Tottenham Fans React to Key Absences Ahead of Everton Match
Tottenham fans arrived at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium expecting a reaction to last weekend’s stalemate at Nottingham Forest. Instead, the first jolt of the afternoon came before a ball had even been kicked.
No Pedro Porro. No Destiny Udogie. Not even on the bench.
For a side built on aggressive, adventurous full-backs, their absence from the squad for the visit of Everton was impossible to ignore. The team sheets dropped, the murmur went around the ground, and the questions started immediately.
De Zerbi plays it safe
Roberto De Zerbi had seen this coming. On Friday, the Italian had already warned that he was ready to pull the plug if there was even a hint of trouble.
“Porro felt a small muscular problem, we have to see tomorrow if he’s available or not but in this moment I don’t want to take any risks. The same [with] Udogie,” he said in his pre-match press conference.
There was no late miracle. Both were left out entirely.
De Zerbi pointed to the toll of Porro’s schedule, the right-back still feeling the after-effects of a heavy year that included a long World Cup campaign.
“Porro and Udogie are similar players because one, Pedro played a World Cup, a long World Cup and we already knew after the World Cup it could be a difficult management for him,” he explained, underlining how carefully the club has to navigate the defender’s minutes.
The calculation with Udogie is just as sensitive. Tottenham know exactly what happens if they push him too hard. Last season was littered with setbacks, the Italian international in and out of the treatment room and never truly able to build rhythm.
“For Udogie, last season [he] suffered many injuries, he played 60 minutes in Nottingham and we have to manage also Destiny in the best way we can,” De Zerbi added. It was a reminder: this is about the long game, not one afternoon against Everton.
A new look on the flanks
With the usual full-back pairing watching on, the responsibility shifted sharply onto Archie Gray and Andy Robertson.
Gray, still a teenager but already carrying the weight of a big move from Leeds United, was pushed into another examination of his versatility. He has filled a range of roles since arriving in North London, but dealing with Everton’s physical wide players is a different kind of test. This was about duels, concentration, and decision-making in both directions.
On the opposite side, Robertson brought something else entirely: experience. Years of Premier League battles, title races, and high-pressure fixtures have shaped the Scot, and Tottenham needed all of that as he tried to mirror Udogie’s usual influence.
Robertson was asked to do more than just defend his flank. He had to step inside, join the build-up, and still find the energy to overlap and stretch Everton in the final third – the very movements that have become Udogie’s trademark in this system.
Fernandes backs the project
The disruption at the back came against the backdrop of a team still searching for its first win of the campaign. The mood could easily have dipped. Matheus Fernandes refused to let it.
The £85m summer signing spoke openly about the standards inside the dressing room and his belief that De Zerbi’s work will pay off, even if the early results have not yet matched the ambition.
“I believe that I can be a much better player than I was last season,” the Portuguese international said. “If you look at the squad, it's a big team with big players, important players, players with experience, players with a lot of quality. So, when you play with better players, I think you play better. So, I believe that I can be much better.”
Fernandes turned down serious interest from Manchester United to join De Zerbi’s project, arriving from West Ham after a standout spell in East London. He cited the manager’s passion as the decisive factor. That kind of commitment matters on afternoons like this, when key figures are missing and the margin for error narrows.
Tottenham will hope Porro and Udogie’s absence is short-term management rather than the start of another long, complicated injury story. Because if this season is going to match the ambition of De Zerbi, Fernandes and the rest, they will need their flying full-backs back on the pitch, not stuck on the sidelines.
