The Beast needs to regain his bite

If a poll was carried out to discover the most popular player in the current Spurs squad, Sandro would be in the Champions League places. What isn’t there to like about our Brazilian central midfielder? He ticks all the boxes on and off the field, unfortunately though in the last 18 months, it has been his off field performances that have drawn our attention, the 2014/15 season is a big one for “The Beast.” Sandro needs to get his bite back.

Despite arriving after helping Internacional of Brazil claim Copa Libertadores glory in 2010, very little was known of the defensive midfielder. His arrival had been announced before the end of the previous season but it wasn’t until we played Arsenal, in the League Cup at White Hart Lane, late in September did we get to see him.

It wasn’t the best of debuts as we were taken apart in extra-time  by a more experienced Arsenal team and Sandro looked out of his depth.  Five months later though, one cold night in the San Siro, he arrived. Sandro kept the Serie A champions elect quiet with a masterly performance of pin point brutality. He was a surgical bazooka and an integral part of making that famous night possible.

His Spurs career had been launched in the same stadium where Gareth Bale’s was. Suddenly Spurs found themselves with two rising stars of the modern game.  If we were in any doubt as to his talents, when the Italians arrived in London for the return leg he dismissed them once again. Bale had speed and poise, Modric grace and subtlety but Sandro had something better, he was the man you looked to when trouble arrived. He was Kurt Russell in Backdraft,  swaggering, sweaty and cool. Sandro was a hero.

[linequote]He was a surgical bazooka and an integral part of making that famous night possible[/linequote]

His career at Spurs was set, however, something started happening regularly to him. The Beast became beatable.  Injuries started to prove a tougher opponent than anything the opposition could throw at him. Whilst away on international duty a torn meniscus meant he was unable to carry the good form of 2010/11 into the new season.

With a lack of defensive midfielders to start the 2011/12 season Harry Redknapp was forced to buy Scott Parker who formed a formidable partnership with Luka Modric. Sandro when he returned was second fiddle and it wasn’t until Spurs run out of steam, did Sandro return properly, but by then it was too late. The gap had been filled with our dead dreams. My lingering image of Sandro from that season was the moment he was rolled onto the Emirates pitch and made to chase after shadows in that defeat.

It was during this time though that another Sandro started to appear. We had seen glimpses previously, the blue Mohican, the gum-shield, trying to celebrate whilst being given “tactical” instructions by Redknapp, but suddenly there was more.  Kung-Fu, guitars, darts and an openness on social media.

He found the middle ground of what was humorous, yet not offensive. Whilst Benoit Assou-Akotto has always struggled to understand what his audience wants and when to shut up, Sandro hit the right note every time.  The more he was injured the more he showed us and the more we loved him and as is a common trait with all inured players, he became in our minds, even greater.

On his return he didn’t disappoint. With Redknapp gone and AVB installed, his partnership alongside Mousa Dembele was crucial. Bale may have swept the awards but up until a visit to West London where his meniscus went again, it was all about the Belgian and Brazilian.  As that small piece of cartilage tore, so did our top four hopes. Bale tried his best, but alone he couldn’t keep it afloat. The downward spiral our opponents where predicted to fall into caught us. We had no Sandro to rescue us.

[linequote]The Beast became beatable.  Injuries started to prove a tougher opponent than anything the opposition could throw at him[/linequote]

That game away to QPR is the exact moment it went wrong for Sandro. Everything can be pinpointed to that day. In AVB’s first season he was almighty, away to Southamption he blocked a certain goal from the man who looks set to replace him Morgan Schneiderlin, at United he helped Spurs to an historic victory and alongside him Dembele looked like Modric but with muscles.

Since then? Nothing.

It has been a 18 months of comebacks and reoccurring injuries. In the games he has played he has looked off the pace and out of sorts. Then in those games where he does manage to find his feet, more often than not he finds himself hamstrung by an early yellow card. Like an ageing prize fighter though he does occasionally spark into life, at White Hart Lane last December against Man United his third goal for Spurs was every bit as special as his first, but the best is a bit too sporadic from The Beast.

He is in a cycle of always chasing fitness and form, a cycle that can kill a career, football is littered with stars who never recovered from their injuries: Kaka, Harry Kewell and Fernado Torres. However, despite always searching for his form, Sandro has managed to retain his appeal. His off-the-field actions and persona is infectious. The way he kept “hanging out” with Gomes, the Halloween prank and a some inspired Instagram posts kept us all satisfied until Fulham at home last season.

[linequote]In form, fit, happy and ferociously precise Sandro is better than all of them, but he has been a shadow for 18 months[/linequote]

Rather like Assou-Ekotto and Adebayor, the Brazilian had chosen to hit send on social media at an inopportune moment. Spurs may have been treading water under Tim Sherwood, but there are certain levels of professionalism we expect from our players, that day Sandro hit send first and thought later.

Sherwood claimed the reason why Sandro hadn’t started was because he was unfit, a claim that Sandro refuted publicly and not in the best tone. Post game Sherwood brushed off the Twitter remark, stating that Sandro “wasnt good enough to play for Spurs” was he right? We don’t know, but what we had seen all season from Sandro didn’t seem to suggest that Sherwood was far from the mark.

We have to take most of what came out of Sherwood’s mouth with a kilo of salt, but by stepping out and breaking the “dressing room code” Sandro belittled the club and its decisions publicly, this isn’t the way to handle rejection. Would Bale have reacted like this? Did Roberto Soldado, Nacer Chadli or Erik Lamela react last season? Paulinho who was also called out by Sherwood reacted in a dignified manner. Only Sandro, Assou-Ekotto and Adebayor have reacted publicly against the club, that isn’t the best group to find yourself in.

The fun, happy and singing Sandro showed us a darker side, the truth, however, shone through. Had Sandro been professional, training well and most importantly performing on the pitch, he would never have ended up in a public war of words with Sherwood.

The emergence of Nabil Bentaleb, both here and in Brazil, the possible signing of Scheiderlin and the sheer amount of central midfielders at Spurs means that Sandro needs to pick up his game. In form, fit, happy and ferociously precise Sandro is better than all of them, but he has been a shadow for 18 months. I want the old Beast back, I want us to praise his tackling not his hash tagging.

Sandro needs to focus on his football, put the guitar away, close his media accounts and get back to being “The Beast,” not the social media clown.