Nabil Bentaleb

[metalgear]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

Anyone else notice how the tempo of our play has become much faster since Bentaleb has come into the side? Reason being, you need a player like him there. He makes things tick. He stays deep, moves into space, looks for a pass, and quickly distributes the ball. He always seems to have plenty of time and space on the ball which is the mark of a good player with a good touch.

It's all well and good being able to pass the ball to Dembele who can use his super strength to hold people off and run forwards a bit before passing sideways. But it's slow, predictable and doesn't actually create many chances. I think it's also because Sherwood has told the players that they have to actually move into space when they don't have the ball and to play one-touch football sometimes, but I think a big part of the reason that we're more fluent is because of Bentaleb's involvement.

He's not Xavi/Pirlo. He's not even Carrick/Arteta yet. But when those two were significantly older than he is they were playing in the Championship and the SPL respectively. I think he's shown remarkable maturity for his age and with more experience and game time he'll get better. But more importantly, we don't have anyone else like him in the side. And you need a player like that to control the game. Ideally, I'd like to see him playing alongside Eriksen and Sandro as part of a three man midfield.

defnitely we pass faster with him the side, but at the expense of control of the game. under sherwood we've traded control for speed. nothing wrong with that, but our chance conversion rates are still very poor despite having a lot more shots on goal. on the flip side, we seem to be unable to defend anything coming through that space in front of the defenders.

I have no doubt that bentaleb is a talented footballer with a lot of potential ahead of him. But i am aware that we have on paper the best assembled team after the hoddle years (bale was a one man show) and 4th is still within reach.

The decision to play Bentaleb is to be viewed as a team decision with the goal of the maximum points haul over the season. He is but one possibility, there are others - Sandro, Capoue, Dembele - that needs to be considered in various permutations, each giving their distinct set of pros and cons, given the highly different attributes that each player brings.

Not an easy job for sherwood i must say - given the wealth of riches in the midfield - but as they say its a good problem to have. I'd say that its only a good problem if you have someone who is happy and capable enough to manage complex problems.

For me, amidst the confusion of system changes, I say keep it simple and play it to our strengths, drop the defensive line lower, strengthen the middle of the park, send the ball out to the wings to attack with the speed merchants we have.

 

[braineclipse]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

defnitely we pass faster with him the side, but at the expense of control of the game. under sherwood we've traded control for speed. nothing wrong with that, but our chance conversion rates are still very poor despite having a lot more shots on goal. on the flip side, we seem to be unable to defend anything coming through that space in front of the defenders.

I have no doubt that bentaleb is a talented footballer with a lot of potential ahead of him. But i am aware that we have on paper the best assembled team after the hoddle years (bale was a one man show) and 4th is still within reach.

The decision to play Bentaleb is to be viewed as a team decision with the goal of the maximum points haul over the season. He is but one possibility, there are others - Sandro, Capoue, Dembele - that needs to be considered in various permutations, each giving their distinct set of pros and cons, given the highly different attributes that each player brings.

Not an easy job for sherwood i must say - given the wealth of riches in the midfield - but as they say its a good problem to have. I'd say that its only a good problem if you have someone who is happy and capable enough to manage complex problems.

For me, amidst the confusion of system changes, I say keep it simple and play it to our strengths, drop the defensive line lower, strengthen the middle of the park, send the ball out to the wings to attack with the speed merchants we have.

Squad, yes. Team, no. At least if you're talking about team as the 11 guys that run out and start football matches.

Perhaps pedantic, but I think it's an important distinction.

No doubt in my mind that Sherwood has been picking Bentaleb so far partly because we're still in with a good shout for 4th.

 

[GrimsbyYid]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

Just bizarre... If we bought this kid in the summer no one would say a word. because he's young and came from our youth team people are creaming over him... I'm sorry if that offends, but i really think it. He's good, tidy, but nothing more yet. The fact anyone would play him over Dembele, Sandro or Paulinho blows my mind!I'd love to know what these "great passes in the final third are"... he's a little anchor in the middle of the pitch making simple passes, I don;t mean this as an insult, but it's definitely not really adding to the team, other than helping it tick along.

If we played a middle 3 than MAYBE there'd be a space, we need Sandro/Capoue for me, we need a more attacking midfielder in Pauliho or a driver in Dembele. So either we play someone behind the striker, or we stick with Berntaleb in a 3, but if it's him and Sandro (he should never replace sandro) then he wouldn't support the attack close to enough.

I really don't see what people see in him in such a creaming manor... My ideal 11 would be

---------------Lloris
Walker-Kaboul-Vertonghen-Rose
--------Sandro--------------
----------------Dembele
Lennon----Paulinho-------Eriksen
---------------Ade

 

[Cochise]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

Did you watch any of our games under AVB with those three in the middle?? Completely devoid of any creativity.

 

[harr1984]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

Did you watch any of our games under AVB with those three in the middle?? Completely devoid of any creativity.

But is that because of AVBs tactics or they just physically cant play together? I dont know the answer, just curious as to if we would reap different results with Sherwood playing our three best central midfielders(on paper at least)....

 

[Cochise]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

Against Arsenal we played two of those three and despite out manouvering them on a few occasions, neither Paulinho nor Dembele knew what to do when running at their back line.

 

[awesome dawson]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

Bentaleb is looking the most accomplished of our central midfielders.

His shooting looks ok.
Great at retaining possession.
Strong in the tackle.
Finds space in tight areas.
Decent quick passer.

For me he's earned his place in the team. Sandro is the only one I'd consider dropping him for.

 

[clevelandspur]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

Just bizarre... If we bought this kid in the summer no one would say a word. because he's young and came from our youth team people are creaming over him... I'm sorry if that offends, but i really think it. He's good, tidy, but nothing more yet. The fact anyone would play him over Dembele, Sandro or Paulinho blows my mind!I'd love to know what these "great passes in the final third are"... he's a little anchor in the middle of the pitch making simple passes, I don;t mean this as an insult, but it's definitely not really adding to the team, other than helping it tick along.

If we played a middle 3 than MAYBE there'd be a space, we need Sandro/Capoue for me, we need a more attacking midfielder in Pauliho or a driver in Dembele. So either we play someone behind the striker, or we stick with Berntaleb in a 3, but if it's him and Sandro (he should never replace sandro) then he wouldn't support the attack close to enough.

I really don't see what people see in him in such a creaming manor... My ideal 11 would be

---------------Lloris
Walker-Kaboul-Vertonghen-Rose
--------Sandro--------------
----------------Dembele
Lennon----Paulinho-------Eriksen
---------------Ade

Are you AVB in disguise? We basically played that way the whole first half of the season and looked dire. None of the three in CM create anything or get forward enough. I think the opposite of Bentaleb. If we had just bought a 19 year old from Porto and he had these performances everyone would be creaming themselves and he would have a huge price tag on his head already

 

[THFC6061]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

Algerian paper "Le Buteur" reports that Nabil Bentaleb will turn his back on France & accept an Algerian call-up for March friendly.

He could play at the FIFA World Cup Finals!

 

[machotime]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

Oh no, we'll have some crying about the African Cup of Nations in a few years time lol

Luckily we got 2 Brazilians and a Belgian to cover for him when he's gone.

 

[THFC6061]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

Oh no, we'll have some crying about the African Cup of Nations in a few years time lol

Luckily we got 2 Brazilians and a Belgian to cover for him when he's gone.

I can't imagine that there will be too many Algerians ahead of him in the pecking order.

And he could face Belgium's Chadli, Dembele and Vertonghen in the group stage.

 

[billyiddo]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

going from a youth team player to possibly getting a call up to the World Cup in Brazil within a couple of months - he must be loving it

 

[spurspinter1]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

going from a youth team player to possibly getting a call up to the World Cup in Brazil within a couple of months - he must be loving it

Yeah must be pretty awesome.

Hopefully his reasoning is that Algeria is the country he feels the strongest allegiance to rather than just seeing a shortcut to the World Cup finals

 

[THFC6061]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

Yeah must be pretty awesome.

Hopefully his reasoning is that Algeria is the country he feels the strongest allegiance to rather than just seeing a shortcut to the World Cup finals

Bentaleb met with FAF president Mohamed Raouraoua in Paris who convinced him and his parents that he should play for Algeria.

 

[awesome dawson]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

Bentaleb met with FAF president Mohamed Raouraoua in Paris who convinced him and his parents that he should play for Algeria.

Fair play to the kid. If he knows what's good for him, he'll realise that international football is second best to club football.

In which case he takes his chances with a zero expectation country at the World Cup, but then gets a decent contract out of Spurs as an 'international'.

Reminds me of Mikel a bit.

 

[indianspur]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

 

[glorygloryeze]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

One of the classiest players in a Spurs shirt imo; I remember his cut chip that led to our equaliser against Everton in April 1998 in a relegation 6 pointer.
That game was ironically as important as the Everton game this weekend (perhaps more so)

 

[Jordinho]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

One of the classiest players in a Spurs shirt imo; I remember his cut chip that led to our equaliser against Everton in April 1998 in a relegation 6 pointer.
That game was ironically as important as the Everton game this weekend (perhaps more so)

If only we could have got the likes of him, Berti, Klinsmann together at their peak and kept Popescu. Damn you Levy. Oh wait, damn you Sugar.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

Are you AVB in disguise? We basically played that way the whole first half of the season and looked dire. None of the three in CM create anything or get forward enough. I think the opposite of Bentaleb. If we had just bought a 19 year old from Porto and he had these performances everyone would be creaming themselves and he would have a huge price tag on his head already

A few key differences for me.

1. It was often Townsend playing on the right with him having a tendancy to cut inside which left us very narrow.

2. Rose was out injured so we didn't have a proper attacking left back to get on the overlap.

3. Adebayor was banished to train with the kids - so we didn't have a centre forward playing who was capable of playing up top on his own. Additionally with Soldado in there instead, who tended to stay very central the oppositions centre halves were able to remain central and therefore space wasn't created for Paulinho to get into.

4. The general slow build up play we employed under AVB with us refusing to commit men forward quickly allowed the opposition to get back and defend in numbers, it is then very difficult to create chances due due to the number of opposition players back and the lack of space to operate in.

My thoughts were that our problems creating chances under AVB related more to his tactics than the three central midfielders.

 

[90291Spur]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

One of the classiest players in a Spurs shirt imo; I remember his cut chip that led to our equaliser against Everton in April 1998 in a relegation 6 pointer.
That game was ironically as important as the Everton game this weekend (perhaps more so)

One was and one is a must win.