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Ratings vs Partizan Belgrade

MOM

  • Lloris

    Votes: 13 6.5%
  • Davies

    Votes: 1 0.5%
  • Verts

    Votes: 60 29.9%
  • Fazio

    Votes: 39 19.4%
  • Naughton

    Votes: 2 1.0%
  • Bentaleb

    Votes: 11 5.5%
  • Stambouli

    Votes: 50 24.9%
  • Lennon

    Votes: 3 1.5%
  • Paulinho

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Townsend

    Votes: 4 2.0%
  • Kane

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Lamela

    Votes: 2 1.0%
  • Soldado

    Votes: 2 1.0%
  • Capoue

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • No one

    Votes: 14 7.0%

  • Total voters
    201

DOX

Well-Known Member
Apr 17, 2004
803
729
The (un)performance was like sooooooo last season. I guess the phantom of last season has still not been eradicated.


Poch & co has still a lot of work to do.
 

BringBack_leGin

Well-Known Member
Jul 28, 2004
27,719
54,929
What's Dembele's function ?
I didn't notice that Dembele was playing last night...

For the record, I level the exact same criticism at Dembele. I think against Sunderland I saw a bit more of what I want in terms of invention and intent, but one swallow a summer does not make and I'm at this time I bracket them together in that respect.
 

BringBack_leGin

Well-Known Member
Jul 28, 2004
27,719
54,929
You mean like when he played Adebayor in against Liverpool, that kind of shirking ?

He isn't a show pony, he doesn't often do the spectacular but teams need players like him at times, players who help you maintain control of the ball and the game. And for a 19yo kid I think it's amazing you are expecting him to be taking responsibility for doing more than he tried to do. You said you liked Stambouli, I think he had a decent game, but what did he do that was more credit worthy than Bentaleb ?
Stambouli broke up several attacks with good tackles, winning the ball both deep and high up, which as far as I'm aware is his role. Bebtaleb is a different player, he's one who much play goes through and therefore he is one who I expect to use that possession in an effective way. At present he is a crab.
 

BringBack_leGin

Well-Known Member
Jul 28, 2004
27,719
54,929
How many people said that about Carrick, and then Modric? He's young, still developing and showing a lot of composure and genuine ability. He's a disciplined player. I think he's a far more interesting prospect than any other central midfielder at the club.
Modric, barring a few glimpses, did very little in his initial stages as he was shuffled around positions in an under performing team. Then, after about 28 months, something clicked and he became superb. I'm not saying Bentaleb will never do the same, I'm saying that right now he doesn't. As for Carrick, he started attack after attack with great balls into the channels, making our wingers, especially a very young Lennon, look very good.

I'm not saying I dislike Bentaleb, I'm saying that right now he doesn't take responsibility and he plays in the position where it's most important to do so in my opinion. I'm sure he has the ability to become the player we need him to be, but right now he's just very reminiscent of a certain
Ex Scapegoat on this site who it took us 6 years of suffering to get rid of.
 

iluvsteffenfreund

Well-Known Member
Nov 5, 2004
2,078
2,465
Stambouli broke up several attacks with good tackles, winning the ball both deep and high up, which as far as I'm aware is his role. Bebtaleb is a different player, he's one who much play goes through and therefore he is one who I expect to use that possession in an effective way. At present he is a crab.
Spot on ! You can see you have either played the game or have a decent knowledge of what a team requires.
Stambouli got in the ball and broke up the play, was very good in the tackle and tracked his runners, on a crap pitch where passing is tough you have to graft and make tackles as a midfielder to add something to the team. Bentaleb might look easy on the eye but is 5 yards sideways and backwards, he tried to play a couple of diags yesterday and they were woeful, I saw him play the ball into Kane's feet 3 times and each time they were the right side of the centre half, poor. To go with this he made 1 tackle which was a good one on our 6yard box, he never won a header and wasn't in contact with there midfielders enough to make a tackle or put them under pressure. This is a factual assessment of the game not a dig, he isn't ready for out first team, dembele, capoue and benji are all in front of him. Poch has seen that now believe me, u won't see him start a prem game unless we are short on the injury front with the 3 I've mentioned above.
 

fedupyid

Well-Known Member
Dec 2, 2004
789
906
Paulinho did his vanishing trick in the match again after the first 5-10 minutes he disappeared completely. Can anyone tell me what the heck has happened to him because before his injury he had moments where he looked good and worked hard, now we have a player who just does not care and looks worse for his country because he tries and fails to do anything.
 

mpickard2087

Patient Zero
Jun 13, 2008
21,886
32,513
I think the criticism of Bentaleb is harsh. He does lose concentration at times and there are clearly areas that he needs to improve on but as is always said, he's 19. Even if he does have a dip in performance, such as in the second half last night, the kid never ever hides and always wants the ball.

As for his passing, yes he keeps the ball patiently... But this season already I have seen clear evidence of him showing a different range of passing in his armoury. On a few occasions this season he's played the surprise accurate clipped ball in behind the defence, and if it wasn't for poor finishing (Ade vs. 'Pool), a poor touch (Eriksen vs. QPR) or an inch or two more precision (last night's pass for Lennon) then he could have 3-4 assists already. Problem is with such a lack of movement still and players not really running in behind a lot there are only so many occasions you can play these type of passes.
 
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BringBack_leGin

Well-Known Member
Jul 28, 2004
27,719
54,929
I think the criticism of Bentaleb is harsh. He does lose concentration at times and there are clearly areas that he needs to improve on but as is always said, he's 19. Even if he does have a dip in performance, such as in the second half last night, the kid never ever hides and always wants the ball.

As for his passing, yes he keeps the ball patiently... But this season already I have seen clear evidence of him showing a different range of passing in his armoury. On a few occasions this season he's played the surprise accurate clipped ball in behind the defence, and if it wasn't for poor finishing (Ade vs. 'Pool), a poor touch (Eriksen vs. QPR) or an inch or to more precision (last night's pass for Lennon) then he could have 3-4 assists already. Problem is with such a lack of movement still and players not really running in behind a lot there are only so many occasions you can play these type of passes.

It was said of Hoddle that his main genius was his ability to play a pass which forced the forwards to make the rights runs. Same has been said of Xavi.

I do take Bentaleb's age into account. If he was 26 I'd be saying we should get rid. I appreciate, and hope, that he develops into a player who uses the amount of the ball he has both dynamically and effectively. Right now he doesn't. That is my argument, that the player who sees that much more of the ball than every other player on the pitch has a responsibility to make things happen, to dictate tempo, to drive us forward. At present Bentaleb does not do this. Neither do Dembele or Capoue for what it's worth.
 

mpickard2087

Patient Zero
Jun 13, 2008
21,886
32,513
It was said of Hoddle that his main genius was his ability to play a pass which forced the forwards to make the rights runs. Same has been said of Xavi.

I do take Bentaleb's age into account. If he was 26 I'd be saying we should get rid. I appreciate, and hope, that he develops into a player who uses the amount of the ball he has both dynamically and effectively. Right now he doesn't. That is my argument, that the player who sees that much more of the ball than every other player on the pitch has a responsibility to make things happen, to dictate tempo, to drive us forward. At present Bentaleb does not do this. Neither do Dembele or Capoue for what it's worth.

Whilst I do agree that we lack someone who offers the ability to put their foot on the ball and conduct play, certainly a 'readymade' one, I don't agree that things are purely down to this individual(s). 'Pass' always has to be coupled with 'move'. If people aren't making runs or offering decent options then its always going to be played in front of a defence and easy to defend against. Its been a problem for years, remember when we had Modric/VDV et al and couldn't break teams down? in part that was because our movement wasn't good enough a lot of the time (that was an unpopular view at the time, probably still is now of that team, but was often the case).

I'll give an example from last night, that had me shouting at the TV, by coincidence it featured Bentaleb... Ball comes to him in left-centre midfield. Lennon is wide of him, Kane ahead of him, Someone else is infield further from Kane. Good opportunity to use the ball. However as he opens the field up and lets the ball run across to his left foot, Kane half peels across to show for the ball into the channel between centre half and full back, whoever our 3rd man was (Lamela possibly) comes haring across into the same sort of area and Lennon inexplicably when in space makes a horizontal run into this area also. It leaves three men in the same 5 yards, all dragging markers into that area, and no options to play a pass to. Bentaleb then lets it run across a bit further, because an opening presents itself for Davies to fill the space out wide if he's alert, see's it and bombs forward, but he is on his heels. Result is that Bentaleb has to turn back again and play the ball back where it came from...

It's just one example, but you can find many over 90 mins. To me its very shoddy stuff from professional footballers. When you get such substandard movement even the best passers are going to struggle to look good, beyond neat and tidy short and simple stuff.
 
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DiscoD1882

SC Supporter
Mar 27, 2006
6,934
14,669
Lenton covered naughtons ass on several occasions

To say he done nothing is just stupid

This is coming from someone who doesn't like him, as he doesn't offer anything in the final third.

But he did put a shift in
I was going to say that Davies looked alot more comfortabe when Townsend went off and Lennon was in front of him.
 

iluvsteffenfreund

Well-Known Member
Nov 5, 2004
2,078
2,465
It was said of Hoddle that his main genius was his ability to play a pass which forced the forwards to make the rights runs. Same has been said of Xavi.

I do take Bentaleb's age into account. If he was 26 I'd be saying we should get rid. I appreciate, and hope, that he develops into a player who uses the amount of the ball he has both dynamically and effectively. Right now he doesn't. That is my argument, that the player who sees that much more of the ball than every other player on the pitch has a responsibility to make things happen, to dictate tempo, to drive us forward. At present Bentaleb does not do this. Neither do Dembele or Capoue for what it's worth.
Agree. However dembele has all the attributes to be one of the best. Just listen to players that have played with him the likes of Danny Murphy says he is one of the best midfielders he has played with, my mates who are all Chelsea still maintain when he played against them for Fulham he was the best player they had seen in an opposition shirt! Poch will get more out of him I'm sure. Moussa has the ability to affect a football match and win a game for us. Bentaleb does not neither does capoue, don't get me wrong you need all types of players in a side to compliment the other but moussa is far too good when fit not to be in our side. Poch has seen that and he will start Sunday
 

prawnsandwich

Well-Known Member
Jul 19, 2014
6,035
4,064
I was going to say that Davies looked alot more comfortabe when Townsend went off and Lennon was in front of him.
Lennon was in front of him most of the game. But both came into the game more in the later stages-can't put my finger on why-maybe the Parmesan subs?
 

stemark44

Well-Known Member
Mar 17, 2005
6,598
1,829
It was said of Hoddle that his main genius was his ability to play a pass which forced the forwards to make the rights runs. Same has been said of Xavi.

I do take Bentaleb's age into account. If he was 26 I'd be saying we should get rid. I appreciate, and hope, that he develops into a player who uses the amount of the ball he has both dynamically and effectively. Right now he doesn't. That is my argument, that the player who sees that much more of the ball than every other player on the pitch has a responsibility to make things happen, to dictate tempo, to drive us forward. At present Bentaleb does not do this. Neither do Dembele or Capoue for what it's worth.

Wow........why are you even mentioning the likes of Hoddle and Xavi when discussing the merits of our 19 year old midfielder?
 

Roynie

Well-Known Member
Oct 2, 2007
3,116
3,882
We were really lacking in creativity last night. However, I thought there were a few good signs, bearing in mind there 10 changes from last weekend. I suspect the team was selected to be a strong one that wouldn't lose, whilst giving key players a rest for Sunday's game.

I liked the way Fazio was bossing and organising the defence. Although he isn't quite up to speed he knows what he wants around him and communicates it well. It's also what we have needed for a long time.

I also was pleased that whenever one of the defenders went forward one of the DMs, usually Stambouli, dropped in to cover, like Parker used to. That meant that the FBs could go forward knowing that their position was covered. Although Davies did get caught out a couple of times going forward when the DM lost the ball in midfield.

Townsend did actually show signs of getting his head up and looking for a pass. I'm sure he did actually put one or two through as well, I was shocked! Encouraging if he continues the hard work.

All in all, I do think the players bought this summer have given us greater strength in depth, and that will be important as the season goes on.
 
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Bus-Conductor

SC Supporter
Oct 19, 2004
39,837
50,713
Spot on ! You can see you have either played the game or have a decent knowledge of what a team requires.
Stambouli got in the ball and broke up the play, was very good in the tackle and tracked his runners, on a crap pitch where passing is tough you have to graft and make tackles as a midfielder to add something to the team. Bentaleb might look easy on the eye but is 5 yards sideways and backwards, he tried to play a couple of diags yesterday and they were woeful, I saw him play the ball into Kane's feet 3 times and each time they were the right side of the centre half, poor. To go with this he made 1 tackle which was a good one on our 6yard box, he never won a header and wasn't in contact with there midfielders enough to make a tackle or put them under pressure. This is a factual assessment of the game not a dig, he isn't ready for out first team, dembele, capoue and benji are all in front of him. Poch has seen that now believe me, u won't see him start a prem game unless we are short on the injury front with the 3 I've mentioned above.


Bentaleb made the joint most tackles in the game, same as Stambouli - 6.

http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/88...-League-2014-2015-Partizan-Belgrade-Tottenham

I guess if you'd ever played the game or had any knowledge of what a team requires you'd know what a tackle looks like.
 
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