Postecoglou decided to bring Gray back into the starting eleven in place of Ben Davies at Portman Road Stadium.

He also brought Destiny Udogie into the side in place of Pedro Porro, with Djed Spence moving to the right-back slot.

Curiously though, it was Gray who was lining up on the right side of central defence, with Danso starting on the left side.

The Leeds academy graduate has almost exclusively played as a left centre-back this season, especially when paired with Radu Dragusin.

Ange Postecoglou explains decision to swap Archie Gray and Kevin Danso

Although the teenager had a nervy start to the game, with Liam Delap getting the better of him in the early exchanges, he grew into the contest and looked a lot more comfortable as the encounter went on.

Danso also looked well-suited to play on the left despite being very one-footed, with the Austrian confidently striding forward with the ball whenever space opened up.

When asked why he decided to swap their positions against Ipswich, Postecoglou said (via Football.London): “We just felt Archie is more comfortable on the right.

We just felt he could do better on the right, and give Kev a go on the left-hand side, we wanted to see how he goes on the left-hand side. Because he may have to play on that side for us during this period.”

It was then put to Postecoglou that the decision was justified, given the brilliant ball that Gray played for Tottenham’s opener, and the Australian joked: “If you say so mate I’ll take it.

Any decision I make that you think is a positive. Look, I thought Archie… he’s handled everything thrown at him really well.

“Like I said, I just felt today, we kind of knew, Delap’s a handful, I just felt putting Archie in, he’s a right-sided player, putting him on the right side. Kevin’s a bit more experienced. I wanted to see how Kevin handled the left-hand side. Because that’s an area where we may need him during this run-in.

And I thought both of them handled it well.”

Kevin Danso’s arrival has made a world of difference to Spurs

The Tottenham backline looks far more assured with Danso in it, with the Austrian demonstrating the value of experience in defence.

Not only is the 26-year-old good at sensing danger but he is evidently a natural leader, who is constantly organising the defence and shouting instructions at his teammates.

The return of Guglielmo Vicario has also had a calming effect on the Spurs backline, who seemed a little more on edge with the slightly frantic Antonin Kinsky in goal.