Will Millwall be Jansens last major opportunity to impress


Jansen will need to impress if given a chance against Millwall


Vincent Janssen has had a tough first season at Tottenham Hotspur and there is no guarantee he will get a second. Players like Benjamin Stambouli and Clinton N'jie have been moved on after a season when it was deemed they were not good enough, or more accurately, had not developed in the way we had hoped.

Nobody can fault his hard work, the effort he puts in on the field perhaps takes him away from where we want him to be at times, on the end of something to score goals. He work with his back to goal is right up there, however you can not see him doing what Harry Kane did against Everton for his first goal. Janssen doesn't seem to create himself many shooting opportunities.

Mauricio Pochettino warned him he must do more. He has had a pre-season with us and he has had a new country, a new type of physical football, a new level of fitness and a new system to cope with. He, I would suggest, has been mentally challenged far more than he has before in having to deal with so many changes.

Our system isn't the easiest to learn and it seems after Mauricio Pochettino made his public comments Vincent Janssen has taken them in the right way. He has stated he wants to stay at Spurs and prove himself to the fans. That begins on the training pitch, it is there he has to impress to get selected. Football is not a charity where you simply give a player a run of games to give them a chance. That is the losers approach. Winners expect an instant impact or at least signs of encouragement.

"You need to analyse the game. For me it was a choice between Son on the bench or Vincent. We decided to replace Harry with Sonny. I always try to be honest and fair. I am very happy with Vincent's reaction over the last few weeks and how he is training now.

"He realised the need to fight on the training ground and try to give me the trust and the confidence for after to give the possibility to play. I think he took a very good way now to try to fight for his place here. It is true he has a little problem in his foot."

If one was looking for positives, and the season isn't over so we should be, it is that he has taken the criticism of Pochettino well and responded in the right way. That at least shows mentally he is on the right track. Time is running out for the Dutch international though and the game against Millwall may offer him one of his last major opportunities to impress.



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