Liam Keyes waves adieu to two Spurs favourites and discusses; were we right to cut loose the Beast and Lewis Holtby? Could they have added something to Mauricio Pochettino's Spurs?
Sandro and Holtby: Method in the madness
Compared to the transfer sagas of last year, the window this summer had been relatively quiet and wholly lacking in could-also-make-Heskey-look-great three minute YouTube highlight reels. Pochettino only brought in reinforcements where he felt the need to and so aside from the purchase of Benjamin Stambouli and a short-lived attempt at bringing in Danny Welbeck on loan, dead line day was coming to a thankfully mellow close.
Then of course, it was announced that Lewis Holtby would be going out on loan again, this time to Hamburg with a view to a permanent deal and Sandro would be going to QPR, for £10 million; £10 million: the going rate for a Championship level striker.
For a new manager with a trigger-happy chairman, it seemed needlessly risky to offload perhaps the two most popular figures at White Hart Lane. Last season, when it took longer to name those who were guilty of a lack of effort than it was those who weren’t, Sandro and Holtby genuinely seemed to care about the club; they combined a Lee Cattermole dedication with being, well, not Lee Cattermole.
Even when Sandro caused friction on Twitter, it still felt like it was partly justified. It seemed odd that Sandro’s run in the team ended after giving away a penalty against Benfica. The two-leg tie was already lost but it made Sherwood look foolish for leaving the stands thinking he’d won 2-1 to then come out to the pitch finding that it was 2-2; gone was the win and gone was his smile.
[linequote]Sandro and Holtby genuinely seemed to care about the club[/linequote]
With Holtby no excuses have to be made. Despite being at the club for only 18 months with even a sizable portion of that at Fulham, his efforts on and off the field have always been marked with a Dawson-like professionalism. Against Liverpool in the 5-0 defeat, he was effectively holding midfielder, box to box midfielder and attacking midfielder in a ten man side.
He didn’t complain, he just got on with it, harrying players while those around him had all but given up. With Pochettino’s brand of football being marked by its emphasis on pressing, it seems even stranger to send on loan a cult figure like Lewis Holtby, who after all, has captained the current World Champions at U21 level.
But that’s the problem. Holtby didn’t get games because he was part of a congested attacking midfield with the likes of Eriksen and Lamela ahead of him. You cannot bemoan Holtby for wanting game time at such a critical point of his career which has rather deflated since his move to Tottenham. Nor can you, I’d argue, really question Pochettino’s decision; he has identified the players who he needs at the club and while he may appreciate the talents of Holtby, Sandro and indeed Dawson, he has been bold enough to show that he wants to make his mark on the team: his team.
[linequote] Holtby’s efforts on and off the field have always been marked with a Dawson-like professionalism[/linequote]
Last season, both AVB and Tim Sherwood were guilty of shoehorning players into roles that they weren’t adept at. Whereas the excuse of being plagued by injuries was used to absolve them from criticism, Pochettino in contrast has made sure that he’ll never be faced with having to do the same.
Sandro, for all the presence he provides when he’s on the pitch, cannot be relied upon because he is a perennial figure on the injury table. That’s not his fault but there’s no point claiming that he’s one of the best defensive midfielders in European football if he can’t actually play and put said claims into practice.
Every Tottenham fan, as much as they like Sandro, has to admit they can see Pochettino’s logic and the low price of £10 million, merely reflects that (i) he is injury prone (ii) that Pochettino is sufficiently happy with Capoue and Stambouli in that position (he didn’t have to sell him) and (iii) that he is constructing a team which doesn’t let the likability of players get in front of what’s best for the team, and thus despite their bemusement, the fans.
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8 Comments
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08/09/2014 @ 11:24 am
Just a note – the whole Pochettino will never have to play a player in a position they arnt adept at. We have already seen Capoue play at CD (yes – red card was the reason). However we have then seen us play CD Dier at RB to cover for the suspended RB Naughton because the other RB Walker is injured for an undefined period. We went from last season – having one inept looking left back to now this season where we will have one inept RB, or a CD playing there, for what appears to be the majority of the season. All this while 2 other RBs are on loan in Yedlin & Fredricks.
08/09/2014 @ 1:07 pm
Hi Walker,
It may be preferable to have Dier as cover at CB, but he was an accomplished RB (and CB) in Portugal and has to be considered an upgrade on Naughton. We’re lucky that (red card aside) Dier has adapted well to the PL otherwise, like you say, we could have been in the same position as we were at LB last season.
Hopefully the decision to loan Yedlin and Fredricks is a sign that Walker’s return date will no longer keep being pushed back.
08/09/2014 @ 11:34 am
I could argue that maybe play Sandro for 60 minutes and then replace him with Holtby to ruffle some feathers for the last half hour or so, thus negating the risk of either seeing red slightly. However until the new acquisitions have been seen for their true worth it would be hard to truly put up any argument.
08/09/2014 @ 11:37 am
I was walking past Costa yesterday and there’s some advert on the window. The arty design reveals a grinning bearded face, which I think I recognise, but who is it?
I realise it looks just like Sandro…my heart unexpectedly sank, and I felt genuinly sad. As David Brent says, the saddest think is wasted potential! I hadn’t cared about losing him til that moment, but then thought back to that night in Milan where he was like a pitbull in the midfield.
08/09/2014 @ 12:15 pm
You seem to have this obsession with having a go at Sherwood without seeming to notice that all of the changes of his regime have persisted into the Poch era.
Adebayor is still the no 1 starter.
Kane is featuring in Premiership games.
Sandro is out (gone) from the team.
Bentaleb is a fixture.
Holby is out on loan.
Benny is exiled.
So Poch is building on rather than dismantling (which is what was done to AVB) Sherwood’s team.
If you haven’t noticed that you aren’t worth reading.
08/09/2014 @ 1:41 pm
Hi Wooks,
You’re right, the Sherwood dig was probably unnecessary. I only included it to support the point I was making about both Holtby and Sandro giving their all last season. I couldn’t gloss over Sandro’s twitter remarks and if I hadn’t contextualised it, then I’d have been contradicting myself.
I’ve acknowledged that Sherwood deserves credit for bringing Adebayor back, just like I’ve also repeatedly criticised AVB. It’s true that Sherwood dropped (likable) players for the good of the team but rather than dropping Sandro for Chadli, Pochettino has done so with the consequences in mind; it’s only for the good of the team if you have an adequate alternative.
Many of Sherwood’s changes remain, although that may be through necessity more than anything and even then, some of “his” changes came before he was even manager.
08/09/2014 @ 2:16 pm
We can only have 17 foreign overage players in the squad therefore 2 had to go and much as I appreciate Sandro HR didn’t trust to play him until forced to in the CL against AC Milan and then preferred Parker over him the following season. AVB played him alongside Dembele and he was a fixture until his injury. It is the lack of full recovery and on going problems that meant he had to go. Holtby though wholehearted didn’t secure a place in the team with AVB, Sherwood and now Pochettino, good bloke but utility player at best.
11/09/2014 @ 9:53 am
You make a good case for letting them go but actually they are better players than some that we have kept – Sandro may have given the penalty away but it was Bentaleb’s crazy error that caused it. It hadn’t crossed my mind that Sherwood blamed Sandro but you may be right.
Dembele has done nothing in 2 years although some people are taken in by the fact he looks powerful in possession he never actually does anything with it. He would have been first out for me and would probably have fetched more money.
I don’t know enough about Stambouli to know how he compares to Sandro but it looks like an accountancy exercise to me. Gained £5million on the day if they are of comparable quality.
I know Adebayor is back in favour with most fans but I don’t think he is anybodies long term solution and I doubt Pochettino will stick with him for too long