Tottenham’s Pochettino: Selecting Vertonghen Was Easy
Tottenham manager, Mauricio Pochettino, had what some believed to be a tough decision. But it turns out, selecting Jan Vertonghen was an easy choice against Manchester United last Sunday.
Jan Vertonghen has been one of the main leaders for Tottenham since he arrived four years ago in 2012. And for Mauricio Pochettino, it was an easy decision to restore him to the starting eleven once he became fit following a MCL injury suffered on January 23rd against Crystal Palace.
Even though Kevin Wimmer had been playing very well for nearly three months, Vertonghen was always going to return to Pochettino’s starting lineup. It was just a matter of time is all and according to the Argentine manager, with Tottenham hosting Manchester United, this was the fixture to bring back the Belgian international.
Related Story: Tottenham's Alderweireld on Jan Vertonghen's Return
The choice was partly made by confidence but also because Vertonghen is a leader in Tottenham’s changing room. Seeing as how he’s the vice-captain on a young team with the captain’s armband belonging to Hugo Lloris.
Speaking to Tottenham’s official website, this is how Wimmer was given the opportunity to play and why Vertonghen eventually reclaimed his starting job back (quotes via London Evening Standard).
“My tough decision was to select Kevin to play when Jan was injured because we had alternatives,” said Mauricio Pochettino.
“Maybe it was possible to play with Eric Dier and Toby [Alderweireld] in central defence but we showed trust in Kevin Wimmer and he did very well.”
“Jan Vertonghen is one of the leaders in the team, an international, he was fit and deserved to play because he worked very hard for two months.”
“The decision was easy for me.”
One of the earliest choices that everyone thought of as soon as Jan Vertonghen went down with injury was to have Eric Dier drop deeper and play next to Toby Alderweireld. Which would have made perfect sense because he played the position well enough last season while rotating at right-back once in a while.
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That, and with Dier at center-back Mauricio Pochettino could slowly integrate Kevin Wimmer into the team’s plans for next season as he was only getting regular starts in every competition except the Premier League.
Not to mention, taking over for Vertonghen was going to be a tough job for one of Spurs’ newly signed players.
And while Wimmer did very well in the Bundesliga with 1. FC Köln, the Austrian international was going to be tasked with keeping Tottenham’s best defensive record in shape for however long Jan Vertonghen would be away with injury. Which ended up being nearly three months.
Based on form, Kevin Wimmer should have remained as the starter alongside Toby Alderweireld, but simply based on experience, leadership and the bonus of playing with his compatriot during their Ajax days and the Belgium national team, Jan Vertonghen gets a slight nod to start ahead of the 23-year-old.
The good news with Wimmer no longer being a starter for the remaining fixtures this season is that Tottenham has found a capable backup for either Belgian internationals, should one go down with injury or needs a rest.
This is something that Mauricio Pochettino touched on.
“It’s tough now for Kevin but he has to keep fighting, try to improve every day and never give up,” Pochettino continued.
“Maybe now he feels disappointed because he didn’t play but I think he needs to be clever and still fight to put pressure on Jan and Toby.”
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With three starters at center-back, Tottenham couldn’t have asked for a better outcome from a very dire situation just three months ago.
Injuries are never good, but had Wimmer only been given Europa League games and cup competitions, Spurs might not have known what they had in the Austrian international besides a very good defender from the Bundesliga who looked good when called upon for Spurs. Nothing more, nothing less.
So in a way, Jan Vertonghen’s injury has been a blessing in disguise.