What can Tottenham expect from Oliver Skipp this season?
Tottenham are looking to strengthen their senior squad from within in January. That means Oliver Skipp is going to get some meaningful match time for Spurs.
Oliver Skipp has only played two minutes of Premier League football for Tottenham this season. If reports from England are true, that’s going to change pretty quickly. Skipp, along with fellow Academy starlets Japhet Tanganga and Troy Parrott is set for a bigger role in the senior squad as the 2019/29 season progresses.
The Athletic reports that Spurs will focus on improving their squad from within rather than spending big money in January. Mauricio Pochettino is clearly still searching for the right midfield combination to consistently win Premier League matches. That’s why Skipp is going to get his opportunity to carve out a regular role in the squad in the coming months.
The natural question from Tottenham supporters to ask is exactly how much they can reasonably expect the 19-year-old midfielder to contribute. Pochettino and his coaching staff will not ask him to play a starring role for the squad, but they will want him to be an important cog for the first team moving forward.
That is something Skipp is capable of. In his brief cameos during the last two seasons he has impressed observers with his poise and confidence on the pitch. He’s not a large physical midfielder who can overpower opposing attackers, but he does a really good job of occupying the right spaces when he’s shielding the back four.
Going forward is where Skipp actually has a bigger chance to impact Tottenham’s season. In sharp contrast to Harry Winks, Skipp is happy to play the ball vertically up the pitch in an effort to create scoring opportunities for his teammates. Sometimes those ambitious passes don’t come off, but he can’t be blamed for playing too conservatively.
None of that means he’s going to replace Christian Eriksen as the creative heartbeat of the Spurs attack. It only means that he’s capable of providing some measure of innovation from deep in the midfield. That’s something Spurs have dearly lacked when Tanguy Ndombele hasn’t been on the pitch this season.
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In the end, the best Tottenham fans can really hope for is that Skipp will develop into a quality option off the bench this season. Time will tell if his career goes the way of Ryan Mason or the aforementioned Winks. That question won’t be answered this season, but Skipp does have a chance to force his way into Pochettino’s match day 18 on a regular basis.