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Player Watch: Nabil Bentaleb

camaj

Posting too much
Aug 10, 2004
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Also makes me ask, there were rumours that AVB had shut the first team squad off - makes me wander if any of that might be related to not giving the likes of Bentaleb a chance, even in the Europa?

The evidence suggests otherwise. Who bought on Fredriks against Anzhi? Who promoted Townsend to a starting spot in the first team? Who bought Rose back into the team?
 

StartingPrice

Chief Sardonicus Hyperlip
Feb 13, 2004
32,568
10,280
So now all of a sudden Bentaleb and Carroll should be running Spurs MF and Andre's is an idiot for buy players like Paulinho, Eriksen. Many Spurs fans like to jump the gun here.
No doubt that Bentaleb performed beyoned expectations today, and looks like a real talent. And yes I wish Andre had given him some playing time but don't forget that Andre was trying to gel a team of newly bought players, being under immense pressure to get results. It's not as if all the players Andre bought are "disasters" after just 4 months in the EPL, as some seem to believe.
Sandro, Dembele, Paulinho, Capoue, Erisken, Capoue, Holtby are still better EPL players than Carrol and Bentaleb.

Not many folk have said that, TBF.
Most have said that it was an impressive debut, but he still has his work cut out to get playing time. The only player anyone has criticised, and suggested we shouldn't have bought, is Paulinho (for the record, and not saying you accused me, but I wasn't one of them, and I would be more interested in seeing P play in a more advanced role than I would be in slagging him off).

Same for Carroll - a few may have said we should recall him from his loan, though not that many, but I think that is more to do with saying we are wasting a talent than with slagging off anyone else.

I think folk just want to see the products of our very highly regarded youth set-up get more of a chance.

N.B. Personally, I have been beating the drum for Tommy Carroll since he was 18. But that is just me, and it doesn't mean Ican't see the enormous potential in Lamela and Ericksen, and Holtby, too.
 

StartingPrice

Chief Sardonicus Hyperlip
Feb 13, 2004
32,568
10,280
The evidence suggests otherwise. Who bought on Fredriks against Anzhi? Who promoted Townsend to a starting spot in the first team? Who bought Rose back into the team?

You may be right.
It is just one of those things that was said in the fall-out that isn't saying anything apparent - it has been suggested it was referring to Tim Sherwood. Who knows.

But the evidence is equivocal. You quote Rose and Townsend, both of whom are, I believe, over 21, both of whom had previous game-time in the 1st team and, once they were included in the playing squad, well, the exclusion could have happened after then. Fredericks only came in after the top spot in the group was confirmed, and that is just one genuine under-21 debutante - mostly, we were expecting a pretty youthful team for the Europa full-stop. I wasn't one of the ones slating AVB to the high-heavens for it, but we did see quite a lot more of the first choice and first team squad players than we expected.

Bentaleb may have been foisted on AVB, it might have been another source of conflict, he may have excluded him from effective participation (much to the chagrin of Levy/Sherwood).

Like I said, I'm just trying to make sense of one of the more obscure comments that surrounded the AVB fallout. I wasn't having a go at AVB.
 

mil1lion

This is the place to be
May 7, 2004
42,335
77,592
To be honest, I don't regard Paulinho as a quality player, I'm very underwhelmed by him.

The club we played today are a prime example of why we should be blooding youngsters through. Chambers, Lallana, Shaw, Ward-Prowse etc. As well as having produced great players like Chamberlain, Walcott and of course Bale. They're all doing extremely well and probably outshine most of their foreign imports, Ramirez looks poor and Osvaldo hasn't been great since his arrival in the summer.

IMO, I don't think we need to fill our 25 squad places with senior players, around 20 is probably enough and the rest should be youth players. We have great prospects in Bentaleb, Veljkovic (sp?) Carroll, Kane, Pritchard and should be looking to see more of them and if Sherwood carrys on as boss, long may it continue.

Bentalebs been extremely lucky to get his chance today I think and if we get another manager in, he could be down the pecking order to about 7th, 8th choice. If we're signing players like Paulinho, Capoue then there's less chance of him getting games. I just don't see it possible to sign these players and blood in the youth at the same time. If I was a youth player and saw us signing 7 players in the summer as well as loans returning I'd be pretty pessimistic about my future and let's be honest we don't have a great history of successful youngsters breaking into the first team
Well Paulinho has not long been in the country so judging him this early is harsh.

I love having young players come through as much as anyone but it's all about balance. I actually think we are lacking leadership and experience at the moment. We have plenty of young talent from teenagers through to players in their early 20s. With so many games in a season you need to have a mix of players and different ages.

One thing that Harry recognised was the lack of leaders and he signed the likes of Parker and Gallas. They both did great early on for us. Although I think they were a bit too old as it turns out and their legs started to go. We could certainly do with more experience to help lead this team of younger talent.

As far as younger players getting opportunities, if they're good enough they will get into the team. I think it's really a matter of getting enough quality in depth so that the chances of unearthing top class talent is much more likely. I don't think we should use Southampton as an example either considering the expectations of both teams.

I'm sure the Saints will do well enough with young talent to finish in the top half of the table. Those players will not get teams into the Champions League. Hell Aston Villa have some great youngsters too and look how they're doing. We need to have top quality players in the first team so that the likes of Bentaleb can come on and flourish. But one decent appearance doesn't make him the next wonderkid. Hell just look at Townsend earlier in the season. One minute he's flying high and scoring for England, the next he's on our bench struggling to find form again. We can't put too much pressure and expectation on the youngsters. We have to pick the right moments to bring them in.
 

walworthyid

David Ginola
Oct 25, 2004
7,059
10,242
All of this Paulinho hate is so strange. You have a kid come and do well for 40 minutes, and he was very good, and all of sudden he is the answer to all of our midfield woes. Yet Paulinho is rubbish? This is a guy that is a solid nailed on starter for brazil, a guy that has won more in the last 3 years than we have in a generation, who stood with iniesta and neymar as players of the tournament in the summer.
He is in a new league and playing in a team that is struggling yet he is cut no slack. He is probably exhausted after having very little rest for over a year.

I love spurs fans sometimes.
 

Mattspur

ENIC IN
Jan 7, 2004
4,885
7,257
This guy's clearly the love child of Darren Bent and Gareth Bale. (Like mixing a couple of the letters up in his name is going to fool anyone).:pompous:

Lets hope that Bale had the dominant genes.:cautious:
 

thinktank

Hmmm...
Sep 28, 2004
45,893
68,893
it was an incredibly ballsy move, avb wouldn't even risk it in a dead rubber europa game.
Exactly. You can say what you want about our timmy, but he's got plums the size of cannon balls, no doubt.

Just shows you what can happen if you take a risk on a hunch. Props to timbo.
 

whatsappnin

Well-Known Member
Jun 9, 2004
1,981
258
Quite funny really when you read all the stuff about us buying too many players in the summer and AVB needed more time for them to settle.

Tim comes in and brings another one to the party!

Impressive Debut, Well done Bentaleb. And well done Tim!!
 

yusrisafri

Well-Known Member
Jun 27, 2004
6,369
7,548
Ser
I think Swindon has been good for Pritchard his playing well getting games in team full of our youth I know it's div 1 but they play really good footie Swindon is a great project for spurs. Pritchard has talent his getting exp of what it's like to play a whole season. We have so much talent coming though good times

Seriously dude, didnt they teach you about punctuation marks in school?
 

yusrisafri

Well-Known Member
Jun 27, 2004
6,369
7,548
Whoa slow it down. A brief appearance is nothing to go on yet. There is nothing wrong with splashing out on quality players like Paulinho AND developing youngsters at the same time.

I really dont think he is that much of a quality. You can argue all you want but that's my opinion on paulinho
 

Sp3akerboxxx

Adoption: Nabil Bentaleb
Apr 4, 2006
5,180
7,620
This is the main tangible benefit of having Sherwood in charge.

He knows the youth players well and knows if they are capable of stepping up.

Andre was terrible at using them, even worse than Redknapp and since it's such a strong part of our club strategy, it makes sense to give game time to youngsters with serious promise.

Saying that I would be astounded if any fan would like to admit that they thought it was a good idea bringing Bentaleb on today, in this match, in that situation with no defensive midfielder on the pitch! Credit Sherwood for bravery/chutzpah, it was OK in the end.

In all fairness I may have been able to make an informed decision on his suitability to the situation if it wasn't his début.
 

Syn_13

Fly On, Little Wing
Jul 17, 2008
14,851
20,659
I really dont think he is that much of a quality. You can argue all you want but that's my opinion on paulinho

Too early to make a real judgement, it's not even been half a season. He's not had a rest (bar this ban) for well over a year now and has to adapt just like everyone else. Yes, he's been underwhelming, albeit his first couple of games looked good, but you can't possibly write him off yet. Modric looked distinctly average for his first season.

Bentaleb was great today and Southampton on their own turf are a tough ask for a young kid. It reminded me of the way Livermore broke into the team, showing solid displays when given the chance. Bentaleb may have a higher potential than Livermore hopefully. The only problem is he is still a kid and needs experience, so a loan option may be his next best move to further his development. With a display like that there might be a few good Championship sides, maybe even Premiership ones, that might want to take him on.
 

Spursidol

Well-Known Member
Sep 15, 2007
12,636
15,834
All of this Paulinho hate is so strange. You have a kid come and do well for 40 minutes, and he was very good, and all of sudden he is the answer to all of our midfield woes. Yet Paulinho is rubbish? This is a guy that is a solid nailed on starter for brazil, a guy that has won more in the last 3 years than we have in a generation, who stood with iniesta and neymar as players of the tournament in the summer.
He is in a new league and playing in a team that is struggling yet he is cut no slack. He is probably exhausted after having very little rest for over a year.

I love spurs fans sometimes.

Nabil Bentaleb had a good debut, but IMO he will have a few more appearances this season and maybe a dozen next season (assuming he's not on loan somewhere). He will not be a candidate to be a regular starter for a season or two - players of his age (19 last month) are not these days, more likely aged 21/22.

Looking at our first team midfield, the one problem I have is that Paulhino, Dembele, Sandro and Capoue have a lot of similarities - but of them only Capoue has much passing ability. Its good in theory as its easy to rotate players when they are similar - however I would suggest that the lack of passing ability in central midfield is not good for Spurs. Not sure whether there will be any changes in January - although Carroll coming back from loan might be good if we think he is good/experienced enough to get games - but I imagine in the summer that one might be moved on and a deep lying passing midfielder might be brought in to give Spurs the alternative of a more creative midfield..
 

Tit&Ham

Well-Known Member
Aug 19, 2012
809
1,699
Nabil Bentaleb had a good debut, but IMO he will have a few more appearances this season and maybe a dozen next season (assuming he's not on loan somewhere). He will not be a candidate to be a regular starter for a season or two - players of his age (19 last month) are not these days, more likely aged 21/22.

Looking at our first team midfield, the one problem I have is that Paulhino, Dembele, Sandro and Capoue have a lot of similarities - but of them only Capoue has much passing ability. Its good in theory as its easy to rotate players when they are similar - however I would suggest that the lack of passing ability in central midfield is not good for Spurs. Not sure whether there will be any changes in January - although Carroll coming back from loan might be good if we think he is good/experienced enough to get games - but I imagine in the summer that one might be moved on and a deep lying passing midfielder might be brought in to give Spurs the alternative of a more creative midfield..

If you're good enough, you're old enough! If he's as good as he looked today then bring him in/on :)
 

EQP

EQP
Sep 1, 2013
7,958
29,657
Would love if bentaleb went on loan to Hull. Especially if rumours of Hull willing to buy Livermore in Jan are true, he would definitely be better than Meyler and Quinniesta.
 

CJMurray

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Aug 3, 2011
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