Article by Armaan VaradarajClick here to follow e-Spurs on Twitter for the latest Spurs news and updates!
The managerial post isn't the only job at Tottenham that has seen a flurry of changes in the past few seasons. Central midfield has remained a problem position since Harry Redknapp’s celebrated central midfield pair of Scott Parker and Luka Modric was entirely dismantled by Andre Villas Boas, perhaps slightly unwillingly, in his debut season. Who will Mauricio Pochettino trust at the heart of his team?
Sandro has been plagued with a raft of injuries in recent years but all signs point to him staying at White Hart Lane. Unlike previous Spurs boss Tim Sherwood, Mauricio Pochettino relies on a defensive midfielder to recover possession in the defensive third and to assist the centre backs in playing the ball out from the back. We saw Etienne Capoue excel in that role throughout the preseason as he provided a much needed physical presence in the heart of midfield combined with fine passing ability as seen by his performance against Celtic on the weekend. Expect his to start against West Ham. Sandro will have to stay healthy and prove his worth to fashion himself a starting eleven berth.
Both Moussa Dembele and Paulinho were disappointments last season and will be looking to prove themselves under Mauricio Pochettino in the coming days. However I can’t see either of them possessing the kind of passing ability to excel in Pochettino’s system. If the deal for Morgan Schneiderlin goes through, one of them will be on their way out of White Hart Lane. I expect Paulinho to stick around this season if only for the huge fee we paid for him last summer.
Ryan Mason, a youth Academy graduate also featured prominently this preseason. He looked very solid and impressed throughout. His range of passing and vision in particular helped to grow his burgeoning reputation. However, hes probably not in the first team picture yet. he should be able to secure himself a loan to one of the relegation battlers this year.
Nabil Bentaleb was a favourite of the much maligned Tim Sherwood but he has proven himself to be an extremely bright prospect last season and more recently at the World Cup for Algeria. Although he doesn’t provide the range of passing that Mason has, he has an extremely cool head in possession and is great at recycling the ball. He also adds a physical presence to the midfield which will definitely come in handy if both Sadro and Capoue are injured again.
Most of the players from the World Cup have not featured for Spurs yet this pre season. Saturday’s clash against Schalke should give us a clearer picture of which of these players are in Mauricio’s grand plans for the future.
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Yeah he had fantastic visiondid Portoplonker,thesituation we find ourselves in is totally due to his complete and utter inablity.So what has Daniel done b.ut signed potentiallyavb mk2 .
ReplyDeleteGoing to be Paulinho and Capoue I would imagine
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