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Nabil Bentaleb

"The starlet, then 19, was superb alongside Ryan Mason, "

See Talkbrick are still doing what is says on the tin.
 
Gazza said:
What exactly did he say wrong. I think he is right. Fans dont always cheer when they should. And why should he regret his decision ... that would go down well for all parties? Some are so sensitive.

He has not slated anyone. Just showing himself for what his views and opinions are.
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Yeah, he's speaking up for himself, and given that he conducted himself with restraint during the whole of last season (when it became increasingly obvious that we'd moved on from the Bentaleb-Mason combo), I don't begrudge him a bit of justifiable eagerness to make up for lost time now. Nowt wrong with that. It's when he starts slagging the club for somehow being uniquely vindictive towards him is where it gets personal for me.
 
DubaiSpur said:
Yeah, he's speaking up for himself, and given that he conducted himself with restraint during the whole of last season (when it became increasingly obvious that we'd moved on from the Bentaleb-Mason combo), I don't begrudge him a bit of justifiable eagerness to make up for lost time now. Nowt wrong with that. It's when he starts slagging the club for somehow being uniquely vindictive towards him is where it gets personal for me.
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He did neither
 
parklane1 said:
I think we saw enough last night from the likes of Winks, Onomah, to see why we let both Mason and Bentaleb go.
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I always really really liked Bentaleb, but like our manager way way more. Thus when he decided to cut Nabil loose, I backed him without question. As you say, it is clear why.
 
parklane1 said:
I was never a big fan of either Mason or Bentaleb to be honest, i think a lot of the praise for both players was more to do with the " one of our own" syndrome ( imo).
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I remember that mate, and in fairness, your thoughts have been borne out. I still believe Bentaleb is an enormously talented player, but the devil is in the details, and if he is not prepared to give to the collective in the way Poch demands, then it was the right thing to let him go. Mason is a good player for sure IMO, and I think Poch liked him TBH, but also realized that for what the player wanted versus the games he was going to get, 10 million was good business and fair to the player himself in terms of first team football.
 
thfcsteff said:
I remember that mate, and in fairness, your thoughts have been borne out. I still believe Bentaleb is an enormously talented player, but the devil is in the details, and if he is not prepared to give to the collective in the way Poch demands, then it was the right thing to let him go. Mason is a good player for sure IMO, and I think Poch liked him TBH, but also realized that for what the player wanted versus the games he was going to get, 10 million was good business and fair to the player himself in terms of first team football.
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I have never thought either of them were bad players, i just believed ( rightly or wrongly) that neither of them were good enough for what ( i hope) we are aiming for. Over the years players find their level ( i remember some who raved about Livermore and the Plodder when they were younger but they are now playing at their level). Bentaleb may surprise us all ( or me at least) by becoming a top player but as for Mason i do not see him making a lot of progress.
 
thfcsteff said:
Agreed. A curious one in that regard was Anthony Gardner, who looked the business but eventually really wasn't...
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It does happen a lot at all clubs, having worked in several academys and seen ( what we considered to be stars of the future) crash and burn and fade away on more occasions then go on and really achieve something.

I think most fans would be amazed at just how many young " stars " fail to progress from being highly rated to fail to live up to the early praise and in some cases disappear from the game altogether. That is why i believe we as fans can overhype our youngsters and sometimes it is not for the best.
 
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parklane1 said:
I have never thought either of them were bad players, i just believed ( rightly or wrongly) that neither of them were good enough for what ( i hope) we are aiming for. Over the years players find their level ( i remember some who raved about Livermore and the Plodder when they were younger but they are now playing at their level). Bentaleb may surprise us all ( or me at least) by becoming a top player but as for Mason i do not see him making a lot of progress.
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There was something about Bentaleb IMO. For a while he did look like he was going to kick on and be something special but for a few reasons that didn't happen for him (yet at least). I think the main one was focus. He climbed out of relative obscurity into a PL midfield starting spot at a top 5 club followed by an international call up in quick succession, and it must have stroked his ego to the point where he lost sight of what got him there. It only took a few bad decisions in one match to see him bumped and lose his place in the lineup. I have watched him a little at Schalke and he has been good to excellent but the comments from others that have seen him more would indicate he is struggling for consistency. As you say he could still kick on and I hope he does. He has the ability but like with many young players it more to do with the application of that ability.

His partnership with Mason wasn't all that bad, from what I can recall, but ultimately they did not truly complement each other and certainly they didn't really offer enough protection to the back four. Either of them with Dier or Wanyama would likely have been a different dynamic but that's old news I guess.
 
purse said:
Was? There is!

Schalke will definetely use their option to buy. He will be a star.
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He may well be but it is quite common to see top managers let very good players go who either do not fit their system or cannot settle. Ferguson let Pogba, Pique and Beckham go, Mourinho let De Bruyne, lukaku and Robben. I am sure there are more examples. It's just the way it is and we shouldn't get too hung up on it. Clubs allow it because they trust their manager's judgement. Similarly this Manager is the one we should back and hold on to over any player. I am glad we are doing that.
 
Gardner never learnt from his mistakes and continually made the same errors and from the outside it's never easy to know if it's due to self belief in what they are doing or an inability of a player to take on what they hopefully are being told.
 
I think Bentaleb has got what it takes to make it, but he wasn't prepared to bide his time and be a cog in the Pochettino machine. That made his choice (and Pochettino's) a clear one. Having read his comments in Bild, I didn't think he was slаgging the club or the fans. He wasn't being provocative, just honest.
 
parklane1 said:
I was never a big fan of either Mason or Bentaleb to be honest, i think a lot of the praise for both players was more to do with the " one of our own" syndrome ( imo).
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While I do not give players unnecessary praise because they come from our academy I am guilty of wanting them to succeed and sometimes giving them arguably more time than they deserve to prove themselves
 
Rorschach said:
Is this a gut instinct or have you been watching his performances over there?
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I've only seen two full games of Schalke this season (vs Köln ang Gladbach), but in both those games, Bentaleb was the best player on the pitch by some distance!
 
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