Davinson Sánchez has stopped being paired with Eric Dier in central defence and as a result, his performances have notably improved. Against Crystal Palace last night the Colombian was pretty imperious.
Perhaps it’s a complete coincidence – but having previously established that Dier was making catastrophic errors, incapable of admitting them, and willing to deflect blame onto others – the explanation would be some tale.
Breaking down the 24-year-old’s passing reveals tonnes of goodness. Nobody passed the ball forward with greater accuracy.
Only one Tottenham player recovered the ball with greater frequency than Davinson.
Nobody made more successful clearances for either side than Sánchez.
Nobody made more successful defensive aerial duels for either side than Sánchez.
Tottenham are still finding line-ups that work, and this might be the point where those fans who badgered Mourinho for ‘chopping and changing’ his backline to draw a breath and try to understand that if you don’t know the combination to the locked briefcase, it can take a good few goes before the lock pops open.
The firsts are becoming more clear now.. The preferred formation is 4231. Lloris. Reggy Toby, Sanchez, Aurier. Hojberg, Ndombele. Son, Lucas, Bale, Kane……. This will be the line up against City next month.. I say Lucas for now in that CAM role. But hopefully it will be Gio. That CAM role is up for grabs with Coco and Dele also trying to get in.
Perchance to dream
I’m not 100% on selling him yet, we need to sell Dier ahead of him, that’s clear now unfortunately – I thought he had it in him to make a comeback but it hasn’t happened
If Sanchez plays well the rest of the season unless an offer above what we paid comes in I’d keep him and sign another first choice central defender.
Then he battles Rodon next season for that spot.
If he plays poor then he needs shifting if possible, time is up. Could be hard getting 2 in and 2 out in central defence in the same season…and that’s with Toby getting on too, if we receive a decent offer for him Levy might bite. A mess.
When Dier was all smiles with Scott Parker the other night I couldn;t help thinking – ‘Fulham, about your level Eric, c’mon Scotty put in a bid’
Agree DD. Although Rodon made a couple of mistakes Sanchez’s mistakes have led to goals. Prime example yesterday when he lost Benteke for the goal. I think we must look at Andersen if he’s available next season. Natural leader, good defender and superb passer.
Sanchez looks better with Toby, to be fair Dier looks better with Toby – it doesn’t take a genius to establish the common denominator here!
I must admit he has looked a lot better in the last two games teamed with Toby.But he reverted to type in the last ten minutes after going to ground and trying to defend on his arse.He has benefitted from Toby’s experience and guidance.He will be better tested in upcoming games.Dier does seem to be on his way.
Correct and likely to cost biggish bucks!
In fact up to six of the Fulham team are loanees.If they survive they will either be bought or the same process will take place next season..It’s a risky strategy.Incidentally is there a limit on the number of loan players appearing in a team for a match?
Anderson is only on loan at fulham from lyon i think
It’s not a mystery, unfortunately it’s just a reflection of the fact that it’s taken Jose too long to find out that Toby is our best CB. The truth is that Dier plays better with Toby also.
Neither Sanchez nor Dier have the passing ability of Toby nor the positional sense, but if left with a choice of those two inferior players as partners for Toby, Davinson has looked the better of late.
Personally I would prefer to pair Toby with Rodon, but right now Davinson is in surprisingly good form, so I agree it’s best to retain confidence in the lad and keep the partnership with Toby together.
Fulham will only be resigned to losing their prized asset Andersen for the right price (right fee being the operative words) if they are relegated!
There is a top class centre halve in Sanchez, we know this from what we saw in his first season with Spurs. He was in and out of the team under Poch and found it hard to put a run of games together. He’s has not been able to develop a partnership and has suffered as a result. Unlike Ali he actually is still young, 24 is no age for a centre halve. Centre-halve pairings generally complement each other e.g. Ferdinand/Vidic – ball playing centre halve Vs hard-nosed defender. Sanchez can shine with the right partner. Toby is that guy but is getting on. The other thing that strikes me about Sanchez is that he is not very vocal, perhaps he’s not the most confident lad and at the moment I don’t think it suits him to be the elder statements at the back. He needs somebody like Toby there, not donkey Dier or the inexperienced Rodon.
Spot on. Sanchez is flourishing alongside Toby and no doubt from Ledley’s calm influence and advice. Most of Dier’s mistakes are self inflicted and avoidable created by arrogance or naivety. He can be calm and excellent for 60 minutes but then make a rash tackle in the box or over play. Ledley would never go to ground or make rash challenges or decisions. In fact the one time he did he gave away a penalty against Man City and knew in his heart it was over. Ledley and Toby know when to ‘boot it into row Z’ Dier tends to play straight to an opponent not realising that whacking it out gives you time to reorganise. I like Dier but it’s sadly time to go. Back Sanchez
When you say Toby is our oldest defender he is not exactly ancient and injury prone?!!!
Whilst I hear what you say we must agree to disagree!!
This just highlights how vital it is to get a vocal ‘leader’ centre-back in the summer. Davison, Rodon, Tanganga all will benefit from having someone guiding them through games. Off the top of my head a couple of options would be Mings at Villa or Andersen at Fulham, both financially doable, vocal and would be a stop gap till our finances resolve to buying someone truly exceptional. Thoughts?
Toby is our oldest defender and Rodon our youngest, so this is like wondering why you never see any pensioners on skateboards
Sanchez played well in the season Toby did his hamstring vs Madrid. East said Jan was a leader in the back line and this obviously is key for Sanchez as he’s suspect to the occasional brain fart. Also makes sense that we’ve no one is able to in game marshall the back line in game hence error, panic comes into our defensive play and having to do so much defensive drills in training.
He’s young, inexperienced and has committed mistakes leading to goals (a mistake that killed the game off vs Liverpool at home and another that could’ve easily led to defeat at Chelsea). Also, the game he played well was against Sheffield United, bottom of the table.
He will play, but not much this season. He’s not yet a starter for the side we aspire to be.
SG given both his stature and maturity there is absolutely no logical reason why Rodon is not already a permanent fixture in the side me thinks!!
That’s two excellent performances from Davinson but I agree with SpursGoliath that we should maybe move him on. Too many mistakes at crucial times. As for Dier let’s be honest. If he didn’t speak Portuguese he wouldn’t be playing. Not a good midfielder or defender.
Be interesting to see how Davinson does in the crucial North London derby.
My strong preference would be to salvage Sanchez if that’s at all possible because he cost us an arm and a leg and time is running out for him improving – it’s stick or twist/keep or sell in the summer so we need to know which it is for him.
Rodon is staying and has time on his side, a pre season for him will tell us where we are at there.
Having worked well against Sheff Utd both mystified and miffed why it was disrupted?!!
Despite Sanchez strong performances of late my own personal preference is a Toby and Rodon pairing!!
I used to think that Eric Dier did not have the mobility to be a defensive midfielder, didn’t have the pace to be a right back and made too many mistakes to play in central defense. I always hoped those mistakes would fade away but they haven’t.
Definetely much better since being paired with someone who knows what He is doing experience wise. Mourinho has persevered but I suspect Dier’s days may be numbered.
Sanchez went walkies for their goal and Toby had to leave his man to cover but it was too late. I just don’t think Sanchez has the football intelligence required at this level.
Still looks nervous when under pressure of one on one needs to be more assertive. One occasion yesterday with Zaha behind him he passed back to Hugo but looked like the rabbit in the headlights
Sanchez has been the target of my ire for quite some time, but I would have to be very biased not to admit he’s improved.
I still sometimes worry about him (at Fulham he almost cost us two points by clearing the ball into an opponent), but I have more confidence in him than I’ve had since he came here.
Reguilon-Sanchez-Toby-Aurier is not the worst backline to call upon. Let’s see how the defence does against Aubameyang, Saka et al. next week.
One thing only he & Japhet have among our centrebacks is pace…all the teams challenging for honours needs at least one of the two to be quick. I was a bit disappointed with Doherty yesterday as all too often when he had the ball in our half it went backwards, and the standard of his crossing was on the whole quite poor.
I’m not one to say “told ya. You could see when he played with Verts that he could play.