Nabil Bentaleb

[scaramanga]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

Even if that was the case here, it would not necessarily have been a bad move if the player learnt from the experience and improved as a result.

I agree - I think that maybe the traditional route of a few sub appearances would have worked better, but we''re likely to get a benefit from the halfwit's self-promotion.

 

[camspur]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

I suspect there are also a few who see a player playing above their current ability and 'rest' them before regression kicks in. That way the manager's personal PR machine goes rolling on.

If it were all about a manager's personal PR machine I doubt bentaleb would've got a game to start with for fear of him failing.

 

[scaramanga]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

If it were all about a manager's personal PR machine I doubt bentaleb would've got a game to start with for fear of him failing.

Except that he had been working with Bentaleb so there was a very good chance of it making him look good. When your stock's at rock bottom it can only go one way - why not take that risk?

 

[Millsy_Yiddo]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

Except that he had been working with Bentaleb so there was a very good chance of it making him look good. When your stock's at rock bottom it can only go one way - why not take that risk?

I know your opinion on anything Sherwood based is firmly swayed before you even open your mouth, but I genuinely think the case was that he felt Bentaleb was good enough from seeing him progress through the youth team and that he deserved a chance. I don't think it had anything to do with TS wanting to make himself look good or further his own career.

 

[Cochise]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

He played a somewhat subdued part for Algeria today. I only caught the second half and at 1-0 they weren't pushing so it made sense that he would sit back

 

[Mumorn]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

He played a somewhat subdued part for Algeria today. I only caught the second half and at 1-0 they weren't pushing so it made sense that he would sit back

He was good in the first half, much like Algeria themselves. Nice one touch passing, good pass in build up for the goal too. Second half, Belgium got more and more in the game, Bentaleb got more and more out of it, although I think the yellow card calmed his performance down abit.

 

[braineclipse]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

Another bump.

Interesting game from young Nabil against West Ham. Personally when watching the game I thought he wasn't involved enough and should have gotten on the ball more even though we were down to 10 men for quite a bit of the game. Thought he did fine defensively and that everything that happened from West Ham was either direct or from the wings.

However, someone (can't remember who) rightly pointed out that he was the one feeding the ball to Kane who then made the assist.

Simple enough pass I suppose, but he picks out the man in between the lines with a perfectly weighted pass that allows Kane to turn and pass with two touches. Assisting the assist type ball, and sometimes what we've been sorely missing. I'm not putting too much into this one pass, but if he can keep doing stuff like that he will be super valuable even though it won't show up on many stats or be mentioned a lot by commentators.

Stats for the game were also interesting (http://www.whoscored.com/Matches/829522/LiveStatistics/England-Premier-League-2014-2015-West-Ham-Tottenham)

75 total passes with an 89% accuracy are very good numbers. West Ham can sit off teams and allow a lot of passes so direct comparisons are hard, but we "only" had 53% possession because of the red card. For context Walker averaged the highest number of passes per game last season with 53, followed by Daws (49), Naughton (46) and Bentaleb (45). (all those per game, so not corrected for minutes/subs). Against West Ham Capoue had 73 (86%) total passes with Eriksen totaling 59 (71%) as our top 3 (accuracy numbers in parenthesis).

Those numbers actually surprised me, 75 total passes with that accuracy is pretty high, even against West Ham. I wonder if my expectations for Bentaleb are now very high and that's why that number surprised me as I barely notice when he keeps us ticking like that.

 

[metalgear]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

bentaleb is a good young player no doubt, but that particular passing stat does not describe how inadvertently he keeps passing the simple but obvious ball that is also read by the opposition.

in other words, a high number of those passes put the receiving player under a lot of pressure, and a few cost us to lose the ball.

that's why we never remembered all those passes because a large number were also forgetaable (generalization here).

sure he's young and he will learn, but lets not be carried away with the stats just yet.

 

[90291Spur]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

bentaleb is a good young player no doubt, but that particular passing stat does not describe how inadvertently he keeps passing the simple but obvious ball that is also read by the opposition.

in other words, a high number of those passes put the receiving player under a lot of pressure, and a few cost us to lose the ball.

that's why we never remembered all those passes because a large number were also forgetaable (generalization here).

sure he's young and he will learn, but lets not be carried away with the stats just yet.

If he was English and/or played for the Goons there'd be a Wheelchair-like ****-fest going on about Bentaleb right about now.

 

[Shelfie]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

I think Bentaleb has justified Sherwood's promotion of him to the first team, and those who said he was only there as 'Sherwood's love child', 'to prove a point for Tim', etc were wrong.

Tim did a lot of good for this club in the short while he was here. Giving chances to Kane and Bentaleb, restoring Ade from the wilderness, getting the best ppg of any of our Prem managers.

He made a lot of mistakes as well, and led us to some bad defeats, especially against West Ham, Chelsea and Arsenal, which hurt a lot.

 

[thfcsteff]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

If he was English and/or played for the Goons there'd be a Wheelchair-like ****-fest going on about Bentaleb right about now.

This.

 

[thfcsteff]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

I think Bentaleb has justified Sherwood's promotion of him to the first team, and those who said he was only there as 'Sherwood's love child', 'to prove a point for Tim', etc were wrong.

Tim did a lot of good for this club in the short while he was here. Giving chances to Kane and Bentaleb, restoring Ade from the wilderness, getting the best ppg of any of our Prem managers.

He made a lot of mistakes as well, and led us to some bad defeats, especially against West Ham, Chelsea and Arsenal, which hurt a lot.

It will always be to Sherwood's immense credit that he gave Bentaleb the run, agreed, ditto that he gave Kane some genuine chances to play. No reasonable Spurs supporter could deny that. However, no reasonable Spurs supporter could also deny that TS did a lot of things for himself, started to drag the club through the mud with his enormous mouth and paid absolutely no attention whatsoever to simple things such as defending or having a plan 'B'…he was out of his depth. No shame in that, however, the way in which he used his mouth during that time was unforgivable for me personally. But yes, he can always take credit for giving Bentaleb his chance, I agree with that...

 

[clevelandspur]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

Bentaleb to Kane to Dier for that goal the future is so ****ing bright!

 

[Shelfie]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

It will always be to Sherwood's immense credit that he gave Bentaleb the run, agreed, ditto that he gave Kane some genuine chances to play. No reasonable Spurs supporter could deny that. However, no reasonable Spurs supporter could also deny that TS did a lot of things for himself, started to drag the club through the mud with his enormous mouth and paid absolutely no attention whatsoever to simple things such as defending or having a plan 'B'…he was out of his depth. No shame in that, however, the way in which he used his mouth during that time was unforgivable for me personally. But yes, he can always take credit for giving Bentaleb his chance, I agree with that...

Tim did good, Tim did bad, same as all our managers.

 

[Hully]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

If the emphasise of Bentaleb's passing goes from keeping possession to feeding the attackers, he'll progress from a good player to a great one.

If he gets his head up, spots the run and delivers on a consistent basis we'll have a very special player on our hands. Just needs the confidence to take calculated risks. To boss the game more.

 

[clownfoot]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

If the emphasise of Bentaleb's passing goes from keeping possession to feeding the attackers, he'll progress from a good player to a great one.

If he gets his head up, spots the run and delivers on a consistent basis we'll have a very special player on our hands. Just needs the confidence to take calculated risks. To boss the game more.

I don't think he lacks confidence when he plays. Perhaps he just needs freedom in the knowledge that tidying up is not his main focus, and he can build attacks primarily.

 

[braineclipse]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

If the emphasise of Bentaleb's passing goes from keeping possession to feeding the attackers, he'll progress from a good player to a great one.

If he gets his head up, spots the run and delivers on a consistent basis we'll have a very special player on our hands. Just needs the confidence to take calculated risks. To boss the game more.

Notice Bentaleb's involvements in that short clip. Shows so much class for me, very far away from "keeping possession". The number of one touch passes is just beautiful, and when it's not one touch it's two touch, and it's accurate. And this wasn't a standout game for him.

 

[SpurMeUp]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

Notice Bentaleb's involvements in that short clip. Shows so much class for me, very far away from "keeping possession". The number of one touch passes is just beautiful, and when it's not one touch it's two touch, and it's accurate. And this wasn't a standout game for him.

Good point. With any younger player, there will be development and things to learn. Which means there will be sides to their game or moments when things are not perfect. We need to show patience with Bentaleb and Dier. They will make the odd mistake. But that is how you learn.

The great thing about Poch's system is it allows player to try thing and go for it. When we lost possession against qpr we were so good at closing down. In the past we might have criticised Lamela or others for losing possession in the early stages. Their heads would drop and their talents wouldn't have a chance to flourish. But because we instantly won the ball back, as a team, we could keep pushing and finding a break though. Slips were not so bad, and could turn into opportunities.

Bentalebs one touch game is impressive!

 

[scaramanga]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

I think Bentaleb has justified Sherwood's promotion of him to the first team, and those who said he was only there as 'Sherwood's love child', 'to prove a point for Tim', etc were wrong.

Did anyone actually say that?

 

[harr1984]

Re: Official Nabil Bentaleb Thread

Did anyone actually say that?

Cant be bothered to find direct quotes, but that sort of thing was definitely said....