Barring any disasters, Tottenham should be starting their 2013-14 campaign with a fully fit squad, and that means the inclusion of long term injury victims Younes Kaboul and Sandro. Both players had a frustrating season and who knows what impact they might have had on our league position had they stayed fully fit?
Brazilian Sandro did at least get the chance to impress new Head Coach Andre Villas-Boas before his season ending injury at QPR while Younes only featured once in a competitive match but AVB himself knows the importance of the returning duo.
“It’s a very good start to pre-season for both players,” said Andre on the club’s official website.
“It’s great for Younes after a year out to come back to training and have double sessions with no problems.
“Sandro hit six months last week and we are on plan, he’s made an excellent recovery and we’re very happy with him.
“One more week and he’ll join the group and he will also join us for full training in Hong Kong.”
Sandro looks set to start the season in his customary role in defensive midfield while Kaboul will have more competition in a defence that became settled towards the end of the campaign. But the return of both men has to be good news ahead of Andre’s vital second year as Spurs’ boss.
On a different subject , I hope Spurs sign the experienced high scoring skilful player Nacer Chadli and not the inexperienced next so called Ronaldo, Alvaro Vadillo who has little skill cant tackle and loses the ball regularly trying to get passed 2 – 3 players at a time . I would really be disappointed if we miss out on Nacer Chadli who wants to come to Spurs to be with his Belgium team mates , Its not very often a player states publically that he wants to join Tottenham, check them both out on youtube and see which of the two you think is better obviously the best clips of these players have been put on youtube for you to view .
I like the look of Chadli, from the little I’ve seen of him, but I just hope that signing a player of his status, reputation and quality doesn’t hamper the progress of the young talent we already have on our books (most notably Townsend and Sigurdsson).
For me, the signing of the Belgian International ONLY makes sense if we are looking to offload the limited (and less gifted) Dempsey, AND if AVB is serious about squad rotation in other departments other than just the back 4.
I understand that AVB might of felt he did not always have the sufficient amount of quality to change his team, in more advanced areas of the field last term. But adding the likes of Chadli, a versatile attacking midfielder, to an already talented midfield department will leave him with little excuse.
My only concern is, like I said, that both Townsend, Sigurdsson and Holtby, for that matter, get the opportunities to play enough (important/meaningful) matches to realise their ENORMOUS potential.
Both players will give the team/squad a MASSIVE boost heading into the new season. We all know that Sandro is already a world-class operator and undoubtedly one of the top 3-5 in his position in Europe/South America, but it is the return of Kaboul that I think will prove even more decisive (providing he gets a good pre-season under his belt).
Big, strong, quick and technically sound, Younes has always had the physical attributes to become a world star.
During his first spell at Spurs, the major (but only) aspects of his game that were lacking were his concentration and reading of the game/positioning, two things that have come on leaps and bounds since his ‘transfer’ (loan move) to Portsmouth.
Assuming he comes back as good (if not better) as he was, when he got injured, he is UNDOUBTEDLY a starter, with the only question being who will partner the Frenchman.
The most complete defender on our roster, Kaboul has all the tools to deal with ANY type of striker he comes up against. This is something that CANNOT be said about our other central defenders.
You see, because while Dawson is strong and a great reader of the game, he can often be found wanting (left on his bum) when dealing with skilful/tricky forwards, with a turn of pace.
And whilst Jan Vertonghen improved the more he played at CB and got to know his opposition/league better, he can still be troubled while dealing with physically imposing forwards, who like nothing more than a good ‘tear up’.
Steven Caulker, for all his promise/potential, suffers from regular lapses in concentration, leading to ball watching rather than tracking runners. Although this is a flaw in his game that can be overcome by game time, good coaching and with experience, errors such as these can prove ‘fatal’ at the higher echelons of the game. Another area he has to improve on, is learning to use his size and strength to impose himself on more the opposition, in open play. Because even though from set pieces (attacking and defensive) he is unquestionably one of our most committed performers, he never really CONSISTENTLY transfers that same aggression into his duels in open play, often appearing too ‘nice’ to play against.
If he can improve on his focus, and add a nasty/combative streak into his overall game (that EVEN the extremely cultured and talented Ledley King had) then not even the sky will be able to limit this young man’s career prospects.
lets hope both stay fit then ship out parker ade bad buy livermore naughton bring in chadli salgardo and benteke