The omission of both Hugo Lloris and Toby Alderweireld from our FA Cup Semi-Final defeat left a sour taste in the mouth for a lot of supporters on what was our last chance of winning silverware for the season. Looking at Jose Mourinho’s team selection, it was clear that he was selecting the strongest team at his disposal to win the cup-tie while Pochettino has yet to win a trophy as a Manager compared to Mourinho’s trophy-laden cabinet of 23, played down beforehand the importance of winning the FA Cup.
Alderweireld who has declined the terms on offer of a new contract has not refused to play for the club to force a transfer to another club so why did Pochettino refuse to select him in our biggest games when he is clearly a proven asset for the club as a player who could only have enhanced our chances of winning against teams we’ve recently lost to such as Juventus, Manchester City and Manchester United.
We’ve looked far more vulnerable defensively without Alderweireld in the team despite an unbeaten run in the League which stretched to 14 games before our loss again to Manchester City at Wembley. Sanchez is a fine prospect who has had a very good first season however he is not yet the finished article where a few lapses in concentration have been ruthlessly punished. The three-man centre-back formation of Vertonghen, Sanchez and Alderweireld worked exceptionally well against Liverpool back in October which was perhaps our finest performance of the season where we destroyed Liverpool who have arguably the strongest forward-line in the league with Salah only able to score a consolation goal in our 4-1 demolition of Liverpool.
Alderweireld would clearly grace any of the clubs currently ahead of us in the Premier League and the hope is that should he leave which looks like it will definitely happen that we sell him to a club abroad rather than further strengthen a team as we did with Kyle Walker moving to Manchester City.
There will unquestionably be a huge void left should Alderweireld leave so who should we target to replace him and who else should we target to strengthen the squad?
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