Do You Trust Sandro As A Lone Holding Midfielder?

For the next five days, a lot of the posts on this site will be dedicated to ridiculous ventures into a fantasy land. Tottenham Hotspur have a game this weekend, and we'll do some writing about the game, but Luka Modric just got sold and transfer deadline day is on a Friday. It's that time of year. Everyone is thinking about what could be.

We're currently being linked to Yann M'Vila, a defensive midfielder, and Joao Moutinho, a deep-lying playmaker. Both players are good enough to slot right into the lineup if they are purchased and will likely play in a double pivot, partnering Sandro behind an attacking midfielder. That's a likely scenario, but there's also another scenario.

Tottenham are also rumored to be chasing Moussa Dembele, who Brett wrote an awesome fanpost on yesterday. I'm a big fan of Dembele, but I remain unconvinced that he's a good fit to play as a deep-lying playmaker in a double pivot. If he signs, Tottenham might be making the switch to Andre Villas-Boas' old 4-3-3. There's no reason this can't work, but it begs an important question.

Since you're still reading, I assume that you are literate and that you checked out the headline. You probably know that the question is whether or not Sandro can play as a lone holding midfielder in a 4-3-3, a position he has not played in the past. In every Tottenham, Internacional or Brazil game that I can ever recall watching Sandro play in -- which is probably more than 50 games, by this point -- he has always been one of two holders in a double pivot or one of two box-to-box midfielders in a 4-4-2.

While playing with Scott Parker, Jake Livermore, Lucas Leiva, Romulo or Pablo Guiñazu, Sandro has always had someone with him who could make up for the fact that he is often a bit hot-headed and undisciplined. His athleticism and relative technical skills for a defensive midfielder make him effective on surging runs forward and aggressive tackles high up the pitch, but it's the kind of thing that he simply could not do anymore if he was playing as a holding midfielder behind two of Dembele, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Rafael Van der Vaart.

A midfield of Sandro, Dembele and Van der Vaart sounds very sexy in theory, but how well would it work in practice? Do you trust Sandro as a lone holder? Sound off below.

Other news and analysis regarding Tottenham and their midfield

Spurs reportedly bidding on Willian, M'Vila | Matches getting away from Tottenham without Modric | Match analysis: Spurs vs. West Brom | Match analysis: Spurs vs. Newcastle | Can Jake Livermore be Spurs' Modric replacement?

Not a member of Cartilage Free Captain? Sign up and start commenting. Everyone here is super fun. Follow us on social media for regular updates as well. You can also subscribe to our RSS Feed.

Follow @cartilagefree