Top Stories

Tottenham’s Pochettino says Carter-Vickers can be ‘one of the best centerbacks in England’

cameroncartervickersjuventusfcvtottenhamusbwf7ncjjrl

Cameron Carter-Vickers has yet to see the field yet this year, but his inclusion on Tottenham’s matchday squad week after week is a sign of Mauricio Pochettino’s faith in the young defender. Now, the Tottenham manager has confirmed that faith while reiterating his high hopes for the young American.

The 18-year-old American has repeatedly been named to Tottenham’s 18-man squad throughout the Premier League season, but has yet to earn time in league play. Prior to the season, Carter-Vickers shined for Tottenham in a series of friendlies, cementing his spot with the first team ahead of his 19th birthday.

According to the Guardian, Carter-Vickers is expected to be in the lineup on Wednesday as Tottenham takes on Gillingham in League Cup play.

“For me, he can be one of the best centerbacks in England in the future,” Pochettino said. “He has a strong mentality and all the qualities for playing centerback. Does he remind me of myself as a player? No, he is better than me. I said one of the best centerbacks in England.”

Internationally, Carter-Vickers has represented the U.S. at the U-18, U-20 and U-23 level, but has yet to earn a senior call-up. The defender is also eligible to represent England.

Comments

  1. Unless he begins seeing regular minutes, Gold Cup next Summer would be the optimal time to cap tie him. Cap him if you like in October, but I don’t see playing him in the first few hex games if he isn’t playing league games, when the CB combo of Cameron and Brooks has been solid and both are playing regularly in top leagues. If Brooks stays injured??????

    Reply
    • IMO it is going to be harder to break into the USMNT as a LCB than it potentially would as either a RCB or a CDM. Brooks is clearly the preferred starter at LCB and Besler is a quality backup. Whereas at RCB we’ve got Cameron who is far and away the best option, and then a log jam of players who are in & out of the discussion (Birnbaum, Gonzalez, Miazga). If CCV can begin to see regular minutes with Tottenham even as a rotational or Cup player, and he can play at either RCB or CDM his chances of making the USMNT this cycle are significantly improved.

      Reply
      • Fair point.

        Something to keep in mind, though, Besler has self-admitted fitness issues when the MLS season isn’t going and Brooks has been experiencing a bout of small injuries lately. Some of these players are only one or two scenarios away from starting if things fall in their favor.

  2. Reports have CCV in the starting XI for Tottenham’s Cup match today (9/21) against Gillingham.
    These are the types of opportunities that he’ll need to capitalize on in order to achieve 1st team minutes during regular league play.

    What I’ve seen of CCV I’ve been very impressed by his technical & tactical play. The majority of the time I’ve seen him he’s played as a LCB, but I’ve heard others say that he’s been deployed as a CDM (#6). Can anyone advise if he’s ever been deployed as a RCB? Reason I ask is because I feel Brooks has solidified himself as preferred LCB for the USMNT, which would leave CCV as a backup (at best) for this cycle.

    If CCV can play as a RCB it would potentially allow Cameron to shift to CDM which in turn would enable Bradley to play as either a RM (in a 3 man midfield) or a #8 CM (in a 4-4-2 formation). Although if CCV isn’t able to play RCB but could play as a CDM he could provide the same type of formation adjustment for the USMNT.

    Reply
  3. CCV needs to go the Pulisic-route and simply give the manager every reason to play him instead of complementing his potential/talent.

    Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to hear but is nothing more than lip service at this point. As RB mentioned above, I’m certain he’d rather be getting starts…let alone minutes…over this soundbite.

    Reply
      • With all of the Cups in England, CCV isn’t short on opportunity. Whether via sub or simply via training, my statement remains true.

        CCV needs to give Pochetino every reason not to sit him.

      • Hence him playing today, just saying I don’t think he isn’t working his tail off to get all the chances he can get.

      • Hence him playing today, just saying I don’t think he isn’t working his tail off to get all the chances he can get.

        No one said he wasn’t and there was no implication to suggest otherwise. How you came to that conclusion based on my post is beyond me.

  4. Keep him involved. For those who see this as panic, remember we had Subotic until we made him feel left out of our plans by not bringing him to the U20 World Cup. He even said himself he would feel like a traitor if he put on a different shirt.

    But Serbia made him feel wanted prior to his breakout at Borussia Dortmund, while we wasted those U20 spots on players who aren’t even in the picture now and our senior squad had aging bodies with no one set to take their places. With him in the fold in 2010-2014 there’s no doubt in my mind we’d have advanced a game further in each of those world cups.

    Make sure CCV knows he’s on track for the senior team and that we want him eyeing 2018 as a breakthrough year, even if he won’t be seriously considered until 2022–Pulisic has shown us that age isn’t always a reason to approach a player cautiously. I’m not opposed at all to cap-tying him during the hex as a sub in a game we’ve got in hand. I personally think that as of today, given the chance to develop chemistry with the other players, he’s a better option than Besler and him next to Brooks could be one of the best pairs in the world in the next 4-8 years.

    If you’re afraid he can’t handle the pressure, young players need experience and that’s a big early step. What’s really the worst that could happen? We cap tie him and he might be a little shakey; we don’t cap tie him and we could lose him to England. I’d say the latter is the worse option.

    Reply
    • I think you are on the right track. Looking at the Hex schedule, in late March we are playing Honduras at home and then Panama on the road. In early June we play T&T at home, then in Mexico. I can see how in at least two and maybe three of those games it probably wouldn’t hurt to bring him on as a late sub

      Reply
    • Relax, there are easily 6 other centerbacks who are ahead of him. The kid hasn’t even played a club match and you want him to be play in a high pressure hex game? C’mon, as talented as he is, that would be an extremely moronic thing to do. Let him continue on the carefully planned out schedule that Tottenham has him on and hope than in a year or two, when he’s fully settled in the squad, the leg work done by the federation pays off.

      Reply
    • I’m not so sure. He claimed that he didn’t like the that there was so much Spanish speaking in the locker room. I just think the guy didn’t have much connection with our melting pot, so he bailed.

      Reply
      • I hope your are being sarcastic or are some kind of a troll when you say “he claimed that he didn’t like the that there was so much Spanish speaking in the locker room”. If you look back at the US teams CCV has been involved with so far (U-18, U-20, U-23) there has hardly been any Mexican-American representation. Nor are there many within the Sr. National Team. The demographics of the US Team is, and always has been, heavily weighted with English & German representation with only a pinch of Hispanic and Dutch for good measure.

        Hopefully CCV looks at both the short term Possibilities….making the 2018 WC squad and the long term possibilities….the quality of the players beginning to emerge within the US System and decides that he wants to remain a part of what could be something special. He could be an essential building block to an impressive group of players that could be a dark-horse for 8+ years with a dominating central tandem of Brook & CCV, a midfield with the likes of Pulisic, Gooch, Hyndman & Zelalem, and strikers like Wood, Rubin, Akale, Wright & Perez. All we are really missing are a couple of lock-down outside backs.
        Regardless this has the makings of a truly outstanding group of players that could take the US to a level of competitiveness in the sport previously unheard of. And they are young enough that they could be the core of the team for 2 cycles (2022-2026).

  5. Must be frustrating for CCV to hear all this recent praise and then still not play a single minute of first team action, or even make the bench on most occasions

    Reply
    • But he has made the bench on most occasions. I believe last week against sunderland was the first time he didnt make the bench, and thats because no CB made the bench, unless you count Wanyama.

      Reply
    • I suppose it must….yet an 18 year old starting at CB in the premiership is pretty much unheard of. He is waaaay ahead of the game earning praise and making the lineup at a club such as Spurs this young. All that said, he keeps looking how he has and maturing and that consolation won’t be enough for too much longer. Be surprised if he doesn’t start getting some tastes of PT.

      Reply
  6. He has been “capped” but not “tied”. No need to get anxious and start piling on pressure. Doing such a thing would only reek of emotionalism and lack of confidence in the already well established relationship between player and federation.

    Let the young man keep grinding and EARN his place in the Nats side. He ain’t that far away!

    Reply
    • Cameron is a better RCB. The people in front of him are the other Cameron and probably Miazga in the long term plan. Nobody is going to move Brooks from LCB for the next 8 years.

      Reply
  7. Now isn’t the time to cap tie him. Leave him at Tottenham competing for minutes and making himself indispensable to thier plans. THEN cap tie him. If he ends up playing for England, that’s the risk you run.

    Reply
    • He will not be called up in an International for England anytime soon. While Big Sam values youth, he would rather start more experienced players in matches that count.

      The growing depth at Centerback for the US may keep C-V from playing in any of the Hex games although JK is a lot less conservative and may cap and tie him if he feels that the US will need him . I believe he will be cap tied to the US before he is 20.

      While England may be in no hurry to call him up and while he was born in the US to an American NBA player, his mother is Irish, and his father, who played at SMU and for the Dallas Mavericks and the Denver Nuggets in the NBA, received French citizenship and played basketball for the French National Team.

      So if I am not mistaken on who qualifies for citizenship he is;

      eligible for the USMNT (born in the US.)
      eligible for English national team (residency and family)
      eligible for Ireland (mother’s citizenship)
      eligible for France (Father’s naturalized citizenship)

      Could be a wanted man!

      Reply
  8. He has been extremely dominant at every stage of youth development. His soccer IQ is very high for a kid his age. People keep talking about all of these other CBs and I have been saying CCV has the most potential and has made all of the right moves to set himself up to be a Kompany. He is that good.

    Incoming “Miazga is better” Red Bull’s trolls.

    Reply
    • CCV is def better than Miazga and surely has higher potential. CCV rivals Pulisic in his soccer IQ, reading the game, and instinctively knowing what to do when getting the ball without hesitation. They are the only two players I’ve watched in the last 5 years and said “wow there’s no way they are that young”. Both are light years ahead of the other youth

      Reply
    • Patrick, I agree with most of what you said, CCV is good and has a lot of potential, but you don’t seem to know what a troll (in the internet sense) is.

      Someone disagreeing with you and thinking that Miazga is the better of the two does not make them trolls.

      Reply
  9. I’ll be the first here to raise this. Is it time to cap him? Is he firmly in the US camp as far as his commitment goes? From what we have seen at the youth level, this comment doesn’t surprise me.

    Reply

Leave a Comment