Vincent Janssen Must Look to Hugo Lloris' Tottenham Adaptation for Inspiration
The number of international players in Tottenham Hotspur's first-team squad means colleagues are bound to find themselves as opponents and rivals sooner or later. One such meeting came about in the latest round of World Cup qualifiers when Vincent Janssen's Netherlands hosted a France team featuring Hugo Lloris and Moussa Sissoko.
The result went against the Dutch with Paul Pogba's long-range, first-half strike proving the difference in a 1-0 win on Monday. The French are now joint top of qualifying Group A with Sweden, while their latest opponents sit three points behind in third place.
Although this result was obviously not what Janssen wanted, the international break still proved a welcome one in the midst of a trying period for him with his new employers. Playing against Lloris is timely in the respect the forward is going through a similar transition to what his club skipper did four years ago.
In a lively display, the striker set up one and capped off the Netherlands' preceding 4-1 win over Belarus with a driving, powerful, solo goal (the initial winning of the ball just inside the visitors' half will have most pleased his press-minded club manager, Mauricio Pochettino).
Janssen has scored just once for Spurs so far, converting a penalty in the 5-0 EFL Cup win over Gillingham. This strike (see above) should provide a welcome confidence boost in that regard.
His all-round play against France was in keeping with what the White Hart Lane faithful have already become familiar.
Janssen's exploits against Belarus were still fresh in the minds of the home fans when, just shy of the 15-minute mark, he collected the ball 30 yards out and charged at the France defence. The supporters' anticipation of a similar moment was audible, and even though he was crowded out, it set the tone for a determined display.
Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny needed to be on his toes to shut the persistent Spurs man down. He did just enough to guide him away from goal and concede a corner, then later on in the first half got down to block a shot after Janssen intercepted a pass and worked an opening.
Janssen kept at it in the second half, Netherlands looking most dangerous when they managed to bring him into the game. He did well holding off Raphael Varane but was off balance as he fired into the side-netting, and just over 10 minutes later, he found his cannon of a shot stopped again by Koscielny.
The 22-year-old's last major contribution as the Netherlands pushed for an equaliser was an alert header that set up Memphis Depay at point-blank range. Getting in his way was Lloris who, despite Janssen's efforts, had rarely been tested.
National-team duties complete for the time being, Janssen and Lloris will join Sissoko and their other international team-mates in getting back to the task of driving Tottenham's season forward.
Janssen has made 10 appearances since making his debut in an impressive substitute cameo in the season-opening draw with Everton following his move from AZ Alkmaar.
There has been plenty more to like about his subsequent performances as the industrious centre-forward seen against France has made his presence known to Premier League defences.
In his first start in the absence of the injured Harry Kane, he helped set up Heung-Min Son's opener in the win over Middlesbrough and followed that with a hard-grafting shift at CSKA Moscow in the Champions League.
Pochettino has hailed Janssen as "a fighter," and he looks a good fit for Tottenham's relentless, attacking style.
In a piece on the club's official website, De Telegraaf journalist Mike Verweij cited an appraisal by former Netherlands international Kees Kist in looking at how the player's transfer from the Eredivisie has already improved him:
"In his comments, he also mentioned Spurs, because he said everyone in the Feyenoord stadium could see Vincent has grown in London and become a much better player at Spurs, that he's become stronger. He said he was a nightmare for his opponents because even when they were pulling and pushing, he always kept the ball, his team-mates could always reach him and he was always in a good position to get the ball.
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That assessment is well in line with the player we have seen so far in England.
But as Verweij also pointed out, the lack of goals with his new team is an issue. So far his lack of a finishing touch has meant—after experimenting with them together—Pochettino prioritising Kane's starting and, despite some good work in the aforementioned spell, focusing the attack around Son in the win over Manchester City prior to the recent interlude.
Lloris is someone who can relate to what Janssen is going through.
There was ample excitement upon his arrival from Olympique Lyonnais in 2012 at Tottenham securing the services of one of Europe's most highly rated goalkeepers. Yet, even more so than Janssen, he had to bide his time waiting for a serious run.
Then-Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas stuck with Brad Friedel in goal to begin with. In his eyes, the veteran had done nothing worthy of losing his place.
"At the moment we feel that Brad is looking consistent and deserves to continue playing," Villas-Boas said, per the Guardian's Paul Doyle. "That is the common-sense approach and anything else would be extremely unfair. I have had a conversation with Hugo and he fully understands this."
The Portuguese praised Lloris' willingness to compete with Friedel. If left to get on with it, the transition from the older 'keeper to his young replacement may have happened smoothly, albeit with some frustration for the latter.
Unfortunately, France boss Didier Deschamps butted in to voice his concern and made it a story, almost a controversy. He described the situation as "incomprehensible" at one point, per Sky Sports, and went on to threaten Lloris' starting spot in the national side, per the Telegraph's Jeremy Wilson.
Janssen's situation is much less dramatic (currently anyway), but it's more complicated in terms of the circumstances of his signing and position. He is not competing with just one player for match time, and his recruitment was more for squad depth than purchasing an almost-certain cornerstone for years to come.
Nevertheless, showing the patience his skipper demonstrated back then will serve him well.
Lloris did his job in sporadic appearances heading into that November, and after getting the nod for the season's first north London derby with Arsenal, he took over from Friedel and never looked back.
Janssen may not become more important than Spurs' talisman Kane, but he can establish a worthy and rewarding role.
The two colleagues' respective integrations are interesting from the perspective both were foreigners signed from abroad, notably two of Europe's less glamorous leagues.
Following on from Tottenham's historic signing of the Argentinian World Cup winners Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricky Villa in 1978, the majority of the club's non-English acquisitions were imported (excluding Irish and other British players).
Johnny Metgod was signed from Nottingham Forest in 1987, but up until Jose Dominguez and David Ginola joined 10 years later (previously of Birmingham City and Newcastle United respectively), the handful in between were newcomers.
That largely remained the case until Harry Redknapp's appointment in 2008 saw a shift from pursuing seemingly more risky foreign imports to instead focusing on known entities within the Premier League market.
There were notable exceptions with players such as Rafael van der Vaart and Sandro, but only after Lloris came did things start to move the other way again (just four foreign players out of 21 have had Premier League experience).
There has been no real formula to who out of which category has performed better, nor over which league is the most reliable from which to buy.
For the success of a Van der Vaart (bought from Real Madrid), there have been the struggles of a Roberto Soldado (also La Liga, via Valencia). A Bundesliga product in Lewis Holtby never settled as well as Luka Modric, who developed professionally in his native Croatia.
You could argue it is a simple case of the cream rising to the top, but Holtby and Soldado were good players. Perhaps in different circumstances, they would have excelled in England.
Janssen comes from a division that is notoriously a mixed bag, strikers arriving from the Dutch top flight range from the lethal Ruud van Nistelrooy to the underwhelming Mateja Kezman.
The French league has a better record, especially when it comes to native players (from Eric Cantona to Thierry Henry, via Ginola, few nationalities have done as well here as Frenchmen), but not every signing is as good as Lloris.
We will see what Janssen does from here, whether he backs Tottenham's scouting or comes to be regarded as a misjudgement. In Lloris, though, he can find inspiration for proving his admirers right, stereotypes wrong and getting where he wants to be.
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