Tottenham’s shape and midfield

With Sandro returning from injury soon, how will we organise our midfield ? Sandro for me is the heart and soul of our team and unless he is injured he should be playing every Premier League game. Put simply Sandro Raniere Guimarães Cordeiro is a demi god – he is “The Beast”. The idea that Sherwood does not want to play a holding midfielder was trashed as we thumped Newcastle last Wednesday night. Capoue was designated holding midfielder, as admitted by Bentaleb in an interview after the Newcastle game, with Paulinho and Bentaleb as the number 8’s. Dembele was sent out to the right where he occasionally swapped with Lennon on the left. Personally much as I appreciate Dembele for doing a manful job out wide he was really wasted. He, more than anyone in a Spurs shirt, has the ability to glide effortlessly past opposition. Whilst he hasn’t always been that productive, it opens the game up for others. Capoue has been off the pace every time he plays and it is only a matter of time before he is red carded. The choice between Dembele and Paulinho is a more difficult one and they do seem some what interchangeable – so perhaps it is a form choice – whomever is in form gets the shout. For me that is Dembele right now.

Looking at our formation we seem to play two up front when playing poorer opposition (especially at home) that would leave 4 in the midfield. Lennon or Townsend wide right and Eriksen wide left with Dembele and Sandro in the middle. Sandro with the holding role. When we play with a loan striker (obviously Adebayor) I would like to see Sandro as the holding midfielder with Dembele and Eriksen (as a number 10) in the middle, with Lennon on one side and Townsend on the other. This allows wingers to swap out, Paulinho to come in as a sub for Dembele if we are losing or if Mousa is having a poor game and for Eriksen if we want to close the game out.

Bentaleb would be on my bench along with Paulinho, Lamela (when fit – Chadli otherwise), Chiriches, Dawson, Soldado and Friedel. Sigurdsson doesn’t make my bench neither does Naughton nor Harry Kane nor Capoue nor Chadli once Lamela gets fit.

I think that Tim Sherwood may not hold the same level of fondness for Sandro as I do and he may well persevere with Bentaleb but in March we have some tough games and “The Beast” will definitely be required not least because Bentaleb looks out of his depth against the bigger teams. With the mobility of Kaboul and the finesse and game reading ability of Vertonghen we are really solid at the back. I will miss Dawson’s commitment but little else ! Chiriches scares me when he starts turning on the ball. The Beast would solidify the centre of the park and we might start fulfilling our potential.

What would you do with our midfield ?

Against Liverpool would you play both Capoue and Sandro as holding midfielders ?