Keep it up JJ!!!

[Kendall]

Yet he was still better than Palacios who everyone raves about and can't put a foot wrong...

 

[Coyboy]

Yet he was still better than Palacios who everyone raves about and can't put a foot wrong...

Only here mate, the guys behind me were getting really pissed off with him and Corluka. He did give the ball away but he is still terrific and has been so since he joined.

 

[kernowspur]

JJ has been our best midfielder since Carrick left and the partnership with Palacios is working very well.
I am suprised by the amount of praise Palacios gets on here. Yes he puts himself about and crunches in on tackles but the number of yellow cards he picks up means he can be a liability and his positional play, letting people run off him while he ball watches needs to improve. He did not play well against Burnley.

 

[Kendall]

He has, as has Corluka.

spursandbarca summed up what grates on me in the ratings thread. He praised Palacios for putting in tackles, then just criticised Jenas for giving the ball away. Palacios and Jenas both put in the tackles and both gave the ball away in farily equal measure I thought.

Lets not forget Palacios got absolutely bossed by United's midfield at the Lane which resulted in him getting frustrated and had to be taken off. He let the team down that day.

 

[Coyboy]

Jenas was the marginally better passer, but Palacios made about 7 successful tackles and Jenas only one. The thing is Palacios gave the ball away in easy positions, inexplicably and gave away a stupid foul. He wasn't at his best but he was far from poor and for the 90 mins played ok.

 

[danielneeds]

Yet he was still better than Palacios who everyone raves about and can't put a foot wrong...

Palacios had a very mixed game too. His tackling and physicality were great as usual, but his passing was decidedly sloppy. I do think he is allowed a slight dip in form, but hope he is back to his best quickly.

 

[Hoowl]

There are two ways of looking at JJ and how he played the Burnley match. On the one hand, he scored a goal, made a delightful pass to release Lennon for Keane's second, and generally worked hard, but then with his ability he should have been absolutely bossing that midfield, and he still didn't really get hold of it at any point of the match. He is so much better than the players he was up against, but there is still something that holds him back from being the player he should be.

There is no way to tell the player Jenas 'should be'. Jenas, like all players, should be judged on what he does rather than critised merely because he doesn't live up to certain concieved expectations. It's the same with comparing him to Lampard or Gerrard. Just because he isn't as good as either doesn't mean he's a bad player. If we compare Jenas to our ideal CM he's always going to fall short and we'll feel dissapointed with him.

Jenas seems to fall into the same camp as Bent did. He's not particularly a fans favourite like Defoe, Lennon or Palacios and therefore seems to 'get away' with fewer mistakes. There are even those who actively look for him to make a mistake to back up their pre-concieved opinion. Despite scoring a healthy number of goals, Bent was critised for his all round play. Jenas is similarly slated for things he doesn't do. There have been suggestions he doesn't score enough, or doesn't tackle enough or doesn't show enough passion. Let's looks at what he does do on the pitch, not what he doesn't.

Carrick was never appreciated until he left. He was slated for not getting involved and dissapearing during games. I don't think Jenas is as good as Carrick but I think we can use this experience to realise that we are generally harsh on our own players.

 

[Hoowl]

Palacios had a very mixed game too. His tackling and physicality were great as usual, but his passing was decidedly sloppy. I do think he is allowed a slight dip in form, but hope he is back to his best quickly.

Jenas seems to fall into the same camp as Bent did. He's not particularly a fans favourite like Defoe, Lennon or Palacios and therefore seems to 'get away' with fewer mistakes.

.

 

[WexfordTownSpur]

I'm just saying that he isn't good enough to take us any further in terms of what he offers on the pitch.

My standards aren't unrealistic i don't think as we sold the best midfielder we had in years to utd in carrick and i believe if we still had him alongside wilson then our midfielder would be top top class.

Like i said i like JJ but i truly believe that he hasn't got that extra something in his play like carrick had.

So would you start Huddleston, O'Hara, Livermore over Jenas?

 

[WexfordTownSpur]

There is no way to tell the player Jenas 'should be'. Jenas, like all players, should be judged on what he does rather than critised merely because he doesn't live up to certain concieved expectations. It's the same with comparing him to Lampard or Gerrard. Just because he isn't as good as either doesn't mean he's a bad player. If we compare Jenas to our ideal CM he's always going to fall short and we'll feel dissapointed with him.

Jenas seems to fall into the same camp as Bent did. He's not particularly a fans favourite like Defoe, Lennon or Palacios and therefore seems to 'get away' with fewer mistakes. There are even those who actively look for him to make a mistake to back up their pre-concieved opinion. Despite scoring a healthy number of goals, Bent was critised for his all round play. Jenas is similarly slated for things he doesn't do. There have been suggestions he doesn't score enough, or doesn't tackle enough or doesn't show enough passion. Let's looks at what he does do on the pitch, not what he doesn't.

Carrick was never appreciated until he left. He was slated for not getting involved and dissapearing during games. I don't think Jenas is as good as Carrick but I think we can use this experience to realise that we are generally harsh on our own players.

The only players we have to compare Jenas to are the ones we have! And at the moment the only real competition for that place is Huddleston - Is he better week in week out against all competition than Huddleston??

 

[Hoowl]

I'm just saying that he isn't good enough to take us any further in terms of what he offers on the pitch.

My standards aren't unrealistic i don't think as we sold the best midfielder we had in years to utd in carrick and i believe if we still had him alongside wilson then our midfielder would be top top class.

Like i said i like JJ but i truly believe that he hasn't got that extra something in his play like carrick had.

Not good enought to take us forward could be said about any player on the pitch. We could improve significantly in almost every position. If we are comparing against some 'perfect player' then everyone falls short. Jenas is one of our first choice CM pairing. Until we get a better player in, he is good enough to be in the first team.

 

[Maske2g]

The third response sums him up. He blows hot and cold.

He can be as good as the best on his day, then have an absolute stinker. Hehas too many stinkers in comparision to the greats of the Premier league and thats the only thing thats missing. Consistency to turn him into a good midfielder, to one of the best.

This is what frustrates people. They can see it in him, but he don't perform. It's also why I called him a c u next tuesday when he was dancing on a table after getting beat at Fulham last year.

 

[Hoowl]

The only players we have to compare Jenas to are the ones we have! And at the moment the only real competition for that place is Huddleston - Is he better week in week out against all competition than Huddleston??

I believe that over the last 4 seasons Jenas has always been on of our first choice CM pairing.

 

[stemark44]

I watch all our games and my favourite players tend to be midfielders. I always pay particular attention to Jenas and in my opinion he has been one of our most consistant players since January.
Without a shadow of a doubt he is definitely one of our best half dozen players.

 

[job16]

To compare JJ to the like of gerrard and lampard is crazy talk. They both play with so much more freedom than JJ. Lampard always has two CMs behind him to cover and gerrard is basically a striker now so the ghoal ratio is never going to be similiar.
Jenas and Palcious ran a 3 man midfield against burnley allowing lennon and kranjcar unlimited room to work and create.
Just get off jenas back just because the guy does not score 15 goals a season. There was a day when getting 10 goals in the league from a cm was incredible and made you top notch. Those days were when teams played 4-4-2 and i can remember him getting 8 goals a couple of seasons ago and still getting sh*t on here.

 

[danielneeds]

There is no way to tell the player Jenas 'should be'. Jenas, like all players, should be judged on what he does rather than critised merely because he doesn't live up to certain concieved expectations. It's the same with comparing him to Lampard or Gerrard. Just because he isn't as good as either doesn't mean he's a bad player. If we compare Jenas to our ideal CM he's always going to fall short and we'll feel dissapointed with him.

Jenas seems to fall into the same camp as Bent did. He's not particularly a fans favourite like Defoe, Lennon or Palacios and therefore seems to 'get away' with fewer mistakes. There are even those who actively look for him to make a mistake to back up their pre-concieved opinion. Despite scoring a healthy number of goals, Bent was critised for his all round play. Jenas is similarly slated for things he doesn't do. There have been suggestions he doesn't score enough, or doesn't tackle enough or doesn't show enough passion. Let's looks at what he does do on the pitch, not what he doesn't.

Carrick was never appreciated until he left. He was slated for not getting involved and dissapearing during games. I don't think Jenas is as good as Carrick but I think we can use this experience to realise that we are generally harsh on our own players.

I get what you are saying about fans favourites, its not something that I particularly adhere too, but I see that some do.

The point I was making about him against Burnley is that his ability is far superior than then players he was in direct competion with. He was faster, has a better engine, and has better technique, but he just fails to really put them to the sword. We know he has an excellent shot from around the edge of the area, but he seems reluctant to use it (unless he is playing the scum!).

I don't think I was playing favorites with Palacios either, I said he had a mixed game by his standards, i don't see anyone can argue than he has been anything less than excellent since joining us earlier in the year.

 

[MrWoolley]

I believe that over the last 4 seasons Jenas has always been on of our first choice CM pairing.

And I'd be very suprised if that didn't continue this season.

 

[phil]

I'm one of those who wanted JJ gone in the last window and although I still need to see more from him to be convinced he can be the player we all think he can be I must take a humble bow and admit he has stepped up and has been playing like a very good CM in the games hes played so far. I don't know what it is with him, it could be the new training staff are helping him just like they seem to be doing with Lennon or it could be the inclusion of Niko and the fact that Thudd has had a good run and the rumours and Sandro..........what I'm trying to say is competition in the squad seems to have helped some of our players (if only Bentley would take note).
I called Dawson a donkey and and I had to eat humble pie after he stepped up his game and I would just love to do the same with JJ and it seems to be heading that way :dance:

On a seperate note there was not much if any mention about Niko's tackles against Burnley! I thought he had a very good game and them tackles were sweet even Charlie started making some good tackles!

Like you Dr Know, I have never been a fan of Jenas. He has always been very athletic but has poor vision, is not a great tackler and contributes far too few goals for an attacking midfield player. I remember Souness criticising him for his tackling up at Newcastle. The following match he got sent-off at Arsenal.

Against Chelsea and Burnley, however, he has been my MotM (apart from Keane on Saturday). Against Chelsea, I was very impressed by his tackling and on Saturday he made two insightful passes (the back-heel to Defoe and the ball to Lennon in the build-up to the third goal) that were more Modric that JJ.

My concerns with JJ, however, are the absolute nightmare performances that he is wont to produce. One home game late last season, he gave the ball away 17 times (yes, I counted) before being substitued late on. In other games, he is just anonymous.

I really hope that JJ can continue in his current vein and I definitely think he should be playing with Wilson.

 

[Legend10]

Like you Dr Know, I have never been a fan of Jenas. He has always been very athletic but has poor vision, is not a great tackler and contributes far too few goals for an attacking midfield player. I remember Souness criticising him for his tackling up at Newcastle. The following match he got sent-off at Arsenal.

Against Chelsea and Burnley, however, he has been my MotM (apart from Keane on Saturday). Against Chelsea, I was very impressed by his tackling and on Saturday he made two insightful passes (the back-heel to Defoe and the ball to Lennon in the build-up to the third goal) that were more Modric that JJ.

My concerns with JJ, however, are the absolute nightmare performances that he is wont to produce. One home game late last season, he gave the ball away 17 times (yes, I counted) before being substitued late on. In other games, he is just anonymous.

I really hope that JJ can continue in his current vein and I definitely think he should be playing with Wilson.

But JJ isn't an attacking midfiled player.

For the vast majority of his Spurs career he has played in a conventional 442, he is an all round midfield player. Attacking midfiled players usually have the luxury of playing in a 3 and are given licence to somewhat neglect some defensive duties. JJ doesn't have that luxury and doesn't neglect his defensive duties at all, he covers so much grass and is one of the few midfiled players playing in a 442 who is willing to and has the energy to get beyond his front 2 and get back in again.

There aren't too many players playing in the Premier league in 442 set ups that offer more than Jenas does. So what if the odd pass goes astray he more than makes up for it in other areas.

He's one of our best players and has been for a long time now.

 

[leffe186]

To compare JJ to the like of gerrard and lampard is crazy talk. They both play with so much more freedom than JJ. Lampard always has two CMs behind him to cover and gerrard is basically a striker now so the ghoal ratio is never going to be similiar.
Jenas and Palcious ran a 3 man midfield against burnley allowing lennon and kranjcar unlimited room to work and create.
Just get off jenas back just because the guy does not score 15 goals a season. There was a day when getting 10 goals in the league from a cm was incredible and made you top notch. Those days were when teams played 4-4-2 and i can remember him getting 8 goals a couple of seasons ago and still getting sh*t on here.

Totally agree. I will always have reservations about Jenas because I genuinely, sadly, think he lacks a little bottle - but he and Palacios are our best pairing in CM. They both did well enough on Saturday and when Jenas "gave the ball away" it tended to be because he was trying to send a striker through. Palacios was asked to do so much running and managed it.