Nabil Bentaleb

[Millsy_Yiddo]

Having seen what the snake is really like, would you honestly put that past him? He makes Redknapp look honest.

You kept saying playing Bentaleb was a win-win situation for him. I don't understand that thinking. If Bentaleb came in and played badly he'd have been slated for playing a young kid who's 'not ready' ahead of many of the experienced pro's that he could have selected?

 

[scaramanga]

You kept saying playing Bentaleb was a win-win situation for him. I don't understand that thinking. If Bentaleb came in and played badly he'd have been slated for playing a young kid who's 'not ready' ahead of many of the experienced pro's that he could have selected?

If Bentaleb had come in and played badly, all the dinotard had to do was blame the crap AVB bought on leaving him no alternative.

If Bentaleb plays well he (for some reason) gets credit, despite our academy producing good players both before and after he was here.

 

[wiziwig]

I do recall quite a few complaints about Bentelab's inclusion in every starting eleven and rightly so IMO. But that's not meaning the player isn't rated . It just means that some of us feared for the youngster's confidence being destroyed by for example, including him in a two man midfield pairing with Chadli, away to an at the time rampant Liverpool team! Sherwood's handling of Bentaleb was awful.

I'm glad that Sherwood is gone as I'm sure most of us are. Just the thought of him still at the club working behind the scenes for Poch

 

[scaramanga]

I do recall quite a few complaints about Bentelab's inclusion in every starting eleven and rightly so IMO. But that's not meaning the player isn't rated . It just means that some of us feared for the youngster's confidence being destroyed by for example, including him in a two man midfield pairing with Chadli, away to an at the time rampant Liverpool team! Sherwood's handling of Bentaleb was awful.

I'm glad that Sherwood is gone as I'm sure most of us are. Just the thought of him still at the club working behind the scenes for plotting against Poch

Fixed.

 

[wiziwig]

LOL ...true :ross:

 

[Millsy_Yiddo]

If Bentaleb had come in and played badly, all the dinotard had to do was blame the crap AVB bought on leaving him no alternative.

If Bentaleb plays well he (for some reason) gets credit, despite our academy producing good players both before and after he was here.

Awk a load of balls,

Sure it was universally understood that Sherwood was part of the transfer committee that sanctioned the signings, so he'd have looked a bit if a dingdong if he done that.

Sherwood done more bad things than good. But one of the few things he did do right was take a risk on a young kid that he believed had the ability to play at this level. And as painful as it may be for you, he was right about it.

 

[scaramanga]

Awk a load of balls,

Sure it was universally understood that Sherwood was part of the transfer committee that sanctioned the signings, so he'd have looked a bit if a dingdong if he done that.

Sherwood done more bad things than good. But one of the few things he did do right was take a risk on a young kid that he believed had the ability to play at this level. And as painful as it may be for you, he was right about it.

I agree he was right, I disagree that it was a risk and on his motivation.

Sherwood (much like his mentor) will only do what makes him look good in the short term - usually at odds with what's good for his employer long term.

 

[SundayRoast]

Hi first post on here so I should clarify that as a player I like what I see in young Nabil Bentaleb, but i think he is causing the side a major problem at the moment. I have no idea why but in a 2 man CM or screen whatever you want to call it with the 3 & 1 in front Bentaleb is playing almost entirely left sided, literally just inside Rose and leaving Capoue to cover from there right across the pitch. They should be working and moving across and up and down as a pair, but for some reason Bentaleb is playing more or less as a left sided player which is leaving us hopelessly outnumbered and exposed in the central area.

I noticed him doing something very similar in a 2 man pair for Algeria in the world cup and thought it was odd, he's come back to us and is doing exactly the same thing. Have a look at his passing map for yesterdays game and you'll see that everything he does is just 10-15 yards in off the left touchline, then compare it to Capoue who plays the width of the pitch as he should be doing as they both should be doing as they move in tandem. Even compare it to Dembele's positioning when he come on which was much more central and much closer to Capoue.

I also saw his heat map somewhere for the QPR game but I now can't find it and he was more or less entirely left sided, like 90% of his time was spent 10-15 yards from the left touchline.


http://epl.squawka.com/tottenham-ho...-2014/english-barclays-premier-league/matches

We need to sort this out as it is leaving us very unbalanced and exposed in the middle of the park, Liverpool really exploited that area yesterday and it's a very dangerous area to be outnumbered in.

 

[Benny_Lad]

Bit of a debate with a few friends. What is Nabil's game? Is he a combative shield? Is he a ball player? ? Is he going to burst into the box and get 10-12 a season? Ive seen him quite a few times now, I think his passing is just ok, he isnt overly protective of the back 4, and he isnt going to get 10 league goals I wouldnt think. I do like him and will always give young players a chance but I think its holding us back not having someone in there who has a specific job. Personally I think Dembele is quite similar in the fact he isnt really a natural of any of the above 3 styles - but im sure he's better at all 3 than Nabil at the moment.

 

[Cochise]

Dembele probably offers a better defensive shield than Bentaleb, but his passing isn't anywhere near as good. In the games so far Bentaleb has been very good at hitting first time passes out of the back straight into the feet of our forward players, cutting out quite a few opposition players in the process. He also has the instinct to get forward and join play, we've seen him have a crack from the edge of the box against QPR, Wham and Schalke. All in all I'd say he's a jack of all trades, but at 19 that's a good base to work from.

 

[demotw]

personally I don't see what the fuss is with this kid. He's ok, but I don't think he brings enough to warrant a starting place in the team. Midfield is devoid of creativity, and that includes the 3 in front of him, Ade cutting wide and leaving no-one in the middle doesn't exactly help, but if no-one can play a through ball into the box why would he sit there I guess. Probably also the reason why Soldado struggles so much, his movement in the box is still good even if he is rushing his shots, but no-one seems to be able to find that pass, (except Holtby in pre-season). Bentaleb is not the answer unless he develops quickly.

 

[Spursalot]

Dembele probably offers a better defensive shield than Bentaleb, but his passing isn't anywhere near as good. In the games so far Bentaleb has been very good at hitting first time passes out of the back straight into the feet of our forward players, cutting out quite a few opposition players in the process. He also has the instinct to get forward and join play, we've seen him have a crack from the edge of the box against QPR, Wham and Schalke. All in all I'd say he's a jack of all trades, but at 19 that's a good base to work from.

I wouldn't describe him as a jack of all trades, he needs to work on the defensive side of things before he manages that. He needs to work out what his positioning should be relative to our other CM when we don't have the ball for starters.

 

[El Guepardo]

personally I don't see what the fuss is with this kid. He's ok, but I don't think he brings enough to warrant a starting place in the team. Midfield is devoid of creativity, and that includes the 3 in front of him, Ade cutting wide and leaving no-one in the middle doesn't exactly help, but if no-one can play a through ball into the box why would he sit there I guess. Probably also the reason why Soldado struggles so much, his movement in the box is still good even if he is rushing his shots, but no-one seems to be able to find that pass, (except Holtby in pre-season). Bentaleb is not the answer unless he develops quickly.

My thinking is that Bentaleb is overrated on the basis that he's a decent young player who has come through the ranks. I think Holtby should have been played ahead if Bentaleb. Holtby was a more developed player and yet we got rid of him so that option has now gone.

I hope Stambouli comes in for Bentaleb now. Bentaleb will get games in the Europa League and rotation to develop. Stick him in the first team if he develops appropriately, not now.

 

[milo]

My thinking is that Bentaleb is overrated on the basis that he's a decent young player who has come through the ranks. I think Holtby should have been played ahead if Bentaleb. Holtby was a more developed player and yet we got rid of him so that option has now gone.

I hope Stambouli comes in for Bentaleb now. Bentaleb will get games in the Europa League and rotation to develop. Stick him in the first team if he develops appropriately, not now.

I don't agree. Bentaleb does the simple thing right, reads the game well, is comfortable on the ball and offers a decent range of passing. Holtby needed to demonstrate positional discipline and be less inclined to dive in to be a success in a deeper position and he never managed that.

 

[THFC84]

One thing that Bentaleb does better than all of our other Centre Mids is he releases the ball quickly and speeds up the transition from defence to attack. Take the first goal against QPR as an example where as soon as he picked up the ball he drove forward and played it to Ade to set up Chadli. He very rarely gives the ball away as well.

 

[Millsy_Yiddo]

One thing that Bentaleb does better than all of our other Centre Mids is he releases the ball quickly and speeds up the transition from defence to attack. Take the first goal against QPR as an example where as soon as he picked up the ball he drove forward and played it to Ade to set up Chadli. He very rarely gives the ball away as well.

This is basically it (=D>). He's another one of those players that we will spend days on here arguing 'what does he do?' because what he does isn't anything spectacular, but that doesn't mean it isn't important.

He needs to work on a few things, particularly defensively, but the key ingredients are there for him to become a very important player to us.

 

[thfcsteff]

This is basically it (=D>). He's another one of those players that we will spend days on here arguing 'what does he do?' because what he does isn't anything spectacular, but that doesn't mean it isn't important.

He needs to work on a few things, particularly defensively, but the key ingredients are there for him to become a very important player to us.

It is my hope that he is utilized with a bit more freedom to play further forward, but I know what you're saying…

 

[Millsy_Yiddo]

It is my hope that he is utilized with a bit more freedom to play further forward, but I know what you're saying…

Depends what Poch wants to do with him I suppose. He's at a stage currently where he could probably be molded either way, he's played on the left a fair bit for Algeria too hasn't he?

 

[THFC84]

This is basically it (=D>). He's another one of those players that we will spend days on here arguing 'what does he do?' because what he does isn't anything spectacular, but that doesn't mean it isn't important.

He needs to work on a few things, particularly defensively, but the key ingredients are there for him to become a very important player to us.

I completely agree. If he can work on the defensive side of his game and become more of a physical force as i'm sure he will as he gets older then he could be a special player for us. It's scary to think that he's only 19

 

[Lilywhite]

Goes missing far too much to start for us at the moment. When the going gets tough he gets going (to the nearest hiding place).

Could have a future with us as a useful squad player but for now he should be backup or sent out on loan to a Championship team to gain some experience.