Is there a light at the end of the tunnel for Janssen?



I can't deny I was a pro Vincent Janssen man when we signed him and have been disappointed that his game hasn't developed as fast as we would have liked or adapted to the Premier League as fast as we would have liked.

Mauricio Pochettino has been taking him off when he does get a start or coming on with little time remaining to do anything worthwhile. Throughout that he has run around and tried (memories of Harry Redknapp and Roman Pavlyuchenko spring to mind).

Poch has given him a public dressing down in so much as he has told the media he has to try harder in training (same thing going on with Jose Mourinho and Luke Shaw at the moment) and the Dutchman has responded. He is only young and this is only his second season of top flight football so while it was looking as though he may depart, perhaps he may yet stay, he says he wants to.

Recently I have seen signs that he is coming to terms with things, there isn't a dramatic change, he was always good at holding up the ball with his back to goal and bringing teammates into the game. Last night, again with his back to goal, he produced a lovely flick to put Son Heung-min in to score and put us 2-1 up.

Had that flick come from Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen or Dele Alli the studio pundits would be eulogising about that moment, as it was Janssen though, he hardly got a mention. The Spurs fans at the game knew who was the hero. They were singing his name at half-time, wanting him to come on for Moussa Sissoko (unsurprisingly) and again at full-time.

The 22-year-old (23 in June) had made the second goal and collected the ball our of our defence, beating his marker to the ball, holding it up and playing us in down the right-hand side where Dele Alli played a sweet ball into the path of the onrushing Christian Eriksen to slot home our third.

He didn't score but made a significant contribution and could go home a happy man. Both his Premier League assists have been for Son to score and have come in 725 minutes across 22 games.

In total this season he has played 1,247 minutes, equivalent to 13.85 games and scored 5 goals with 4 assists. His goals have come every 249 minutes while a goal or an assist for a goal has come every 138 minutes. When looked at in those terms his contribution isn't perhaps as bad as it first appears.

Does he still have a future at Spurs? The season is running down and time is running out to show the fans more on the field.

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