Jermaine Jenas' Worth

[fortworthspur]

I think we should play Jenas every time we are down a man and losing by four. Thats the perfect situation for him. He'll run and run and run.

 

[Stavrogin]

Yes, some people do remember the bad stuff and ignore the good stuff but frankly it's so little it's not worth remembering. Yes he made a tackle that started the first goal. Yes, he kept up with Bale one time. Yes, he played a short pass into space for Bale. All of these examples are things you expect a player to do all the time. They are not moments of genius, they're mundane moments in a match. If you want examples of JJ playing well, those are not it.

I'd go further there...

Had it been Lennon or Huddlestone or Modric who, in the case of their goal, was with the runner, noticed him but then failed to track him, i'd be more lenient, because ultimately, whilst they should have done better, it's not a key part of their game.

With JJ his optimum role is that tidy, box to box, conscientious in attack and defence type of midfielder. So when he fails to do that, as he frequently has this season (even whilst playing better than he has in a long time) it's sort of a big deal. So when people brush over that, I can't help thinking they're missing the point. You have to view things in context.

He's still a long way from top form - and (more importantly) light-years from the lampard (for chelsea) level of productivity, which he should be able to achieve.

 

[yusrisafri]

I think we should play Jenas every time we are down a man and losing by four. Thats the perfect situation for him. He'll run and run and run.

Apparently, JJ's idol is Forrest Gump......

 

[Bill_Oddie]

It could be down to a lot of things, and you could argue, probably with a fair deal of justification, that neither Jol nor Random assigned him a clearly defined role. We've also had ITK that Jenas lacks self-belief, something that's been long suspected.

But really, a string of highly respected managers and coaches know less than SC members? Do me a fucking favour.

Ole Mr "St James Park was a goldfish bowl"? Lack self-belief? Shurely not? :wink:

This is exactly the problem with JJ. Mentally there is a barrier to him being a truly great player. The potential is good, the play is often good but he himself cannot push on to the very highest level. He is certainly not a "go to guy".

Remember 2 points from 8 games? I bet you remember the manager. But how about the captain, the man who was marshaling us and leading us on the pitch? No prizes for guessing who was filling in for Ledders during that time.

JJ has always looked his best when there are other more mature players around him. Those who can lead and who he can feed off. Maybe his poor pairing with Huddlestone says something about T-bag's own captaincy...?

 

[Roberts84]

Those guys only see what they want to,they have their minds made up before the match starts and only look for anything he does' wrong simply to confirm their prejudice against him.They totally blank the good things he does'.

Jenas has been our best and most consistant central midfielder this season.
The guy has also stated that he has been playing injured for the past 2 seasons and taken injections to play for us.

Give the man a break and give him a chance for fuck sake you morons!

I would love them to point out this mythical midfielder who never lose's the ball,never misses a pass,wins every tackle and tracks back to pick up opponent's every single time as well as scoring 15/20 goals a season?

Who is he because I have yet to see him and I have been watching football for 40 years?

The first sentence can be applied to you :grin:

 

[MrWoolley]

I think he's had a very good season so far. I was very much up for selling him in the summer, but everytimes he's come into the team this season he's stepped up and done a good job.

Can't understand why people would want to sell someone like that?

 

[Sanj]

2m for me.

The guy winds me up so much! I posted this in another thread:

Jenas is a fucking liability in the middle of the park. At times he can be the most committed player on the park and at others he looks like he just doesnt give a shit. He tracks back only when he feels like it! The first goal was entirely his fault. He just completely gave up on going with the runner when it was blatntly obvious he was running into the space left by Hutton. Poor poor poor CM play.

Harsh I know.. lets make it 5m.

I can understand that - and in hindsight maybe he should have stayed with zanetti. However if you watch that piece of play again - he clearly hands Zanetti off to gallas by telling gallas to come across and cover the zanetti run, but gallas who hears the jj call just ignores JJ and ends up stood in no-mans land.
Also - 2 of the spurs goals can about from very good jj tackles, and 1 from a good jj pass. let alone all the running he did and all the other tackling too.
But then again - lets all slate JJ cos he's never done anything for our spurs.

 

[Sanj]

Whatever Gerrard has that makes him the dynamic commanding player he is...Jenas doesn't have

What utter rubbish.
Gerrard has played in a good team built around his needs for most of his Liverpool career. When he has to fit into a team (like he has to for England) you see Gerrard for the player he really is - good, but nowhere near world class - he can never stamp his authority in a general 4-4-2.
JJ covers more ground than Gerrard and does far more unheralded defensive work - just cos JJ doesn't score as many 30 yard piledrivers doesn't mean he is not a good player in his own rights.
Why do fans expect JJ to be like iother players? He's JJ with his own skillset and his own positives and negatives - and imo he has far morre positives than negatives !!!

 

[SpurSince57]

Ole Mr "St James Park was a goldfish bowl"? Lack self-belief? Shurely not? :wink:

This is exactly the problem with JJ. Mentally there is a barrier to him being a truly great player. The potential is good, the play is often good but he himself cannot push on to the very highest level. He is certainly not a "go to guy".

Remember 2 points from 8 games? I bet you remember the manager. But how about the captain, the man who was marshaling us and leading us on the pitch? No prizes for guessing who was filling in for Ledders during that time.

JJ has always looked his best when there are other more mature players around him. Those who can lead and who he can feed off. Maybe his poor pairing with Huddlestone says something about T-bag's own captaincy...?

I do remember, and I also remember a peculiar episode maybe three years ago when Keane was subbed and handed the armband to JJ, who looked at it in a slightly puzzled fashion for several moments before jogging half the length of the pitch and handing it to Robbo. It was as if he really, really didn't want it at all.

 

[kernowspur]

There are a number of supporters on here that will never acknowledge the worth of JJ to the team and the squad. The long article on him that appeared in the last few days says that he had been carrying an injury for over a year and has only really got fit again this season. The result has been good performances this season when he has played. Before the injury he was our most consistent CM after Carrick left and until Modric and Palacios arrived, but some just didn't seem to be able to appreciate this.
Against Inter he was our best player after Bale, and yes he did cost us a goal but so did Hudd for the third, yet very little condemnation of Hudd for that specifically compared to the critism of JJ for the first goal.
I think Hudd has improved this season, but not as much as some people think. He was found out against Inter for his lack of athleticism, which was why he was taken off, but that should have happened much earlier in the game.
Those that would sell Jenas for £5million just don't appreciate how important he is to the squad and never will. He is their scapegoat for everything that goes wrong.

 

[Alfieconnman]

It is incredible how the subject of JJ manages to polarise opinions to such a degree. I think that he may have a future with us in the squad but certainly not as a first choice player. He is undoubtably a fine athelete with good ball skills but I think that the problem is that he lacks the "football brain" to go with these attributes. I'm not sure that he is a box to box midfielder as some suggest, but if he is then he is failing to contribute the goals that this position demands and also lacks the authority and consistency to command this position.

If he has been carrying a long term injury problem then of course he can be forgiven below par performances over the last year or so but this does not explain his record previously. It would not break my heart if he left for a decent fee - at least this would put an end to the "deja vu" threads!

 

[Bobbins]

He's clearly worth a good £7-10m.

Anyone who actively wants to sell him is just proving that they've no idea what makes an effective CM and cannot see the valuable work he does for us (and has don, for years and years).

He's been light years ahead of Huddlestone this season. He was excellent against Inter (I love the pointing out of his failing to track the runner for the first goal as though people were jumping up and down in the pubs screaming about it - something people wouldn't be mentioning had ITV not made a big fuss over it).

As for the above comment that he doesn't contribute enough goals - he's consistently scored more than any of our other much-vaunted CM's:

05-06 - 7 goals
06-07 - 8 goals
07-08 - 6 goals
08-09 - 4 goals

Almost all of those were in the league as well, rather than easier competitions. His 'record previously' is very good, what is there to explain?

This debate is probably the most boring one Spurs supporters have these days. Ultimately some people will always hate Jenas or at least not understand what makes him a decent player, and there will always be some absolute twats who scream '****' at him at every game whenever he touches the ball, or make jokes about him, or blame him for everything while ignoring other players who are usually far more at fault (Huddlestone, for example, who goes missing more often and has lower average pass completion and successful tackle stats).

 

[BorisTM]

There are a number of supporters on here that will never acknowledge the worth of JJ to the team and the squad. The long article on him that appeared in the last few days says that he had been carrying an injury for over a year and has only really got fit again this season. The result has been good performances this season when he has played. Before the injury he was our most consistent CM after Carrick left and until Modric and Palacios arrived, but some just didn't seem to be able to appreciate this.
Against Inter he was our best player after Bale, and yes he did cost us a goal but so did Hudd for the third, yet very little condemnation of Hudd for that specifically compared to the critism of JJ for the first goal.
I think Hudd has improved this season, but not as much as some people think. He was found out against Inter for his lack of athleticism, which was why he was taken off, but that should have happened much earlier in the game.
Those that would sell Jenas for £5million just don't appreciate how important he is to the squad and never will. He is their scapegoat for everything that goes wrong.

Hmmm I would even put him as our best player even that he didn't score a goal, he was involved in all three goals, winning the ball from Sneider with a tackle to start the first and then sprint all the way supporting Bale. Assisted with a nice through ball for the second, and won the ball again to start the attack for the third. People say Bale this Bale that but if it was not for JJ we would not have scored any of those goals. The way he robbed Eto'o from the ball was pure class. He barely had a wasted pass (Bale had a lot of wasted crosses and some of his dribbles gave the ball away), hold the ball well under pressure, linked our entire play - he had an outstanding game, apart from his only mistake that caused the first Inter goal.

 

[YiddoJames]

Hmmm I would even put him as our best player even that he didn't score a goal, he was involved in all three goals, winning the ball from Sneider with a tackle to start the first and then sprint all the way supporting Bale. Assisted with a nice through ball for the second, and won the ball again to start the attack for the third. People say Bale this Bale that but if it was not for JJ we would not have scored any of those goals. The way he robbed Eto'o from the ball was pure class. He barely had a wasted pass (Bale had a lot of wasted crosses and some of his dribbles gave the ball away), hold the ball well under pressure, linked our entire play - he had an outstanding game, apart from his only mistake that caused the first Inter goal.

He had a terrible 1st half, as everyone did. But the above comment is exactly what I was going to say.

 

[kaz Hirai]

some of his tackles and interceptions in the 2nd half were epic, if only huddlestone could do that, i suspect that's why harry took him off. Wish i could find his pass completion percentage in the 2nd half, cause i dont recall him giving the ball away to often, his display in the 2nd was similar to his display away against stoke and Werder

think he deserves a prem start tomorrow, but he probably wont

 

[TheBigMatch]

I do remember, and I also remember a peculiar episode maybe three years ago when Keane was subbed and handed the armband to JJ, who looked at it in a slightly puzzled fashion for several moments before jogging half the length of the pitch and handing it to Robbo. It was as if he really, really didn't want it at all.

I remember that....

...he didn't want to track back with his man for Inter's 1st goal either.

Who knows one of these days he'll wake up and put in the effort and go some way towards fulfilling his potential.

 

[yusrisafri]

I really hope Jenas doesnt read this thread. He's done so well this season, yet he has to put up with all this manure from you lot. He cant afford to make one mistake at all, and the haters will come after him. Seriously, I pity the guy.

for his own sake, I hope he doesnt read this thread.

 

[stemark44]

The first sentence can be applied to you :grin:

There are a few of our players that I have a soft spot for and Jenas isn't one of them. However I do find myself defending him on numerous occasions from dimwits who know sweet fuck all about football.

Unlike yourself I have no man love for ANY of our players and I am happy for us to sell ANY of them if it improves the team.
I am also quite happy for any of them to be dropped from the team if they are not playing well.

Players should only be in the first team on merit and on current form Jenas warrants a place in the team.

 

[michaelden]

Hmmm I would even put him as our best player even that he didn't score a goal, he was involved in all three goals, winning the ball from Sneider with a tackle to start the first and then sprint all the way supporting Bale. Assisted with a nice through ball for the second, and won the ball again to start the attack for the third. People say Bale this Bale that but if it was not for JJ we would not have scored any of those goals. The way he robbed Eto'o from the ball was pure class. He barely had a wasted pass (Bale had a lot of wasted crosses and some of his dribbles gave the ball away), hold the ball well under pressure, linked our entire play - he had an outstanding game, apart from his only mistake that caused the first Inter goal.

After 1 minute! The team looked like they'd been winded straight away. He did improve in the 2nd half, agreed. But he'll need to improve a lot more and be a lot more positive in his play (no more square passes destroying a fast break) if he is going to win back my respect. And I used to hugely respect him. Just look at my posts on him.

 

[Totsfan]

There are a few of our players that I have a soft spot for and Jenas isn't one of them. However I do find myself defending him on numerous occasions from dimwits who know sweet fuck all about football.

Unlike yourself I have no man love for ANY of our players and I am happy for us to sell ANY of them if it improves the team.
I am also quite happy for any of them to be dropped from the team if they are not playing well.

Players should only be in the first team on merit and on current form Jenas warrants a place in the team.

There are plenty of those on here who don't know much about playing the actual game. I am not going to comment much on Jenas because I am not a fan either. I played in the same position he does and I am telling all of you now that he isn't good enough to occupy the central midfield position of my beloved Lilywhites. I was over the moon when he first signed for us but he has disappointed me too much in the past for me to get excited over his contributions to the goals.