For me Vertonghen has been one of our most important singings at the club. At the time of singing Jan we couldn't compete for players, we actually used to spend big but always felt our approach was scatter gun, no plan, just buy a flashy player every now and than that will get fans out of their seats doing great things against the bottom clubs whilst we always got spanked by the top sides. Ultimately our signings then never pushed us on.
Vertonghen has always felt like a player we targeted, courted and moved heaven and earth to get, he also went to us instead of going to Woolwich, as petty as that sounds it's hugely significant to us fans. His first season with us was one of the most successful first seasons for a player that I can remember, we looked good with him in the side and there was a sense of progression and improvement.
A word that you see associated with him time and time again is "Rolls Royce", his only real weakness is left 1v1 situations, he still has in his favour here with the black arts of football, he knows when he's beat and is the only player to literally pull the shorts down of the attacker and not concede a free kick. In the air he doesn't get off the ground well, but I'm stretching here.
Him playing left back for is Counrty (whilst is mad) has benefitted us especially when we go to three at the back (same too with this regard with Alderweireld). For me what I could watch Jan do over and over is to take the ball out of defence, always beating the first man with a simple knock of the ball into space, what happens next is a mix of a planed sequenced and rehearsed moves with his fullback or whoever is in midfield, once every 10 games or so his run will take him into the oppo box. Poetry in motion.
He caught the brunt of a lot of criticism in AVB's last few games and Sherwood's matches, I was one of those, was I and other fans right? Yes, on reflection I think we were. As fans we only have what happens on the pitch to make judgements, there was all sorts of shit happening off the pitch that was probably is the reason, but as fans we still want our players to put to one side the problems and lift themselves for us fans (romantic i know but find a fan that doesn't want this), his body language was shit on and off the pitch (complete opposite to what it is today).
This year I have never seen him look so happy, always got a smile on his face. This is the best season he has ever had with us and is a clear contender for player of the year, which will probably go to Kane. Last year he was also in top form and was marginally better than Alderwerield. His intelligent and understands exactly what the manager wants, he's there directing, controlling and communicating to his players making sure that tactically we are on point.
Erisken is a genius, he is the only player we have on our team that when he doesn't play we can struggle. We miss him more than if Kane wasn't playing. Not only is he a maestro with the ball at his feet he works his arse off too, his running stats are consistently in the top three of the side every single game! He now has developed into a player that can effect the game whether he drops deep in front of the CB's, out wide on the right or as a classic 10 roaming behind his striker or the front three. His quite disposition is endearing to us Spurs fans, it might be a problem for his agent as I also think it keeps him out of the headlines and he doesn't get spoken about as much as he should, just compare his numbers to that of Courtinho and tell me who is the better player. Is he the fittest player in the league? He's never injured and for one to work so hard it's truly amazing he's able to consistently be as brilliant game after game as he is.
Alderweireld, brought the steel, the backbone and composure to this side. There is a fire in his belly that's infectious, he's tenacious and this competitive spirit now runs through the veins of this entire team. His diagonal balls out to either wing or picking out a late running Dele from 60yrs is another popcorn moment for us watching. Above all though it's his 1v1 defending I honestly haven't seen a better defender 1v1 (insert a gif example of this from when we played BVB).
But, you can't talk about these two CB's without saying just how perfect they both are as partners, the best CB partnership in World football! They compliment each other so perfectly mostly by compensating for each other weaknesses so well, Jan's weakness 1v1 defending cancelled out by Toby's 1v1. Both of them comfortable splitting (DM dropping between them) going out wide (Belguim RB and LB) is a feature to our build up.
Sanchez, given his age and this is only his 2nd season as a full professional and that he's come into a team that's one of the most aggressive high pressing sides in one of the most aggressive leagues in the world, without a pre-season with his team, then one word, wow! He's not raw, I was expecting that. Whilst he is far from the finished article and theres a lot of improvement to be made across all areas he's shown that this lad is quality, given his age he's better and clearly competing at a higher level than both Jan and Toby at the same age, the future is very, very bright for him.
ochhail:
