Jermain Jenas What has he done?

[rich75]

The trouble with Jenas is he doesn't catch the eye, he doesn't stand out. In some positions that's not such a bad thing - certain types of centre back quell the danger without making spectacular tackles, headers etc. but instead read the game well so they don't need to. But in central midfield it's a bit different, especially at the top level. When it comes to midfielders making cautious passes, it's fine when they are defensive, and their main job is to win us the ball and move it on, but Jenas isn't a holding midfielder.

I'm not blaming last night on Jenas, because the others had a poor game, but in general, over the longterm he hasn't offered enough as a box to boxer. He almost needs to be part of a 5 man midfield, because he can't be relied on to be the main creative influence or holding player. We like to play with two forwards, so for me he isn't right for us now.

The longterm ? It was only in January that we actualy bought a player that could do the holding job to allow Jenas to get forward. Since then , he has been a lot better at doing so, he's also been out with an injury for a while and in the meantime Palacios has struggled so we're back to where we were, with Jenas unable to get forward because the midfield elsewhere is wobbling a little.

If Palacios is on his game then Jenas tends to be to

 

[ginol@14]

thats a weak excuse , i think if palacios is on his game its usually because jenas is on the bench and huddlestone is next to him , check the stats and see how many times we have lost this season when jenas has started for us , think its every game we have lost.

he has no desire or hunger to fight to win in a spurs shirt ,quite simply there is no urgency in his game. this is pointless anyway , harry knows this and that is why huddlestone has taken his starting place whether you like it or not.

 

[yid0]

my problem with jenas is he doesnt appear to have basic skills, for instance he passes the ball to peoples knees so its impossible to control, he takes a touch and the ball goes 2 metres behind him, he cannot cope with pressure.

all he can do is run with the ball forwards, all he is is a zokora who can occasionaly shoot or take a corner.

 

[C-oops]

I've watched Jenas in the flesh for the last 5 years and I know exactly what he can and cant do.

If you put a youtube montage of him he would look like a world beater, however, you dont see the hours where he does sod all. He should be a great box to box midfielder but he gets lost in the mire. If he was a 20 yo starlet that would be expected, but he has all the experience now, he should be the standout player in our midfield. (especially with no Modric).

I believe that he has the ability to be world class, possibly better all round than the three midfielders I have picked out, but he just doesnt have that desire. When you are next at the Lane watch him - he will make a run forward, we lose the ball, and he has a gentle jog back. As a central midfielder he has to get back into position and then catch his breath there.

Palacios' arrival should have given him a kick up the ass. He is a better player than Wilson, when he turns up. However I think his mentality is to make sure he doesnt screw up, not make something happen. Audere est facere - the club's motto, but not JJ's

Exactly right. His potential will go forever unfulfilled due to his lack of desire. He's a lazy git who is far too comfortable in a team without anyone to really push him for a place. His jogging back after losing the ball is what drives me mad the most out of everything. When he did this against Sunderland I swear that as I screamed " get back then Jenas" he turned to look at the crowd rather than help out his teammates he'd just dropped in it. I hate him for his complete lack of fight and willingness to put in the effort required of a premiership midfielder. As I said in another thread yesterday or the other day people mistake his running around the middle chasing shadows as closing players down. He doesn't do anything that makes them change what they were going to do by arriving just as they pass the ball on. He has had his chance as far as I'm concerned and the excuse for a performance he ( and some of his fellow team mates) put in last night sickened me.

 

[rich75]

my problem with jenas is he doesnt appear to have basic skills, for instance he passes the ball to peoples knees so its impossible to control, he takes a touch and the ball goes 2 metres behind him, he cannot cope with pressure.

all he can do is run with the ball forwards, all he is is a zokora who can occasionaly shoot or take a corner.

total and utter toss. there's no point even debating with people who come out with this shit

 

[rich75]

thats a weak excuse , i think if palacios is on his game its usually because jenas is on the bench and huddlestone is next to him , check the stats and see how many times we have lost this season when jenas has started for us , think its every game we have lost.

he has no desire or hunger to fight to win in a spurs shirt ,quite simply there is no urgency in his game. this is pointless anyway , harry knows this and that is why huddlestone has taken his starting place whether you like it or not.

can't be arsed to check the stats, largely because to equate games lost with one player starting is fucking stupid. Jenas lost his place because he was injured, the fact that huddlestone has done well and largely kept his place is no reflection on jenas.

Edit, actually , I checked two results for the hell of it

Arsenal : both he and Huddlestone started, no palacios
Stoke : Huddleston started

oo and look, he also started against Portsmouth and Burnley when we won

What does that prove? fuck all

 

[Alfieconnman]

thats a weak excuse , i think if palacios is on his game its usually because jenas is on the bench and huddlestone is next to him , check the stats and see how many times we have lost this season when jenas has started for us , think its every game we have lost.

he has no desire or hunger to fight to win in a spurs shirt ,quite simply there is no urgency in his game. this is pointless anyway , harry knows this and that is why huddlestone has taken his starting place whether you like it or not.

Totally agree. What baffles me is why others rate this guy. I think one of his many problems must be a slow brain. Time after time he starts a "surging run" only to almost immediately grind to a halt and then pass backwards or sideways. He is just not creative, he is not strong on the ball and is easily dispossessed, he is very poor defensively, he gives away more then his fair share of free kicks in dangerous areas, his score rate for an AM is abysmal, he is not brave, he is not inspirational when the going gets tough. We have done far better this season in matches without him in the team.

I'm fed up with over five years of listening to people make excuses for him and bleating about him having a "great engine". He will never fulfil his potential and we will never move up in quality while we rely on his inconsistency in this pivotal position. I can't wait for Modric to come back and ideally would like to see Jenas sold in January.

I realise that this will no doubt upset his fan club but frankly i couldn't give a toss. His recent performance for England only typified his performances for us. He simply is not good enough to be in the team and Harry is quite right to favour Hudd over him. Rant over - I feel better now!

 

[ShelfSide18]

Jenas was one of our better players last night, people are just seeing what they want to see rather than actually what happened. But go ahead, bash Jenas and don't let what actually happened on the pitch get in the way of you.

 

[ShelfSide18]

Totally agree. What baffles me is why others rate this guy. I think one of his many problems must be a slow brain. Time after time he starts a "surging run" only to almost immediately grind to a halt and then pass backwards or sideways. He is just not creative, he is not strong on the ball and is easily dispossessed, he is very poor defensively, he gives away more then his fair share of free kicks in dangerous areas, his score rate for an AM is abysmal, he is not brave, he is not inspirational when the going gets tough. We have done far better this season in matches without him in the team.

I'm fed up with over five years of listening to people make excuses for him and bleating about him having a "great engine". He will never fulfil his potential and we will never move up in quality while we rely on his inconsistency in this pivotal position. I can't wait for Modric to come back and ideally would like to see Jenas sold in January.

I realise that this will no doubt upset his fan club but frankly i couldn't give a toss. His recent performance for England only typified his performances for us. He simply is not good enough to be in the team and Harry is quite right to favour Hudd over him. Rant over - I feel better now!

First of all, Jenas is not an attacking midfielder and his game is not about creativity. Saying Jenas is not creative is the same as saying that Gomes doesn't score enough goals. Despite this, our best attack last night was started by a beautifully weighted instinctive through pass to Bale on the left.

Those 5 years you are on about? Were they the same 5 years that have been our best in modern history? With JJ in the centre of midfield in a, I'm sure you'll agree, critical position on the pitch? We must have done bloody well carrying the passenger that is Jenas for 5 years eh?

 

[DEFchenkOE]

I think we need to ask ourselves this, what type of midfielder is Jenas supposed to be?

Box-to-box - For me he definitely has the physical attributes to be a box-to-box midfielder but not the mental attributes. He's never going to dominate a game like a Viera, Roy Keane, Fabregas. I think this is the role he plays for us mostly. And does a good job for a team at our level, but I don't think he has it in him to push himself and the team to the next level.

Attacking - Can he be that constant force offensively like a Gerrard or a Lampard, would he score about 10 goals a season if he had the same type of freedom that they normally do? I have my doubts.

Ball-playing Simply put, he doesn't really have the vision, brain, or skill for this.

Defensive I think this is potentially his best position, while he doesn't regularly put in crunching tackles I have seen him do it now and then. He has the speed and agility to cover ground quickly. Would just need to improve his positional sense a little and given this specific role. When the onus is on him to create he struggles, he often gets in to good positions and fluffs his lines. I think as a defensive midfielder he would be most effective.

Just in my opinion of course.

 

[ginol@14]

Jenas was one of our better players last night, people are just seeing what they want to see rather than actually what happened. But go ahead, bash Jenas and don't let what actually happened on the pitch get in the way of you.

one of the best players last night ?
are you having a laugh mate ??

he was invisible as usual , did nothing positive and gave the ball away as much as he passed it sideways
not saying he was the worst player last night but he was nowhere near one of the better ones

 

[yid0]

all Jenas is good at is looking busy, i would rather have Jermaine Jackson.

 

[ShelfSide18]

one of the best players last night ?
are you having a laugh mate ??

he was invisible as usual , did nothing positive and gave the ball away as much as he passed it sideways
not saying he was the worst player last night but he was nowhere near one of the better ones

I am willing to bet Jenas had the most touches of any of our midfield last night and often he passed sideways because he had bugger all options in front of him to pass to, it's not always what happens on the ball but what happens off the ball. He made himself available, as ever, for the ball and tried to drive forward but when he did that he had little movement in front of him to go with apart from a the sporadic drop offs from Keane and when Bale and Hutton got forward.

Palacios had his worst game for Spurs last night and Hudd did nothing to change the direction of the game when he came on, at least Jenas tried to make something happen, whereas a lot of players were expecting something to happen.

 

[ginol@14]

I am willing to bet Jenas had the most touches of any of our midfield last night and often he passed sideways because he had bugger all options in front of him to pass to, it's not always what happens on the ball but what happens off the ball. He made himself available, as ever, for the ball and tried to drive forward but when he did that he had little movement in front of him to go with apart from a the sporadic drop offs from Keane and when Bale and Hutton got forward.

Palacios had his worst game for Spurs last night and Hudd did nothing to change the direction of the game when he came on, at least Jenas tried to make something happen, whereas a lot of players were expecting something to happen.

well i though jenas was totaly outclassed by utd reserve players so we just have to agree to disagree
although i do agree with you that palacios had his worst game and has looked a shadow of himself lately

 

[C-oops]

I am willing to bet Jenas had the most touches of any of our midfield last night and often he passed sideways because he had bugger all options in front of him to pass to, it's not always what happens on the ball but what happens off the ball. He made himself available, as ever, for the ball and tried to drive forward but when he did that he had little movement in front of him to go with apart from a the sporadic drop offs from Keane and when Bale and Hutton got forward.

Palacios had his worst game for Spurs last night and Hudd did nothing to change the direction of the game when he came on, at least Jenas tried to make something happen, whereas a lot of players were expecting something to happen.

Are you on a wind up? Are you just trying to provoke a reaction? Are you Jenas' agent? Jesus Christ. If standing around in the middle of the pitch, occasionally passing to one of our own players and generally slowing down every move he was involved with is trying to make something happen then I dread the match where he plays badly and contributes nothing.

 

[ShelfSide18]

Anderson is a brilliant player who is regularly in the first team so he's hardly a reserve, and Gibson looks a decent player too, but I didn't see Jenas outclassed one bit, just devoid of options when he had the ball.

Jenas was on the ball far more than any other of our player so people are focussed on them a lot more and players who get the ball more will make more mistakes because they are on the ball more than any other player.

 

[jamesc0le]

Defensive I think this is potentially his best position, while he doesn't regularly put in crunching tackles I have seen him do it now and then. He has the speed and agility to cover ground quickly. Would just need to improve his positional sense a little and given this specific role. When the onus is on him to create he struggles, he often gets in to good positions and fluffs his lines. I think as a defensive midfielder he would be most effective.

Just in my opinion of course.

i agree, i think he has looked his most effective when asked to sit back by redknapp and previously ramos, but since we don't play with 3 in the middle to accomodate a protector, it's not a position he's going to make his own anytime soon..

if we could coach aggression,desire and belief into him he could be a great player for us, though this seems unlikely.

 

[Wiener]

total and utter toss. there's no point even debating with people who come out with this shit

Indeed. The scary thing is these posters (there seem to be 3 or 4 of them currently submitting totally inane comments) could actually believe what they are writing. I can never work out whether they are in fact genuine idiots, or some wham/chelski fans posting as spurs fans. I guess either way they are idiots.

Anyway, you are indeed right. There is no point debating with these people.

 

[ShelfSide18]

Are you on a wind up? Are you just trying to provoke a reaction? Are you Jenas' agent? Jesus Christ. If standing around in the middle of the pitch, occasionally passing to one of our own players and generally slowing down every move he was involved with is trying to make something happen then I dread the match where he plays badly and contributes nothing.

No, why would I want to wind people up or provoke a reaction? And I wish I was his agent after seeing what they get paid this week.

His 'standing around the pitch' yesterday was often nearly the only option that our players had to pass to. Occasionally passing? I have no stats to hand and the Guardian Chalkboard only does premiership stats but I would put good money on the fact that he made the most passes for us last night and had the best pass completion rate. Because of the lack of movement ahead of him he did have to go sideways but some people obviously don't think much of us keeping possession. And no one has dared to make a comment about the point I made regarding our best move and best chance of the match starting from a brilliant JJ through ball to Bale. Maybe It's because people are seeing what they want to see, and not what actually happened.

 

[Wiener]

Gibson looks a decent player too, but I didn't see Jenas outclassed one bit, just devoid of options when he had the ball.

I concur. However Gibson was given far too much time and space. He didn't really impress otherwise. In fact he reminded me a bit of Dean Marney scoring those crackers against Everton I think it was, and we all know where he ended up.

I thought in the first half Vidic made the difference and was the outstanding manure player. It could easily have been 2:2 at half time if not for his defending.