Tottenham Hotspur Links: Christian Eriksen Named Danish Player of the Year
It’s officially the start of the second week of January so here’s the latest Tottenham Hotspur Links for you to read.
To begin, Tottenham’s Christian Eriksen has been named the 2015 Danish Player of the Year following his fantastic 2014-15 season, where the main highlight was seeing him help guide Spurs to the Capital One Cup finals. This is the third consecutive year that Eriksen has won the prestigious award in his young career.
Next up, Dele Alli’s dream of becoming a professional footballer wouldn’t have been nearly as easy or even possible, if his biological mother, Denise, hadn’t given him up for adoption six years ago. A tragic tale this is not, as it ends on a good note — or happily ever after. And finally, Hugo Lloris believes that if Totttenham wants to become a great team, then experience must be added to this young squad. These are the links below.
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For the third consecutive year in his young career, Christian Eriksen has been named Danish Player of the Year — which is a record by the way, three times in a row.
Other finalists included Leicester City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, Fenerbahçe center-back Simon Kjær, Sevilla central midfielder Michael Krohn-Dehli and Midtjylland midfielder Pione Sisto.
The winner of the prestigious award was announced hours before Tottenham would take on Leicester in their third round FA Cup tie at White Hart Lane.
And for Christian Eriksen, he won the award after a stellar 2014-15 campaign with 42 appearances, 12 goals and five assists in all competitions (38 appearances, 10 goals and two assists in the Premier League) while also helping guide Spurs into the Capital One Cup final against Chelsea. The Dane’s brace against Sheffield United in the semi-finals second leg to draw level 2-2, but ultimately win 3-2 on aggregate, was what set up Tottenham’s first ever championship final since the 2009 League Cup loss to Manchester United.
Here’s the Danish midfielder on being named Player of the Year for the third consecutive time (also sidenote: Google translate got a bit more information that the ESPN article couldn’t, just for your information):
"“I am very honored to win this award once again.”“It means a lot when it’s your colleagues who vote. So it’s a huge honor. I am really touched and think it’s going really well. Hopefully it stays that way. And then I go for the fourth also.”"
Because Eriksen won Danish Player of the Year once again, for the third time, he is now one away from matching Brian Laudrup for the record which stands at four. Christian Eriksen is currently level with Peter Schmeichel, Kasper’s father who won Danish Player of the Year on three separate occasions.
This story has a happy ending which is Dele Alli becoming a professional footballer and living his dream. But at the same time it’s not as sad as it sounds because there’s no ill will between the biological mother and her son, since giving up a then-13-year-old for adoption.
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Six years ago, Denise Alli was battling alcoholism and Social Services with her other three children while also trying to move Dele away from gangs that were in Bradwell.
As a whole, there was just too much negative influence surrounding a young kid who had a bright future ahead of him with eyes on becoming a professional footballer. So Denise made the decision to offer up Dele Alli for adoption with the Hickfords.
“It was tough to give up my son but it proved to be his salvation. I’m so thankful for how things have turned out,” Denise Alli speaking to The Sun.
“Despite giving him away I have never been estranged from Dele.”
“He would come back to my place for a sleepover about once every month. He is also close to his biological dad. Kenny is so proud of him.”
The only slight negative is how Denise Alli has yet to speak to Dele’s adoptive parents or watched him play football whether that was with MK Dons or now with Tottenham Hotspur. But still, everything has worked out well in the end and that’s all that Dele and Denise Alli could have asked for.
To have a great team, there needs to be balance. And that balance is having youth and experience. Young players will bring constant energy to a team. Their lofty goals and aspirations will help fuel a team to achieve success for a sustained period of time. Essentially, they’re hungry to perform and do good in order to become the best that they could be.
Veterans are the teachers of a team. They know what to do in certain situations and how to tackle them head on with an even keeled approach. And with their vast amount of knowledge and experience, they’re very reliable and clutch when the opportunity presents itself to help score the game-winning goal or — in Hugo Lloris’ case — preserve a win.
Speaking of Tottenham’s first-choice goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris has been open about what Spurs must do, or at least try to, in order to secure a top four finish at the end of the season and even become a great team — not just good.
“We are in this place today [because of Pochettino and his staff],” Lloris told Talksport. “[Pochettino] has a lot of responsibility. He tried to put us in the best condition and to bring us to the next step and for that we work hard every day, try to develop our skills and improve individually and collectively. We feel we are a good team, a strong team, but it is not enough, we want to become a great team and for that we need to add some experience because we are still young.”
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When you’re club captain speaks, everyone listens. When he’s the captain and a trusted veteran who has played on some good teams during his career, how can you not take Lloris’ words to heart?
Signing experienced players doesn’t necessarily mean they have to start in front of Tottenham’s youth talent who are preforming very well this season and at a high rate too. But they do need to have some playing time under their belt in order to feel welcomed after joining a new club.
Time will tell if Spurs go for a balanced approach once again like they did this past summer. And that was signing both youth (Clinton N’Jie, Son Heung-min and Kevin Wimmer) and veteran experience (Toby Alderweireld and Kieran Trippier).