the 2021-22 campaign, the then-Middlesborough manager Neil Warnock decided to loan Djed Spence to Nottingham Forest for the season, saying the youngster had to “sort himself out,” well Neil… it looks like he did. 

Spence was a key player in Forest’s fantastic season which saw them gain promotion to the Premier League via the playoffs, giving them topflight football for the first time since 1999. 

This happened while Middlesborough ironically missed out on a playoff spot by five points. Perhaps if Spence had remained at the Riverside Stadium last season, which could have been the difference in qualifying, although he may have been behind Boro’s talented right back Isiah Jones. 

Despite sometimes playing as a right midfielder, first and foremost, Djed Spence is a solid defender. Across the 2021-22 season, he averaged 1.5 successful tackles per game, with a success rate of 75% for all the challenges he makes. He’s also a no-nonsense player when he needs to be, making 1.4 clearances per game; so, when in doubt he’s not too proud to boot it out. 

He does tend to make fouls at times though, making 0.8 per game on average, but overall Spence is considered more than adequate defensively, even if that’s not what grabs the headlines. 

He is also an intelligent player and reads the game well, making 1.6 interceptions per game; something that Spurs will be happy to have at their disposal in the coming season.

In all competitions, Spence helped Forest to 19 clean sheets while he was playing. In fact, they had the 2nd best defensive record in the Championship last season, which was a big contributing factor to their promotion. Spence undoubtedly played a big role in achieving this as one of the first names on the team sheet for the Reds.

Conte will be very pleased to have a solid right-back at his disposal, as Spurs have struggled to find a player who performs consistently well in that position. Emerson Royal struggled defensively for Spurs last season and Matt Doherty has never really earned a regular starting spot. Djed Spence has the potential to fill that void in the Italian boss’s side. 

Played: 48
Tackles per game: 1.5
Tackle success rate: 75%
Interceptions per game: 1.6 
Clearances per game: 1.4
Clean sheets: 19

Playmaking

But there is a lot more to Spence’s game than simply defending. As mentioned, he is a versatile player, with the ability to play as a full-back on either side and as a right midfielder or winger, too. 

He’s an effective passer of the ball, making an average of 35 passes per game, so he is generally very involved in every match he plays. He has good vision, averaging 1 key pass per match which can help create chances for his teammates.

Last season, he linked up particularly well with Forest’s striker Keinan Davis, often bombing down the right and getting balls in the box for Davis to attack. He will be hoping to have the same relationship with Harry Kane. 

Despite this, he still only averaged 0.5 successful crosses per game, so these balls only came off half of the time. He may need to improve these numbers if he wants to be effective down the flank for Spurs in 2022-23. 

He has a decent pass success rate, with 76.1%, but in the Premier League, full backs see a LOT of the ball, especially when their teams have a lot of possession in games like Spurs often do. In that regard, Spence may have to boost those numbers to be up to the mark. 

He picked up five assists in total last season, which isn’t bad, but he will surely be aiming to improve that tally next season. But let’s not forget that Djed is still only 21, so he has plenty of time to improve his passing attributes.  

Average passes per game: 35
Long balls per game: 1.2
Crosses per game: 0.5
Key passes per game: 1
Pass success rate: 76.1%
Expected assists: 4.91
Assists: 5

Offensive 

Djed Spence does not only have the ability to create chances but can also convert them himself.  

For someone who plays mainly as a full-back, Spence takes plenty of shots and isn’t afraid to try a long-range effort either. 

In the 2021-22 season, he took 27 shots in total, averaging 0.6 per game – making him a threat to the opposition as well as an effective defender, too. 

He also has good ability on the ball going forward, making an average of 1.8 successful dribbles per match, which can get him into dangerous areas to create and score goals. 

However, Spence’s shooting isn’t always very accurate: of the 27 shots he took last season, 18 were blocked or off target, so only 33% of his shots troubled the opposition’s goalkeeper. This is definitely an area of his game he should improve if he wants to be even more of an attacking threat. 

Spence only scored three goals in all competitions for Forest last season, but he had some particularly special moments. For instance, he scored a great goal in Forest’s 4-1 FA Cup victory against Leicester City, where he dribbled past two players, played a sublime one-two with Philip Zinckernagel, before bursting into the box and supplying a great finish into the bottom corner. 

He also netted a fantastic goal against QPR, with a powerful shot from 25-yards out which dipped and swerved, finally finding its way into the top corner. So, the 21-year-old may not have scored many, but there’s always a chance he could come up with something amazing at any moment. 

Spurs fans should be very excited to have signed a fantastic young player who can defend, create and score, who is only going to get better as he adapts to the Premier League and grows in maturity. 

There are definitely things he could improve, but singing young English talent like Spence could pay dividends for Antonio Conte over the next few years. If he performs well at the beginning of the 2022-23 campaign, he may even have an outside chance of getting into England’s World Cup squad. 

Shots: 27
On-target: 9
Off-target: 18
Shots per game: 0.6 
Dribbles per game: 1.8 
Goals: 3