Bentley - We lacked cohesion

[mawspurs]

Source: Sky

Spurs playmaker concedes team-mates were unsure of roles

David Bentley feels Tottenham Hotspur are turning a corner after their 'shocking' start to the season.

Spurs are currently preparing for their Uefa Cup Group D game at Udinese as they look for a positive result following a poor start to the term.

Juande Ramos' charges are currently bottom of the Premier League table, without a win in their opening eight matches.

Right-sided midfielder Bentley has given a forthright verdict of the club's beginning to the campaign, admitting the players struggled to gather an understanding of their roles.

He told talkSPORT magazine: "It's been shocking, it's been a bit s***.

"It's been a difficult start, especially for me. I wasn't enjoying it.

"It's been difficult out on the pitch. We've not been together, we didn't know where people were running, what people were doing.

"But I think we're slowly starting to get settled and people are becoming more confident."

[LinekersToe]

let's hope it's not too late.

[JonnySpurs]

To be honest, I do feel like it's coming now, the Hull game was unlucky but we created a shed load of chances, Bale being sent off against Stoke ruined that game cos I actually think we'd have won if we'd had all 11 on the pitch. Bentley looked to be more comfortable on the ball in that game as well, maybe starting to get his swagger back.......fingers crossed.

[Samwise Gamgee]

I think that there are very modest signs of improvement in the team's performance but they were against what might be termed lesser opposition.:roll:

That said, I strongly advocate that we try and keep to a 4-4-2 pattern [it's only the pairing which is an issue] as it's the formation most english :beer:and some foreign players best understand and at present, the less he players are confused:duh:, the better:bowdown:.

:-(

[birdm]

Once again the papers are twisting this one. Bentley is just saying it's taking a while to read each other buts it's getting better.

Papers are making it sound like players get on the pitch and don't know what position they are playing. Hence Ramos not doing his Job.

[PerthSpur]

i dont think it can come together until at least february. by then we might have a couple of strikers. When you watch us at the moment its like theres a void in the final third, we dont ever score because we dont have any threat in there.

god, this is the first time ive even been able to read anything about us this week. We are RUBBISH

[JimmyG2]

i dont think it can come together until at least february. by then we might have a couple of strikers. When you watch us at the moment its like theres a void in the final third, we dont ever score because we dont have any threat in there.

god, this is the first time ive even been able to read anything about us this week. We are RUBBISH
Need to draw a distinction between being rubbish which with the players we've got we are not, and playing rubbish which on the whole we have.
It still adds up to 2points though.

[camaj]

It's been pretty obvious there's no cohesion but against Hull it looked a lot better. We didn't look that good against Stoke but I'm confident for tonight.

[JC-Rule]

How is it in pre season we were on fire, then everythings goes pear shaped, as soon as we start the prem?

You had cohesion then (pre season that is), and then you lost it, and after eight games it just coming back.

This sounds like rubbish to me

[bones82]

I'm still unsure of the roles,

how many different midfields can you pick, and none of them seem 100% right.

I mean is Bale a left back or a left midfielder, should lennon really be playing on the left? Where does dos santos play?

4-4-2
GK: Gomez, Sanchez
RB: Hutton, Gunter
LB: Bale, Gilberto, BAE
CB:King, Corluka
CB:WoodGate, Dawson
RW:Bentley, Lennon
LW:
DM:Huddlestone, Zokora
AM:Jenas, Modric, O'Hara
SS: Payelyuchenko, Bent
FW: Dos Santos, Campbell

4-5-1
GK: Gomez, Sanchez
RB: Hutton
LB: Bale, Gilberto, BAE
CB:King
CB:WoodGate
RW:Bentley, Lennon
LW:
DM:Huddlestone, Zokora
AM:Jenas, O'Hara
AM:Modric
SS: Payelyuchenko, Bent

MISFITS: Dos Santos, Campbell

4-3-3
GK: Gomez, Sanchez
RB: Hutton
LB: Bale, Gilberto, BAE
CB:King
CB:WoodGate
DM:Huddlestone, Zokora
AM:Jenas, O'Hara
AM:Modric
LW:Dos Santos
SS: Payelyuchenko, Bent
RW:Lennon, Campbell

MISSFITS: Bentley (he plays wide right, only 3 midfielders, no room)

playing 4-3-3 doesn't have much width but we have some good full back in Hutton and Bale, and if Zokora can cover (Huddlestone isn't so good a defender), then maybe that could work.

but if you go with the prefered 4-4-2, you have conflict between picking pace in Lennon or crossing in Bentley, conflict in Jenas vs Modric, who plays on the left, and can any of our strikers for a partnership?

Seems crazy we only have one striker that has been here for more than just this season.

[mawspurs]

How is it in pre season we were on fire, then everythings goes pear shaped, as soon as we start the prem?

You're forgetting that for most of pre-season we had a completely different team to the one we are now putting out.