Yes wishful thinking on my part. It just makes it easier when his inevitable seasonal injuries occur. More than anything I want to see Poch rotate and keep everyone fresh... There must be no holy cows and guaranteed starting places.
Ex-Player Watch Player watch: Jan Vertonghen
- Thread starter Dharmabum
- Start date
Yes wishful thinking on my part. It just makes it easier when his inevitable seasonal injuries occur. More than anything I want to see Poch rotate and keep everyone fresh... There must be no holy cows and guaranteed starting places.
hughy
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- Nov 18, 2007
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Agree with all of that apart from the bit about Kane. Yesterday was the perfect example of why you play Kane for 90 minutes even when he's had a poor game.
IMO Kane should only be rested for domestic cup games or if we're 2/3-0 up in the PL/CL.
ValenciaYid
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- Jul 17, 2008
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Apparently he was simply “dropped”....
Valid point there, I do think though it was more to do with Eriksen coming on. Last year Klopp and Pep subbed off Salah and Aguero... I remember in the one game where Pool had a slender lead and Salah was dropped around the 70 minute. I guess where we need the goal fare enough keep him on. In games where we comfortably leading at the 60 minute mark I want to see him rested.
voxy28
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That came from nowhere...
Shadydan
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- Jul 7, 2012
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Agreed, if he doesn't start we clearly have a problem.
McFlash
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- Oct 19, 2005
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I'm sure there's nothing to worry about and as others have said, Sanchez needs the playing time.
But it might even be something as simple as fitness.
Sanchez has been playing over the summer and is young, so naturally fitter.
Everyone has seen Toby working his bollocks off on social media during the off season but maybe, Jan has been a bit lazy and hasn't come back as fit as Poch would have liked.
The only social media thing I saw from him over the summer, was him chilling at the Tour de France, a day or two before reporting back.
I'm not saying that this is the case but it's a possibility.
But it might even be something as simple as fitness.
Sanchez has been playing over the summer and is young, so naturally fitter.
Everyone has seen Toby working his bollocks off on social media during the off season but maybe, Jan has been a bit lazy and hasn't come back as fit as Poch would have liked.
The only social media thing I saw from him over the summer, was him chilling at the Tour de France, a day or two before reporting back.
I'm not saying that this is the case but it's a possibility.
EastLondonYid
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- Jan 26, 2010
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Yes we get he was dropped, but something else must have happened or he would have been sub.
He has either thrown a moody or upset Poch with a comment.
Can't believe all is well, something must have happened.
Zummerzet Spur
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The more depth and quality we add to the whole squad, the more often we’ll see this happen imho.
JUSTINSIGNAL
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- Jul 10, 2008
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He’s just been rested. Fact is people are constantly moaning about depth of the squad and signing more players. When you have so many good players some of your favourites will be left out occasionally. This is what Poch is alluding too. Whether that be to rest them, send a signal to get them to work harder in training etc... it won’t always been something sinister. We need to get used to this.
Buggsy61
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- Aug 31, 2012
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he is in the inner core of players who is first on the team sheet, so there is clearly a problem , as due to his versatility he would have least been on the bench.
Given he is in the last year of his contract there might be another deal on the table he is mulling over, so they might think his head is not in the right place and/or there is an offer from abroad - there will be lots of takers for a player of his calibre.
Either way hope it all blows over soon as Super Jan is one of the best players I have seen in a Spurs shirt.
Given he is in the last year of his contract there might be another deal on the table he is mulling over, so they might think his head is not in the right place and/or there is an offer from abroad - there will be lots of takers for a player of his calibre.
Either way hope it all blows over soon as Super Jan is one of the best players I have seen in a Spurs shirt.
EZSpur
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- Jun 6, 2007
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Totally get this and hope it really is the case.
But in the first game of the season you want an almost guaranteed result, a win, which requires you to put your best team out - Vertonghen will ALWAYS be in that lineup.
4-5 games in, if the squad needs rotating then so be it, but something seems amiss with his exclusion.
I am however more than happy to be proved wrong.
BringBack_leGin
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- Jul 28, 2004
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one man’s big picture objectivity is another man’s sickeningly positive trolling I guess.
End of the day, of Dier is on the bench as midfield cover, then there’s no need for another centre back as he is more than good enough to come on and play there and we only play with two... we are almost never going to sub off both centre backs. Therefore, Wanyama and Skipp, as midfielders, are more useful than Vertonghen off the bench as, apart from coving the three central midfielders that dud start, they’re also useful for being on for the attackers if we need to shore up for instance.
I’m not saying there’s nothing untoward about Vertonghen’s exclusion, I imagine it was due to poor training (Pochettino’s comments about Kane showing up in the expected shape because he’s professional seemed more aimed at those who didn’t do so then praising Kane), but that’s really nothing to get concerned about, just means that Vertonghen must do better as with a player as capable as Sanchez trying to break through, his position isn’t safe. If Vertonghen isn’t performing well enough in training to start, why on earth put him on the bench?
EZSpur
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But Verts had a full pre-season and didn't he play every pre-season game too?
He might not be as fit as some of the younger players but IMO he'd certainly be fit enough to play the first league game.
EastLondonYid
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- Jan 26, 2010
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Sorry not buying that.
First game of the season and not on the bench, and Poch afterwards seemed very uncomfortable with his reasons, no smiles or real sense it was nothing, I hope I'm wrong but i don't believe it was just resting.
I do hope and believe that they are sensible enough to sort what ever it was out, if ofc there was a problem.
