A new beginning for Paulinho

Paulinho has been dropped the first post World Cup Brazilian squad by new manager Dunga who won the FIFA World Cup with Brazil in 1994 and managed them in South Africa in 2010.

A new beginning for Paulinho


The 26-year-old Paulinho is one of 13 players who were a part of Brazil’s 2014 World Cup squad who have not been selected by 50-year-old Dunga for the upcoming games against Colombia in Miami on 5th September and Ecuador in New Jersey on 9th September.

The missing players include:

Goalkeepers:
Julio Cesar (just moved to Benfica from QPR)
Victor (Atlético Mineiro)

Defenders:
Dani Alves (Barcelona)
Marcelo (Real Madrid)
Dante (Bayern Munich)
Maxwell (PSG)
Henrique (Napoli)

Midfielders:
Paulinho (Tottenham Hotspur)
Hernanes (Inter)
Bernard (Shakhtar Donetsk)

Forwards:
Fred (Fluminense)
Jô (Atlético Mineiro).

The 10 that remain from the FIFA World Cup are Neymar, Oscar, David Luiz, Hulk, Ramires, Willian, Fernandinho, Luiz Gustavo, Maicon and Jefferson.

Brazil captain Thiago Silva (PSG) is currently recovering from a hamstring injury.

Paulinho had a very poor season with Tottenham after his £17 million move last summer and raised alarm bells when he said he had been too lazy to learn English. That laziness transferred itself to his football and he went through the motions after coming back into the side following a period out with injury thanks to yet another Charlie Adams 'misjudged' tackle.

His absence was worse because from the 15th December to the 29th he had been out suspended and then the 30th we played Stoke which took him a further month to recover from.

He was perceived to be saving himself for the World |up by fans and Tim Sherwood had him on the subs bench but towards the end of the season he game picked up in the final weeks. However he went to the World Cup and put in further poor performances that were slated by the critics.

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Dunga clearly has the same view, not selecting him for his first squad back. It will be up to Paulinho now to fight his way back and start producing the form we bought him for. He follows Sandro as the second Brazilian to join us in the last few years and lose their place in the national squad following an injury.

Paulinho will now be hoping to be a part of the Europa League team on Thursday against AEL in Cyprus before pressing for a Premier League (EPL) start. Perhaps being dropped from the Brazil squad will be a blessing for Spurs, it may just provide the kick up the backside he seems to need and tell him he can't be lazy, he has to work.

He is primarily a box-to-box midfielder who can play as a defensive midfielder or an attacking midfielder so has has the versatility to play several positions, one area he will need to improve though is his finishing. Far too often he got himself in scoring positions only to lose composure and fail to put the ball in the net. It was arguably the most frustrating part of his game. If he could finish like Frank Lampard he would have easily been in double figures for the season instead of six.

He is just one player it is going to be interesting to see what Mauricio Pochettino does with this season, he has a lot to prove.