Tottenham must start Toby Alderweireld against Manchester United

Alderweireld gives Tottenham the best chance to win

There weren’t a lot of bright spots in Tottenham’s hideous 1-1 draw at Brighton yesterday. Curiously, the excellent play of Toby Alderweireld stuck out amongst a bunch of uneven performances within Mauricio Pochettino’s squad.

Alderweireld’s Whoscored.com player rating of 6.6 won’t raise many eyebrows, but that statistical rating greatly undersold how good he looked on the afternoon. It was the first time in months that the Belgian defender actually looked like the Alderweireld of old. Simply put, he looked like one of the best central defenders in the Premier League.

He looked much better than he did his last time out against Rochdale. Alderweireld didn’t have a ton to do against a pretty toothless Brighton attack, but he looked very comfortable defending in space on several occasions. It wasn’t a perfect outing, but it was very encouraging.

In my mind, his efforts against Brighton should earn him a start in this weekend’s massive FA Cup fixture against Manchester United. Perhaps I’d feel differently if Davinson Sanchez were currently riding a run of hot form. The talented Colombian really struggled last time out against Manchester City. Guardiola’s troops can make a lot of defenders look uneasy, but it’s not the sort of outing Pochettino wanted out of Sanchez in such an important fixture.

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Make no mistake, I don’t think Alderweireld’s solid outing against Brighton really does anything to change his long-term future at Tottenham. The odds still favour him leaving this summer for a giant transfer fee. I also don’t believe Pochettino can afford to take a long view of this weekend’s FA Cup semifinal.

The biggest thing Pochettino can do for Spurs this season is to end their torturous trophy drought. Winning the FA Cup this year would transform the campaign into an unqualified success. Many Tottenham fans would rather see their club win the FA Cup than secure Champions League football with a fourth place finish. I won’t go that far, but winning the FA Cup should be a massive priority for the club.

As such, Pochettino should select the best lineup he can to defeat Manchester United on Saturday. Sanchez might be the right player to serve as a Spurs starter for the next five years, but that’s irrelevant. If you believe Alderweireld will play marginally better than Sanchez on Saturday, you have to advocate for the Belgian to be in Pochettino’s starting XI.

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The real question is whether or not Pochettino is willing to make such a big call. I believe he has the nerve, but he may still trust Sanchez more than Alderweireld. Pochettino tends to take a longer view of player performance than I do. That’s his purview as the Tottenham manager, but it could cost Spurs big this weekend. The right call is playing Alderweireld against United instead of Sanchez. His experience, class and freshness make him the right play. We’ll find out if Pochettino agrees this weekend.

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