PLAYER WATCH: Paulinho

[piedpiper]

I feel he was never given a chance in the team, personally i am not convince with bentalab and mason in the center of midfield. We need the quality in there

Maybe he needs 100 more games because 40 plus games he has played just was not enough.

He does not need more games he needs to be sold.

Players need a run of games before you can truly judge them. I know he had under previous management, but this is his first proper run of games under Pochettino and he played well today. Not just 'well for him', but overall and objectively speaking it was a good performance.

Lets see if he can build on that next week against a much tougher midfield.

It was Newcastle who we played. No midfield to speak of. I cant get carried away with that performance to suggest he be given more games. Like another poster said Mason does need a rest. However against the Saints he should play.

 

[dannythomas]

Decent performance which hopefully will persuade someone to buy him.

 

[JerryGarcia]

I see none of the haters have bumped the regular Paulinho thread today, they're usually so quick to do so.

 

[L-man]

I see none of the haters have bumped the regular Paulinho thread today, they're usually so quick to do so.

Why would anyone bump an old thread when there's one on the front page congratulating him on doing his job

 

[Mr-T]

While it'll take a lot more than one good performance against poor opposition to convince me Paulinho has turned any type of corner, I thought he was really good today. Ran his bollocks off and was in amongst everything - until halfway through the second half when you could see he was knackered.

If he develops a run of form he could prove useful to rotate with Mason to prevent Ryan from suffering burnout.

 

[Shea]

He played very well today I thought

Looked lively, worked hard off the ball to press the opponent, got forward when we attacked and looked more like the player we (or I anyway) expected him to be when we signed him

It is of course important not to get carried away - this Newcastle team were very weak and poor opponents today which made it easy for our CM2 to look good

You can only beat what's in front of though and I think its undeniable that Paulinho had a good game this afternoon

I hope he can follow it up with more of the same and that both him and Lamela show they're capable of being worthwhile members of our team before the end of the season, would be good if some of our flop signings found their feet and turned out not to be shit

 

[JerryGarcia]

Why would anyone bump an old thread when there's one on the front page congratulating him on doing his job

Because usually you guys can't wait to bring it up when he's made his first bad pass although I didn't realise this one was made during the game so you have a pretty good point.

 

[Mr Pink]

Maybe he needs 100 more games because 40 plus games he has played just was not enough.

He does not need more games he needs to be sold.


It was Newcastle who we played. No midfield to speak of. I cant get carried away with that performance to suggest he be given more games. Like another poster said Mason does need a rest. However against the Saints he should play.

I'd play Paulinho and Bentaleb....with Eriksen, Mason and Lamela ahead against Saints.

 

[bat-chain]

Pleased for him today, nice for him to get a bit of praise.

 

[Khilari]

Obviously it won't make up for two seasons of disappointment, but he was decent today. Whatever anyone thinks about him, despite apparently resigning himself to leaving and hardly being selected, he's clearly been doing something right in training and today was quite good. Cynics might claim it's all in aid of window-shopping, but nonetheless he did it in a Spurs shirt which was finally good to see.

On another note, I thought Bentaleb was just fantastic today. What superb potential this guy has!

 

[Mullers]

I see none of the haters have bumped the regular Paulinho thread today, they're usually so quick to do so.

Im not hater, I just don't think he is any good. Nothing would please more to see him playing well and scoring goals but that happens rarely. He's 27 now, I really think it would be best for him and us if we cashed in now and he made a fresh start somewhere else.

 

[degoose]

Obviously it won't make up for two seasons of disappointment, but he was decent today. Whatever anyone thinks about him, despite apparently resigning himself to leaving and hardly being selected, he's clearly been doing something right in training and today was quite good. Cynics might claim it's all in aid of window-shopping, but nonetheless he did it in a Spurs shirt which was finally good to see.

On another note, I thought Bentaleb was just fantastic today. What superb potential this guy has!

I think Paulinho was very good yesterday including doing quite a few long quality passes , he also helped out Bentaleb a lot more today than Mason has recently as Paulinho stayed back a bit more and tidied up in front of the defence. Bentaleb looks like a great talent and even better when he is able to get forward a bit and pass the ball about.

 

[mil1lion]

I was happy to see him in the central 2. He doesn't offer enough in the number 10 role as he showed against Burnley. I would say the same for Dembele really. I think they're both more suited to a central 3 similar to how Swansea play. Neither show enough in the final 3rd to be pushed in behind Kane.

I thought Bentaleb was the MOTM yesterday. He showed grit in the middle but also showed some promising runs forward in the 2nd half. He had the sort of game you would expect from Paulinho. For me Paulinho just had a solid game but nothing special where Bentaleb showed that extra drive.

 

[JerryGarcia]

Im not hater, I just don't think he is any good. Nothing would please more to see him playing well and scoring goals but that happens rarely. He's 27 now, I really think it would be best for him and us if we cashed in now and he made a fresh start somewhere else.

I don't mind if he's sold either, he has been poor for the most part. If he could keep playing like he did yesterday though, I'd be happy to keep him around, he's running out of time to prove himself though with only a few games left of the season. My post was aimed at the ones who constantly revel in taking cheap shots at him, I wouldn't accuse you of doing that as I don't think you ever have from what I've read.

 

[bubble07]

not good enough. Neither is Lamela or Soldado

 

[SteveH]

MOM = kerching!

 

[Mullers]

He played very well today I thought

Looked lively, worked hard off the ball to press the opponent, got forward when we attacked and looked more like the player we (or I anyway) expected him to be when we signed him

It is of course important not to get carried away - this Newcastle team were very weak and poor opponents today which made it easy for our CM2 to look good

You can only beat what's in front of though and I think its undeniable that Paulinho had a good game this afternoon

I hope he can follow it up with more of the same and that both him and Lamela show they're capable of being worthwhile members of our team before the end of the season, would be good if some of our flop signings found their feet and turned out not to be shit

5 games left, its really a gamble to keep them if they play well for the next 5 games, come the beginning of the season if they start being shit again then their fee goes down even more.

 

[SamR]

Good job against Newcastle - would be easy for him to sulk and not bother but he at least puts in effort when he gets a chance. I don't think he's right for us and hopefully he gets a good move In the summer!

 

[Nebby]

While he certainly lacks Mason's enthusiasm to chase and get forward, he looked very comfortable against Newcastle, breaking up play, keeping things ticking over, and totally at ease when in tight corners. He still looks a ways off the player we've seen in a Brazil shirt, but let's hope he's still in there somewhere. I really hope he finds his form and stays.

 

[EastLondonYid]

Too little too late for me to get excited about Paulinho......i don't hate him, but i hate the way he has been performing, a half decent performance against a shocking side won't change how i feel about him.....i thought judging someone on one game is deemed as fickle...he has been poor way too many times, and poor is being polite...
Hopefully some mug might have been impressed ( fooled) yesterday, and takes him off us.