Tate watched from the bench as Swansea City lost their third left back in under two months when Stephen O’Hallorhan was stretchered from the field during the first half of the 1-1 draw with Sheffield United on Saturday.
O’Hallorhan followed Marcos Painter (against Southampton) and Fede Bessone (against Bristol City) into the treatment room and is unlikely to return before his loan spell at the club ends.
Tate was called on again to fill in at left back and did a sterling job as the Swans dominated large periods of the game but ultimately were unable to cling onto the lead given to them by Jason Scotland’s 56th minute penalty.
But the alleged curse of the left back did not bother Tate as he spoke to the Evening Post to reveal that he would be more than happy to step in “It’s the curse of the left-back at the minute and hopefully if I have a run in the team it won’t happen to me because I don’t fancy being injured like I was last year
“My biggest strength (versatility) is probably my biggest weakness, but as long as I’m playing I don’t mind where it is.
“I felt comfortable there on Saturday so hopefully the gaffer will give me a chance now.
“It was a poor goal to concede,” said Tate, who replaced Stephen O’Halloran in the first half after the Aston Villa loaned left-back was stretchered off with a knee injury.
“You don’t expect it but we’ve conceded the worst goal we have for a while and it’s meant another draw from a game that we’ve deserved to win.
“But it’s come from a problem that’s been the same all season – we’ve created a lot of chances but not taken as many as teams would against us.
“If you’d have given them the chances we had here we would have been 5-0 down and out of the game – and that’s the difference from going up and not.
“We’ve thrown away three points and it’s not in isolation – we could be 10 points better off from these last five games.
“Teams will never defend superbly for 90 minutes, there’s always going to be one chance and that was theirs.
“We defended well but they’ve taken their only chance while we’ve had I don’t know how many clear cut ones and missed them.
“Yes, their keeper’s played well, but we could have been more aggressive with our finishing.
“We just shouldn’t have been in that situation at the end, but it’s a collective responsibility.”
Roberto was not revealing his cards for Saturday’s trip to Blackpool but it seems he has little options available to him at the moment as he added “It is a specific position, especially with the way we play,” he said. “I think with the way Sheffield United played, Alan Tate suited his role fantastically well.
“He can play in a number of positions and that is a great strength. But we will assess the injury first and we will look into it after.”