Why Tottenham’s Vincent Janssen needs to take his opportunity against Fulham this weekend

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Tottenham have had a disappointing week with losses to Liverpool and Gent, but they have a good opportunity to bounce back in the FA Cup against Fulham. It will be a difficult cup tie, but the Lilywhites must get back to winning ways to prevent this run from becoming a rut. The FA Cup isn’t what it once was, but it still represents the chance to lift a trophy and that is something that this young Spurs team needs to aspire to. Success breeds success and a trophy win could provide the club with the winning mentality that they need to become title challengers on a consistent basis.

Mauricio Pochettino will be forced to rotate his squad as he has the Europa League to contend with. One player that didn’t make the matchday squad on Thursday was Vincent Janssen, and given that Harry Kane suffered a knock in Belgium, he could feature from the start against Fulham. It hasn’t gone to plan for the Dutchman since his big money move, but he remains relatively inexperienced. He had only one full season in the Eredivisie. Janssen has a lot to learn, and sometimes that is forgotten. That said, he needs to start showing more soon as a lot of money was invested in him and patience is running out at White Hart Lane.

Sometimes players need time to adjust to English football, especially when they come from the Eredivisie. The Dutch top flight is less physical and there have been plenty of players that have struggled to make the transition to the Premier League. It was always going to be a risk to spend money on Janssen after only one season in the Eredivisie and questions need to be raised about Tottenham’s transfer policy. They needed to bring in an alternative to Harry Kane and they tried to do so on the cheap, weeks before spending £30 million on Moussa Sissoko. It is difficult to make sense of the two moves.

However, those questions will have to wait until another time, as the club need to fully focus on the rest of the current season. Janssen has to prove that he can be a valuable squad player for the club and that needs to start with a good performance against Fulham. Although they are a good Championship side, their defence remains questionable. Only one side has a worse defensive record in the top half of the Championship than Fulham. That is an area that Tottenham can look to exploit and Janssen needs to make the most of any chances that come his way. The Dutchman has no room for error and it will be a huge test of his mentality.

Those doubting Janssen need to look at his record with AZ Alkmaar. He had a similarly slow start with the Dutch team before scoring 20 goals during the second half of the 2015/16 Eredivisie season. Although it is unlikely that he can achieve a similar achievement with Tottenham, it highlights how it can take him time to adjust to his new surroundings. If he manages to score a quarter of that before the end of this season, he could yet secure himself a future with Spurs.

It was a blow for Janssen to be left out of the squad to face Gent and it shows how far his stock has fallen since moving to White Hart Lane. However, it should mean that he starts this weekend and he needs to add to his four Tottenham goals if he does. There could be an opportunity on the horizon in either the Premier League or the Europa League given Harry Kane has suffered a knock. There are lots of doubts surrounding Janssen and he needs to put an end to one or two this weekend.

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