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@SpursVines has posted it.
I never said he should start every game. Just that everyone of our pivot midfielders (adding Capoue) has spent time out this season through injury and it probably wasn't the best time to loan him out in January with those concerns in mind.
Well the difference there would be that Holtby wanted to leave to play. Holtby has also never started in a pivot position in his time at Spurs so I wouldn't say him in Bentaleb deserve to be considered in the same realm.
Once again, never said I agreed with Bentaleb starting so consistently (despite the fact that I do think people obsessing over his every missed pass or slight mistake a bit overkill). My only point was that with Sandro out, Paulinho just returning, Dembele missing a game and Capoue having been out a month and a half early this season that it might not have been the best idea to send Bentaleb out on loan in January. Simply a depth thing. I don't think that is outrageous to say.
Bit harsh.
Bentaleb is ok but nothing more. Today he was average, the slightly better of a 3 man midfield who had a right mare in the 1st half. Second half the two others improved but he was slightly better.
I actually like his reverse passed under pressure a bit, but with loads of time he is not so good, taking too many touches and shooting off poorly weighed passes, looks great on passing stats but worthless to work with for teammates. Also he really got bullied off the ball a number of times by Osman and McCarthy, both aren't exactly Roy Keane's in the first place.
Unfortunately it is not about him anymore, though, is it? A lot of people moan about the post game criticism he gets. Really? I am more concerned with the baffling, over-the-top, praise he gets for doing bloody simple things ok-ish and sometimes not even that, as if talking him up to obscure heights is sometimes a matter of an almost policitical correctness of "support".
Bentaleb is the symbol of Sherwood now, and for that Sherwood has nobody to blame but himself. As it goes, I happen to think Sherwood is rather doing better than Bentaleb. Which kind of underlines my point, that it appears Bentaleb is consistently played full time for the sake of it rather than because he is consistently the better choice than a string of full internationals sitting around our squad.
Btw I thought he looked at his best in a tandem with Capoue late on. Capoue happens to be that sort of player, I suspect, making others look better too. He needs to play a lot more. Looking at the three starters today, he deserves it too.
Heady play by Walker and a great strike by Ade.
The rest ? Pretty forgettable but I'd gladly take the 3 points against a quality side.
The Paulinho/Dembele pairing really hasn't worked all season and both seem to occupy the same territory on the pitch.
Good to see AT back and the dynamic he brings to the attack.
Bring on the Toons
The rest ? Pretty forgettable but I'd gladly take the 3 points against a quality side.
The Paulinho/Dembele pairing really hasn't worked all season and both seem to occupy the same territory on the pitch.
Good to see AT back and the dynamic he brings to the attack.
Bring on the Toons
Was it me or did it look like a lot of empty seats around, stub hub? Was looking on their site yesterday and there were loads of tickets available, was considering a late swoop on one (sorry but a ticket to see spurs is a ticket to see spurs so long as I get it cheap) this morning but they had all disappeared bar one strangely and that was a crazy high price for a high corner seat, they couldn't have all sold overnight surely.
Dembele is so damn good till he gets close to the box and he seems like he can never make the decision on what exactly to do. The final product is a thorn in that man's side for sure
Unfortunately true. Pretty plain to see why a coach at some point of his development swapped him from a striker to a midfielder.
And I agree that the Dembele/Paulinho partnership hasn't been great this season aside from one game, Stoke at home. Not sure why it isn't worked well, but regardless it's better than Dembele/Bentaleb.
I think the problem with Paulinho, Dembele and Bentaleb is that they are all very similar players. All three when optimally used are box to box midfielders. All of them are good at a lot of different things but exceptional at nothing (except Dembele with dribbling but that doesn't always work in his favor). Adding to the problem is that none of them natural passers.
Likewise none of them are natural defenders despite all being good athletes. Though in fairness I thought Dembele and Bentaleb put in decent shifts defensively today (Dembele had 6 successful tackles and Bentaleb had 4 tackles and 4 interceptions). None of them look comfortable in a primarily attacking or defensive role. Bentaleb is so young he might develop into something different but I think we know what we have in the other two. I thought Dembele exemplified this problem today. He quite clearly from the start of the match was playing way higher up the pitch than normal and struggled a bit IMO. Then in the second half he was moved back and put in a MoM performance.
Over the last two years we've quite clearly suffered from Sandro and Modric sized holes in the midfield. We've been spoiled by both. A fit Sandro is the best player in his role in the league. No one covers space like him. He truly is irreplaceable for what he does. Then Luka was just such an incredible football mind and passer.
For me, if we can get Sandro back at full health we need to push more players forward and trust that Sandro can mop up any problems. I also think next year we need to either feature Tom Carroll in a lot of first team games or buy a CM who can pass. If we sold Paulinho for a big profit this summer I wouldn't be dismayed by it, not that I don't rate but just because we have two good players jut like him.
Anyway TL;DR but in summation we have three problems 1) We aren't the same without Sandro 2) Our passing from deep lying possessions is a real weakness that has needed to be assessed since Modric left 3) We have too many similar players that are hard to play together.
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I understand what you're saying. I miss the days when we would just be able to laugh off a bad performance and people weren't so negative. But I think those days are long gone unless we fall to mid table for a couple of years so I figure we're just better hoping for top 4.
Because of the potential of an extended Tim reign?
Stuck at work all day, managed to make it home without hearing the result. Watched the game........ and I dunno.
Maybe it goes hand in hand with being a spurs supporter >>> being pessimistic, overcritical.
We didn't dominate at all. A goal out of the blue. We looked like a bunch of good players, playing bad with no system.
So many times throughout the game where intelligent runs weren't made into great spaces. The runs that were made.... were into positions easily marked with little space.
We looked toothless at corners as per usual.
Adebeyor too deep a lot of the time, just trying to get into the game.
Poor system for pressuring when off the ball, fragile at the back, barely created anything up front.
Yes, Everton are a good side, but if you had to pick a top 11 out of both sides, surely we'd have the majority>>> naysmith out of position and hardly world class looked good, and then look at us?
A lot has been said about AVBs system being too strict/rigid but there has to be a system... a philosophy and I didn't see anything approaching it. I saw a bunch of good players muddling a goal for a win
Maybe it goes hand in hand with being a spurs supporter >>> being pessimistic, overcritical.
We didn't dominate at all. A goal out of the blue. We looked like a bunch of good players, playing bad with no system.
So many times throughout the game where intelligent runs weren't made into great spaces. The runs that were made.... were into positions easily marked with little space.
We looked toothless at corners as per usual.
Adebeyor too deep a lot of the time, just trying to get into the game.
Poor system for pressuring when off the ball, fragile at the back, barely created anything up front.
Yes, Everton are a good side, but if you had to pick a top 11 out of both sides, surely we'd have the majority>>> naysmith out of position and hardly world class looked good, and then look at us?
A lot has been said about AVBs system being too strict/rigid but there has to be a system... a philosophy and I didn't see anything approaching it. I saw a bunch of good players muddling a goal for a win
Even the mid table clubs have shit atmospheres now. Modern premier league football has killed it. I heard a Swansea fan talking about how their atmosphere has gone from fantastic to horrible in just three years at the top level. I bet if Palace stays up this year their great atmosphere will diminish too. Sad.
no... I hope he's our manager for the next 20 years as I know how happy that'll make you
Technically, I guess you could say that it would get the atmosphere back in the long term!
How have the 3 on MOTD2 when asked about 4th place just discussed Liverpool and Everton?
It was like we didn't actually exist, quite bizarre more than anything else.
It was like we didn't actually exist, quite bizarre more than anything else.