Player Watch: Davinson Sanchez

[Sophos151]

We’ve probably been spoiled by Dier and Vertonghen both being good when played as full-backs, Foyth too arguably. Was never going to be an easy game for Sanchez.

 

[Lifelong]

My biggest issue with him is he tries to play football in the wrong places. He is trying to beat a player when what is needed is booting it up field or into the stands so that the team can regroup and get themselves sorted. The amount of times he loses the ball and puts us under immediate pressure is totally unnecessary. Cut this part out of his game and I think there is definitely something to work with.

 

[dontcallme]

The problem with the debate is simple. Too many people who have to go over the top with their criticism and some who think saying he’s young is the end of the discussion.

I was quite impressed with Sanchez when he started. He made a few errors but looked to have potential.

At the moment he doesn’t seem to be excelling at anything.

His positioning at times is off, doesn’t bully defenders, doesn’t look comfortable on the ball and isn’t quite as quick as first thought.

He isn’t terrible in any of these areas but there is cause for concern.

 

[Japhet]

People are battering him but I don't really see the point.

He had to play there in my opinion, correct call to put the one with more mobility and quicker out wider and your more experienced players with a bit more nous in the heart of the defence.

Yes he didn't look comfortable, it impacted his game and he had a tough afternoon, playing him at right back is clearly for an emergency scenario only. At least we learned something today. We move on.....

Might have been better to have played Toby at RB where he's played plenty for Belgium, and had Sanchez at CB. All water under the bridge now though.

 

[joelstinton14]

It was a really difficult game for him yesterday. It is obvious he will never play there again unless we got no other option. But he did do one thing well yesterday and that was playing quick passes passes into attacking areas, especially the first half. He started a couple of attacks yesterday with those passes. Hopefully he can see those passes when he is playing CB for us.

 

[Gassin's finest]

Baffling decision to play him at full back tbh. He probably did about as well as you could expect. Aurier must be right down in Poche's estimation.

 

[Shadydan]

Neville went proper OTT on him, thought he did well considering the circumstances - don't want to see him there again though.

 

[wirE]

The problem with the debate is simple. Too many people who have to go over the top with their criticism and some who think saying he’s young is the end of the discussion.

I was quite impressed with Sanchez when he started. He made a few errors but looked to have potential.

At the moment he doesn’t seem to be excelling at anything.

His positioning at times is off, doesn’t bully defenders, doesn’t look comfortable on the ball and isn’t quite as quick as first thought.

He isn’t terrible in any of these areas but there is cause for concern.

Looking at the goals conceded against villa, man city and newcastle, him and rose are way off. Rose dropping down left and leaving a huge space between them. Imo they need to talk to each other and keep the space between them shut.

Davinson we all knew was gonna have a tough game against Arsenal on the RB. Honestly I'm surprised that we went with a 4 at the back rather than a 3 with rose and sissoko working as WB

 

[teedee]

I still find it remarkable that Sanchez has been in our first team since pretty much the day he signed for us, when he was 21. I think that must be close to unprecedented in the PL (at least for a defender).

FB is such a technical position that I don't blame him for being overwhelmed today. Where you're supposed to be standing at any given moment, and the various angles you need to cover and worry about, must give you a total brain overload if you're not used to it.

Maybe you can argue he'll never be a FB - fair enough - but the idea of blaming him for today, or excessively berating him, seems wrong-headed to me.

That he was played at RB is not Sanchez's fault. Incredible when we had Aurier sitting on the bench.

 

[rio bryan]

Not according to this video, the winger isn't even running, he's calling for the ball, Rose needed to recognise that when Atsu had the ball besides if he did carry on running the danger still would have been Joelinton as it's more central to the goal and more of a threat.

You can't get away from it it's poor defending by Rose although like I said the whole team didn't defend it very well but Rose is probably the biggest culprit here.

Centre half's job to be aware of where the opposing CF is and if that is central then move to cover him, being as he obviously wasn't aware then Rose should have been letting him know while at the same moving round to cover !

 

[Havre]

Pochettino is stubborn. He clearly likes Sanchez so like Sissoko before him he will give him every opportunity to come good. We saw the same with Dier for a long time as well. I am still open to him being right about Sanchez. Apart from those Titus Bramble-like mistakes Sanchez isn't a bad central defender. And he looks a lot more comfortable on the ball than he did when he first arrived. Personally he looks like a player with some fight in him. I like that.

I also kind of like the idea of him being challenged to play as a RB. He wasn't up to it, but I'm hoping it might help him develop his positioning as a CD having to play out of position.

I had really high hopes for Sanchez. I'm starting to lose faith, but I haven't given up completely yet. Might be indications that we bought him too early though. That he would have been better off establishing himself at a slightly smaller club in a bigger league than the Dutch. van Dijk moved through Southampton, Maguire taking it step by step etc.

That said. Look at what we were up against yesterday. Luiz and Sokratis aren't exactly world class CDs either. Even City are struggling to find CDs that work. For all his flaws it is not easy to just find CDs better than Sanchez.

 

[DannyNZ]

If Aurier was fit to play then this was just madness. Accepting all the excuses about he was out of position he was simply at sea and should never have been put in that position. The only thing in his favour was he was marginally better than Rose who had an absolute shocker.

 

[rio bryan]

People keep saying that Centre backs don't peak until mid 20's rightly so but you would expect a gradual improvement defensively up until then and sadly that doesn't seem to be happening

 

[Spurrific]

People keep saying that Centre backs don't peak until mid 20's rightly so but you would expect a gradual improvement defensively up until then and sadly that doesn't seem to be happening

Our team performances have got worse - he has just been randomly scapegoated for it.

 

[Spurs 1961]

Sanchez took one for the team yesterday playing out of position. Like all young defenders he has to learn his trade but will do. We need to lift our heads up and see the longer term picture. He and Foyth are quality but not the finished articles yet

 

[dagraham]

Two biggest issues with Sanchez for me have always been :

a) that he sometimes seems more interested in having a physical battle with someone than actually reading the game. I wouldn’t mind if he nearly anyways came out on top in this regard, but he often doesn’t.

b) he is simply not comfortable with the ball. You can sense the panic in him when he receives it. Which was why him at RB made little sense. The way we play out from the back going back and forth from CB to Lloris often ends with a ball out to the fullbacks and every time as soon as he was closed down he panicked.

 

[dimiSpur]

Our team performances have got worse - he has just been randomly scapegoated for it.

I would strongly disagree with that.

Our team performances have been below par, and he cannot take the sole blame for our results. However, his performances have contributed to those poor team performances.

He was woefully out of position for the opener in the Aston Villa game. Likewise, against Newcastle he was in midfield for some absurd reason in that chance they had before they scored. He was then in a poor position for their goal after that.

I won't talk about his performance yesterday which was below par, yet he was playing in an unfamiliar right back position, with no real protection against quality opposition. Of course, he did initially lose possession on the half way line in the 45th minute yesterday, in poor fashion. That cannot go down to "playing out of position" as he attempted to dribble past an opponent in a dangerous position, when every single Spurs man watching that knew the importance of going in at half time 2-0 up.

There is no doubting his potential and the fact that his positional play ought to improve with age. Neither does it alter the fact that we seem to have a player that could well be a future star in his position. I wouldn't scapegoat him, but so far this season he has made a few horrendous positional errors, the like of which he hasn't committed in the past (or at least not that bad!).

 

[Primativ]

He’s doesn’t seem to read the game very well. He’s more of a blocker type CB and can be very rash. Let’s be honest he was all at sea first half yesterday but he was out of position.

His pace and recovery is good.

Jury is still out for me, on whether he will be a great CB or just an average one. Still young, time will tell.

 

[King of Otters]

Not just an judgement on his performance yesterday, but I don’t think he’s improved at all since he’s been here. When he first arrived he was a raw brute of a defender, now he seems more timid, slower off the mark, but no better at reading the game or playing out from defence.

I’m reluctant to write him off as top defenders often don’t mature until 25+ (Toby and VVD two obvious examples), but I am starting to worry that he’ll never be at the level of Toby or Jan. That’s even more concerning as both of those could be out of the club this time next year.

 

[Kiedis]

He didn't have a good game, but I have absolutely no confidence that Aurier would have done any better.