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Player Watch: Nabil Bentaleb

tdk101

Well-Known Member
Sep 25, 2014
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The team had the best run last year with Mason-Stambouli pairing while bentaleb was away at ACN. A food for thought?
 

OPModric

Well-Known Member
May 10, 2010
1,100
2,448
Not good enough? WTF don't talk nonsense I was at the lane last season against Man city and he pulled the strings, got his head up and played some great passes, he had a bad game, the best players learn from there bad games not the good ones, give him a break for fuck same

Well, he gave away 1-0 to Utd at Old Trafford last season too. So he dosen't seem to have learned.
 

Sevens

Well-Known Member
Apr 23, 2014
4,583
6,947
I'd say it's both. The wide areas are an issue because of the way we are trying to play. The wing backs aren't good enough at crossing. With regards to the two attacking wide players one of them has to be effective as a second striker (15+ goals a season) and support the lone man and the other has to be creative. We lack both.

We also seriously lack quality in the centre of the park. Sorry Bentaleb fans but I just don't see the fuss yet. He is too much of a bits and pieces player for me. Defensively he isn't great, he isn't that creative and he doesn't chip in with many goals. He has youth on his side but I already fear he'll be one of those players in 5 years time we'll all be saying "he had so much promise but just didn't improve". I hope I'm wrong. He does keep the ball moving and has a great attitude. Maybe he'd work well alongside a pure DM just getting up and down the pitch supporting.

Stick by my original assessment of both Bentaleb and the way we currently play.
 

Sevens

Well-Known Member
Apr 23, 2014
4,583
6,947
The team had the best run last year with Mason-Stambouli pairing while bentaleb was away at ACN. A food for thought?

It's called a balanced midfield pairing. All this double pivot nonsense is ridiculous for all but the very best players in the world. An effective team is almost always balanced with players that compliment each other's skillsets.

I was no Stambouli fan but he was a defensive midfielder and that allowed his midfield partner to play with more creative freedom.

It seems that Poch may be coming to this way of thinking too but playing Dier there makes no sense to me unless he is trying to send a not so subtle message to Levy and Baldini of get me a DM!
 

Khilari

Plumber. Sort of.
Jun 19, 2008
3,461
5,287
He thinks he is a lot better than he actually is. The pass today was a disgrace and imo he should be dropped for the foreseeable

I hope you were posting this as an example of a knee-jerk over reaction.
I'd agree with you if you thought he didn't give a monkeys and wasn't disappointed by it.

But I'm pretty sure he was gutted. I'm also sure he is actually passionate about Spurs and hope he can get over this.

I think he started poorly under Pochettino and accepted his passing wasn't up to scratch, but we persisted with him and he really improved last season. Hope this is early season jitters.
 

Snarfalicious

Well-Known Member
Jul 15, 2012
15,709
71,934
If the fans ever want this youth movement to be successful, they need to back these young players even after poor performances. Same goes for guys like Bentaleb and Kane despite having more experience.
 

Sevens

Well-Known Member
Apr 23, 2014
4,583
6,947
I'm glad people aren't overreacting in here. :rolleyes:

Some of us aren't over reacting. My own post I quoted above was from March last year.

I just don't get the Bentaleb hype. He isn't creative. He isn't a goal scoring midfielder. He isn't good defensively in midfield. I just don't see why some people have this faith he is going to turn into a world class midfielder. Based on what?
 

Sevens

Well-Known Member
Apr 23, 2014
4,583
6,947
If the fans ever want this youth movement to be successful, they need to back these young players even after poor performances. Same goes for guys like Bentaleb and Kane despite having more experience.

I think fans get way too caught up in youth. I blame Football Manager games personally.

Almost all really quality players are already better at 20 in their position than pros who have played their all their career. There are very few that come out of the woodwork later in life and when it does happen there is usually an obvious reason for it (Drogba playing as a full back!).

If an 18 year old professional footballer is a poor passer or crosser than he will still be a poor passer or crosser at 21, 25, 30 etc. The basic skills improve by minute fractions past a young age. It's decision making that improves with SOME players.

It's why when you look at the very best players most of them were already high international class by the time they were 21.
 

formlesswater

Member
Jun 22, 2012
117
186
If the fans ever want this youth movement to be successful, they need to back these young players even after poor performances. Same goes for guys like Bentaleb and Kane despite having more experience.
Dropping Bentaleb from the starting lineup won't detract from the youth movement. His possible replacements are Dier, Mason, Alli, Carroll, or Winks, all of which are young. And anyway, dropping Bentaleb may light a fire up his ass like it did for Rose last season when Davies was brought in.
 

diamond lights

active member
Aug 31, 2012
1,442
5,657
My only response to this overreaction to a bad game by the kid is to change my Avatar and I've done it. Unbelievable how some "supporters" can write off one of our best players after one poor game. I despair sometimes.
 

Larryjanta

Well-Known Member
Apr 22, 2014
1,953
5,040
He's simply not good enough to be a regular starter, not a very good defender, not good creatively, plays a lot of negative side and back passes that slow us down in attack, second game on the trot he's presented the opposition with a great goalscoring opportunity, we need to get better than both he and Mason if we have any serious ambition to grab a CL spot

Wow! Hope you didn't take your head of your shoulders the way your knee must have jerked up.

Not good enough? WTF don't talk nonsense I was at the lane last season against Man city and he pulled the strings, got his head up and played some great passes, he had a bad game, the best players learn from there bad games not the good ones, give him a break for fuck same

Thanks for saving me the trouble of posting this. Top post

I'm glad people aren't overreacting in here. :rolleyes:

It's fucking unbearable on here at times with the gloommongers

If the fans ever want this youth movement to be successful, they need to back these young players even after poor performances. Same goes for guys like Bentaleb and Kane despite having more experience.

This. This. This. I seriously think we'd be a much better club if we didn't have any fans. This is the direction we're travelling until the new stadium is here, the doom and gloomers are going to make it harder for our quality youth to reach their potential.

Lots of our fans seem to wait in gleeful anticipation at some on our youngsters having a poor game so they can come and bitch and moan about them on a football forum. Just get behind the players FFS
 

Sevens

Well-Known Member
Apr 23, 2014
4,583
6,947
My only response to this overreaction to a bad game by the kid is to change my Avatar and I've done it. Unbelievable how some "supporters" can write off one of our best players after one poor game. I despair sometimes.

Isn't that as subjective as those you are accusing of over reacting?
 

diamond lights

active member
Aug 31, 2012
1,442
5,657
Isn't that as subjective as those you are accusing of over reacting?
Yes, opinions of players are to some degree subjective and I think he is one of our best players. When we were waiting on news of him signing a new contract in the summer there was a consensus that we needed him to stay and no way should he be allowed to leave. So the bit that's not subjective is that the same body of people i.e.. the fans totally changing their opinion of his worth after 60 minutes on the pitch today. That's not a matter of opinion on Nabil as a player - it's knee jerk and reactionary. If any life, business or sporting decisions were made on this basis nothing could be achieved.
 

Sevens

Well-Known Member
Apr 23, 2014
4,583
6,947
Yes, opinions of players are to some degree subjective and I think he is one of our best players. When we were waiting on news of him signing a new contract in the summer there was a consensus that we needed him to stay and no way should he be allowed to leave. So the bit that's not subjective is that the same body of people i.e.. the fans totally changing their opinion of his worth after 60 minutes on the pitch today. That's not a matter of opinion on Nabil as a player - it's knee jerk and reactionary. If any life, business or sporting decisions were made on this basis nothing could be achieved.

Can you evidence fans changing their opinion of him? E.g. Raving about how great he was a few months back and now claiming he isn't good enough?
 

diamond lights

active member
Aug 31, 2012
1,442
5,657
Can you evidence fans changing their opinion of him? E.g. Raving about how great he was a few months back and now claiming he isn't good enough?
Not as individuals no and if you personally have never rated him then that's your opinion and I respect it. My beef is the fact that our fan base and this site has been very positive about Bentaleb and his energy and potential but after today's game I see a raft of comments about him not being good enough and that he should be dropped. If we had adopted that attitude we would not have had the best of players like Bale or Kane and Rose last season. We are assembling a good, young squad and need to be patient and persevere through some poor performances from them as individuals.
 

Borks

Well-Known Member
Jun 22, 2014
1,524
3,300
When Dier dropped deeper it was Bentaleb against the Utd midfield as Chadli, Eriksen and Dembele offered little in terms of movement. Obviously his weakness is sloppiness in passing but to question the rest of his game is ridiculous imo. The amount of times he has bossed the midfield far outweighs the times we question his position in the team. Add to that he's 20? Come on. Defensive players' mistakes are highlighted more because they cost goals but the performances of Eriksen, Chadli and Dembele are costing us 3 points far more than Bentaleb's passing, it's just not noticed because it doesn't lead directly to an opposition goal.
 

beats1

Well-Known Member
Feb 22, 2010
30,006
29,551
He has been the victim of making mistakes leading to the goal but all of the players have been guilty of shockingly poor passes. Only time that didn't happen was when the kids were playing against AC Milan.
 

Barry Mead

Well-Known Member
Jan 31, 2013
3,083
4,078
Not good enough? WTF don't talk nonsense I was at the lane last season against Man city and he pulled the strings, got his head up and played some great passes, he had a bad game, the best players learn from there bad games not the good ones, give him a break for fuck same

Seriously what does he bring to the table, he's got no great creativity, he's not a good defender, he slows play down, sure he runs around a lot but what is he good at?
 
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