To some Spurs fans’ surprise, Mauricio Pochettino decided to bring on Vincent Janssen from the wilderness when Spurs were looking for a late winner against Brighton on Tuesday.
It was Dutchman’s first appearance for the club for over a year and a half, and he certainly put himself about when he came on during the final ten minutes.
The Tottenham manager said during January of this year that the 24-year-old was not a part of his plans anymore (Football.London) but given the number of injuries Spurs are currently having to deal with at the moment, the Argentine’s hands were tied as Spurs ended the game against Brighton with both Fernando Llorente and Janssen in attack.
When asked why he had changed his mind about Janssen, the 47-year-old insisted that the former AZ Alkmaar striker’s injury was what kept him out his plans following his recall to the first team.
Speaking about the Dutchman, Pochettino told Football.London: “We need to clarify the situation. He was injured for the first part of the season and then when we decided that he started to be part of the team again, he got injured again.
“I think some people were wrong. Jesus [Perez, his assistant manager] showed me a tweet. He was injured and you [the media] said: ‘Why is he not involved?’. You jumped in a swimming pool with no water. But at that moment he was injured. Jesus shows me wrong things, things that are not true.
“We were helping him to recover. He was struggling with his fitness. He had problems with his feet. In the last months, he was training consistently with the team.
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“And now that he is in a position where he can help the team, of course, he is available to use, why not?”
When asked if Jannsen has a future at the club beyond this summer, the Argentine insisted that he did and that he believes in second chances.
He added, “Why not? (Janssen having a future with Spurs) I accept people can make mistakes and giving second chances is an important thing.
However, Pochettino refused to open up on exactly what mistakes the Spurs No.9 had made.
He said, “Now, with all we have ahead, it does not seem important to talk about going back. It is important he was involved. It is nothing wrong.
“There are many things that happened and you know better than me. Players wanted to leave for different reasons and then, in the end, they do not achieve to go.
“In the end, there are so many things around players and then they say sorry or ask to be forgiven by their managers.”
Spurs Web’s take:
It is never nice to see a player being completely ostracised at a club, and so it is great to see Janssen back in the first team fold. The reception that the striker received from Spurs fans on Tuesday night was an indication that they are still prepared to give him a chance to redeem himself.
However, one would think that unless he does something truly spectacular before the end of the season, his chances of staying at the club beyond the summer are extremely slim.
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