Chadder View: Tottenham must strengthen midfield early in January window with list of absentees set to grow
Matthew Chadder is a lifelong Tottenham fan who grew up just down the road from his beloved club in North London. He’s now putting his passion for Spurs into words with a daily fan view for Tottenham News…
Tottenham could find themselves with yet another selection crisis on their hands in January if they fail to strengthen in midfield early in the window.
While I of course took much delight in our 4-1 win against Newcastle United on Sunday (10 December), I am not allowing myself to get caught up in any hype or excitement just yet as I know that another selection crisis is on the horizon.
January is fast approaching, and it is a month which could prove to be extremely pivotal in Tottenham’s season. A make or break month, you could say.
AFCON is set to take place this year, a tournament which hasn’t impacted Tottenham too much over the past few years with very few of our first-team players ever from countries competing in the competition. However, this year, two of our key players will be jetting off to take part, and they are arguably the two players we can least afford to lose at this moment in time.
Pape Matar Sarr will be representing current holders Senegal as they look to make it back-to-back wins, while his midfield teammate Yves Bissouma will feature for Mali.
This can only be described as a nightmare scenario for Ange Postecoglou. While representing your country is of course a great honour, and as much as I wish the players well and hope they go far in the tournament, this couldn’t have come at a more inconvenient time.
Both Sarr and Bissouma have been regular starters this season, and with our third first-choice midfielder James Maddison sidelined with an ankle injury, it means we will be without our entire midfield trio for the best part of January and perhaps even into February.
As if things couldn’t get worse, Rodrigo Bentancur is likely to miss out on the majority of January as well, with these four players in my opinion, and I would like to think most Spurs fans’ opinion, the top four midfielders at the club.
What does this mean for us? It means we are looking at potentially two pivotal games in the FA Cup and a league trip to none other than Manchester United where we could be forced to line up with a midfield of Oliver Skipp, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Giovani Lo Celso.
While I mean no disrespect to these players whatsoever, I think it is fair for me to say that this is not a midfield which inspires me with the greatest confidence.
Fortunately for us, January just so happens to also be the month you can sign players from other clubs. Unfortunately for us, Daniel Levy doesn’t often like signing players from other clubs in January.
However, he is going to have to do it this year and do it fast, with our FA Cup clash against Burnley to come on 5 January, and our trip to Old Trafford nine days later, we will need any potential new midfielders through the door ideally during the first week of the month, if we are to have any chance of them bedding in and making an impact.
Levy is not a man who likes to act swiftly in the transfer market, often dragging out deals to the last minute if he can, but unfortunately for him, he will need to change his ways otherwise Spurs could be out of the FA Cup and falling behind in the league, which would really leave us with a crisis on our hands.
In other Tottenham news, one 83 per cent Premier League defender could prove to be a game-changer for Postecoglou.