Aug 032010
Apologies for the laboured headline. I try too hard to be clever sometimes. My parodies would prove that to you.
Following the South American Copa Libertadores, Sandro [Ranieri Guimares Cordeiro] will be jetting off to lovely, sunny North London to join Spurs after SC Internacional agreed a deal with them. The two clubs are affiliated with each other so that Spurs get first pick on all Internacional Youth Academy players.
Sandro is a solid defensive midfielder with purported ability to get forward and may be tipped as the other 50% of what could be one of the most formidable midfield partnerships in the League. Honduran hard-man Wilson Palacios is the other 50%. However, I have to be a Doubting-Thomas and voice my concern.
Whilst I’m excited about Sandro donning the pure lilywhite strip in just a few weeks, by joining Palacios in central-midfield, a Chopper-Harris style midfield would be formed (non-Chelsea fans, Google for more info). Palacios’ cards record hasn’t presented him in the best light possible. A shining example lies in last season’s away match against Manchester United. The Honduran had a very bad day at the office. He bundled Nani over in the penalty area and was generally uneasy in defence that day.
There is no point in doubling the chances of losing a player during such an important era in Spurs history [e.g. Champions' League qualifiers]. There is now no scope for silly tackles and both Sandro and Palacios carry a risk of doing so.
Additionally, I have a ‘no sh*t Sherlock’ reason for it not working out; and that is – Having two defensive midfielders is too defensive. Spurs may have one of the best defences and goalkeepers in the League on a good day, but are comparably light in attacking prowess and need the stylish playmaking of Modric to maintain a wider range of attacking options than simply wing-play from Lennon and Bale.
Goalscoring ability upfront is also scarce at times. Spurs need more weight upfront (goalscoring ability, NOT Tom Huddlestone). Therefore, I’m much more excited about Yannick Djalo; the Guinean-born, Portuguese youngster who has been impressing Sporting Clube de Portugal (Sporting Lisbon to you and me) with his winger skills and his eye for goal.
Djalo has shown interest in moving to England and his agent cited Tottenham as Djalo’s next destination, possibly during this transfer window, if not pretty soon. He could be Spurs’ ‘Signing of the Season’.
Additional Info: The award for ‘Signing of the Season’ 2009/2010 went to Niko ‘Ginola v2.0′ Kranjcar.
14 Responses to “Peanut Butter or Djalo with my Sandro-wich?”
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I think we’ll play 4-5-1.
accomodating a combination of Sandro/Palacios/Hudd in centre on occasion, plus modders/lennon/bale(?) in the adv. mid, right/left slots.
Sandro is a box-to-box player rather than naturally defensive mf and, therefore, you’ve no need to worry about being too defensive minded!
Although Sandro looks quality defensively, all the clips I’ve seen of him on Youtube seem to indicate that he isn’t very forward thinking – he tends to like playing the ball sideways rather than forward, potentially slowing down the Lennon/Bale counter-attack. Hopefully there is more to him than the clips show, but if not, we could have another Zakora on our hands!
Makoun, Huntelaar definitely to avoid, i can easily call them Zokora and Kezman..Specially Huntelaar avoid like disease, too light weight, too weak, no pace therefore no thanks, I would keep and give another season to injury free, high in confidence Dos Santos, at least he is OURS..Makoun is another Zokora so dont waste no money or time, if he was any good Arsene Wenger after loooking at him for a whole of last season , would have signed him already, he instead groomed young kid Frimpong, thats how good makoun is..Djalo? Not the inspiring,Marquee signing , but Sporting in particular Portuguese usualy produce very much top quality winger/forwards Nani, Ronaldo, Quaresma,Conceicao etc in recent years, but buying a winger from Sporting doesnt always mean good news for Spurs (Dominguez anyone?), still though only young and wont cost much, he is worth gambling on..Harry playing mind games by claiming poverty simply because of everyone assuming that we are prepared to buy and spend big due to our top 4 finish, once we qualified for the group stages then watch the flood gates open..watch this space..
I also like the 4.5.1.
Gomes
Corluka Bassong Dawson(c) BAE
Hud Sandro
Lennon Modders Bale
Crouch/Defoe
Kranjcar, Palacios, King, Keane, Pav, Bentley, Giovani
How many option do you have with that line up…Come on you Spurs………
Well, ultimately Palacios is not a defensive midfielder either. When we first signed him, he didn’t sit at all. He was immense, getting from box to box, running midfield. I miss that guy. For that reason, I do think that on occasion, Sandro + Palacios could work well in a 2-man centre midfield. And before anyone says ‘no, that’s too defensive’, Germany, Holland, Brazil, and many other nations are currently playing with 2 ‘holding’ midfielders and let the forwards / wingers / wing-backs do the damage.
I’ll second the COYS call…
COYS! (i’msoexcited!)
How good will it be with either formation 4.4.2 or 4.5.1 with both Bale and Lennon as the wide men. Pass to burn and fry any defence. Distribution of either Hud and Sandro as holding players. Can’t wait for the season to start. Does anyone know how Woodgates progress is????
There seems to be the argument of whether we play in a 442 of 451. The easy answer is… play both. 442 home games and 451 in the away and other tough games because we will one hell of a defensive team with the 451 as well as the speed on the counter. I personally would rather see Hudd over Wilson and think there will be a constant swap between Sandro and Wilson and the reason being that they both seem like yellow card players (i can only comment on what limited info i have seen on sandro). And with this in mind, the chances are that at any one time, one of them will be suspended and cannot risk both of them at the same time. We may even end up playing Jenas as a result. May God have mercy on us all.
I’m uber optimistic on this next season and honestly can’t wait to get started COYS
Yid Jackson,I believe that to be what Harry wants to be honest,he has said 4,5,1 for Europe especially away from home and against the better teams in England,whilst reverting to 4,4,2 when playing the lesser teams.
With all due respect to your knowledge of the format that we need to play in, I somehow would welcome comments
from our technical staff to participate in the debate & make notes to compare our opinions. This can prove to be a very constructive input by both fans & staff.
We welcome the tech. staff to comment.