2 hours ago
26
Jamie Carragher has said that there is a reason why no big club went for Joao Palhinha apart from Tottenham Hotspur this summer.
The 30-year-old has delivered what was expected of him since his loan move from Bayern Munich in the summer.
Palhinha has been posting excellent numbers on ball recoveries, tackles and interceptions this season, and his addition has undoubtedly made Spurs much more solid defensively.
However, many have pointed out that Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentancur rarely pass the ball forward, which is seen as the main reason why the Lilywhites are struggling to create chances with regularity.
Jamie Carragher points to interesting Joao Palhinha stats for Tottenham
The midfielders across the Premier League were plotted on a graph for tackles and line-breaking passes on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.
Carragher pointed out that while Palhinha is comfortably outperforming almost every other midfielder for tackles, neither he nor Bentancur are making too many passes through the lines.
The Liverpool legend suggested the Portuguese international’s shortcomings in possession are why no other big club wanted him this summer, and Bayern Munich hardly played him last season.
Carragher said: “One of his [Thomas Frank’s] first signings is Palhinha. He is not capable, I don’t think, of doing this [breaking the lines with his passes]. There was a reason why teams from the Premier League didn’t buy him from Fulham. There was a reason Bayern Munich bought him and didn’t play him. So, that would be a worry.
“For Thomas Frank going forward, when you think of pragmatic managers in the past who have made the jump up from a smaller club to a bigger club, that has always been the problem, in terms of can they coach the rotations, the build-up play, to break the lines?”
Just one week ago, Carragher said Palhinha was Tottenham’s best signing of the summer. While he acknowledged his lack of playmaking skills, he called the midfielder ‘exactly what Spurs needed’.
Carragher wrote in The Telegraph: “The best signing under Frank so far is Joao Palhinha, a highly effective ball-winner more so than a playmaker.
“In the early stages of his Spurs career, Palhinha is exactly what Frank and his new club need, and it could bring instant success.
“Going forward, there will have to be an evolution, as the pairing of Palhinha and Rodrigo Bentancur is perceived by supporters to be over-cautious in home games.”
Can Spurs get away with a Palhinha-Bentancur midfield partnership?
Over recent weeks, many Spurs fans have been frustrated with Frank’s tendency to start Benancur and Palhinha together as they want to see Pape Sarr getting the nod over one of the two.
Frank has been adamant that he is happy with Tottenham’s midfield balance, and there is no doubt that the double-pivot he is using has made the Lilywhites hard to break down.
However, the only way to play the two experienced midfielders in a double-pivot is if you have a front four, which is extremely creative.
The injuries to James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski, and Xavi Simons’ early struggles at Spurs, mean that Tottenham do not have that. They are overly reliant on Mohammed Kudus to create chances.
Have something to tell us about this article?
English (US) ·