Tottenham turncoat wrong to suggest Spurs can’t succeed
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Sol Campbell clearly loves aggravating fans of Tottenham Hotspur and is still sticking the boot into his former club almost 15 years after leaving them for north London rivals Arsenal
The 41-year-old retired defender has taken a break from politics to cast his eye over the title possibilities of Mauricio Pochettino’s side.
Speaking to Sport Lobster, the failed London Mayoral candidate said: “At the moment they’re going along fantastically well and you have to say they’ve given themselves a chance of winning the Premier League, but they don’t have a lot of winners in their team.
“By that I mean they don’t have players who have experienced success in a league of this quality, they’re a young side with a lot of talent but they might lack a player who has been there, done that.”
Firstly, the idea that you need to experience success in order to gain success makes no sense on a purely logical basis.
This is because, if only those who have won before can win again, there would eventually come a point when no one could possibly claim a league title.
Logic aside, the assessment of the Spurs’ team is wholly unfair and they have a number of players who can make the kind of impact needed to claim glory.
With the slightest bit of investigation you can see that the north Londoners actually do have a good number of squad members who know what it’s like to claim winners’ medals.
Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen, Mousa Dembele and Christian Eriksen have all won the Eredivisie, while Hugo Lloris, Ben Davies and Nacer Chadli have all triumphed in cups during their careers.
Even youngster Josh Onomah was part of the England under-17 squad that claimed the European Championship in 2014.
Campbell’s dismissal of the Eredivisie as a league that lacks quality is unfair, with the rivalry between Ajax and PSV Eindhoven, along with the emergence of teams like AZ Alkmaar and FC Twente making it a difficult title to win.
Encouragingly for Spurs, Alderweireld, Vertonghen and Eriksen all claimed Dutch league triumphs as part of the same Ajax team in 2011 and 2012, with this familiarity set to boost hopes of Premier League glory.
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