better on the ball I think

capoue should be above him in pecking order though for his other qualities.

I read somewhere that Tim is picking players that have more hunger and desire over ability. This imo will be why players like Bentaleb are getting picked instead of Capoue.

Comment deleted by Site Moderator

"Coz Tim-meh wants credit for discovering him."

Inglethorpe ??

What makes him a better CM player than Capoue or Holtby?

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I don’t know the answer to that question but I do know that Bentaleb was probably our best player on Saturday. His ball distribution was quite excellent, although my criticism of Sherwood would be his failure to make any changes, other than the one forced one (Ade for Kane).

Then again, Capoue (by his own admission) is a holding midfielder so it would have seemed daft to make a change of midfielder from a free-passing, forward minded one - to Capoue.

Bentaleb for me is getting picked because he's more naturally gifted. Simple as that. His touch is sublime. He's got the craft of a Carrick in that he an spot a pass but he also knows when to keep things simple. Signing Capoue was a waste of time for me. At 9 million he cost 4 million more than Huddlestone who has more talent in his little finger than Capoue. You can't compare Holtby. Very different players. Hopefully he's do a Walker and a Townsend and come back a different player from his Fulham loan, plus hopefully he might have a decent manager to come back to that can recognise talent.

Nurses Tims ego wel.

His touch is sublime.

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bit OTT tbh. his touch is good.

Zidane's touch was sublime.

Then again, Capoue (by his own admission) is a holding midfielder so it would have seemed daft to make a change of midfielder from a free-passing, forward minded one - to Capoue.
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Not at all, remember the amount of times Mancini did this which allowed Yaya to have a more attacking role? Won them so many games.

I've got to say, Bentaleb is impressing me very much. For a 19 year old he's so calm and tidy on the ball, quite unbelievable. Great prospect!

That said, I don't think he should be ahead of any our other CM. They're all experienced internationals fighting for places to go to the World Cup in the summer.

I think, in short, he deserves his place on merit. If he’d been a £20m+ signing from abroad, and showed the same displays, no-one would even question his place in the team.

Because the jury is still out for Sherwood (and fair enough), and because he was promoted by Sherwood, I think his position is in the spot light a bit more, and he will be an obvious scapegoat when the team do play poorly. I think this is unfair – but that’s football.

So Bentaleb needs to be playing with a DM to get the best out of him?

Maybe we should just forget about wing play..


Play 4-3-2-1 (More protection of back 4)

(Back Five)..can't be bothered to list them

Bentaleb Sandro Capoue

Paulinho Eriksen

Ade

I have only seen Bentaleb a few times, and never seem him have a good game yet. But he is young so may improve, but no way should he be holding down a first XI place. Anyway once some of our injured players come back, he will surely be benched at best.

I personally think Bentaleb is undergoing what Spurs fans love doing with new young talent who put in OK performances. Which is, he is being criminally overrated.

Townsend was the same early on in the season, people were saying he could even be a 'Bale replacement' but with a better right foot

Bentaleb is OK, but pretty ineffective when we don't have the ball, and only seems good on the ball when he is playing in the middle third. Doesn't do much in the final third.

I have only seen Bentaleb a few times, and never seem him have a good game yet.
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That's harsh sandy....
He does his job really well. Spreading the ball, trying to go forward and keeping things simple when they have to be. Defensively he can improve but I've already seen a couple of tasty challenges of him. Not scared to put his body on the line.

However, I do agree that when all our midfielders are fit he shouldn't start

Edin,

Yaya, for me, is not a holding midfielder. Holding midfielders do not score as many, create as many, or attack as much as he did (under Mancini) or does under pellegrini.


Spur-The-Moment,

I do agree that he shouldn’t be an automatic choice, like say Paulinho should be (IMO), but I think he deserves his chance as much as anyone.

If I had a choice, with all players fit, I’d probably choose Dembele over him most of the time, but he’s certainly being picked on merit rather than favourtism IMO.

\\--Spur-The-Moment-2013--II--Lamela-my-Soldado!--//


May be harsh, but I only say what I see. He was out of his depth against City, and against Arsenal at the Emirates, those are the games you judge players on, not home games against teams like Palace.

"I've got to say, Bentaleb is impressing me very much. For a 19 year old he's so calm and tidy on the ball, quite unbelievable."

The calmness is a big surprise.
His U21 forays prior to then had several headless chicken moments where the cards (including s) came for sloppy tackling.

Perhaps Sandro and Capoue have been mentoring him on the hows and whens of making such tackles.

Edin,

Yaya, for me, is not a holding midfielder. Holding midfielders do not score as many, create as many, or attack as much as he did (under Mancini) or does under pellegrini.
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No, no, you are missing the point.

Mancini used to bring on a DM when the team was losing, so that Yaya (who started the game) was played further forward and didnt have to do the same defensive duties. Which is the advantage of bringing on a defensive midfielder as you are able allow the other CM to attack more.

Anyway the bottom line is Bentaleb may be a good prospect in the making, but let`s not go overboard just yet.

If I had a choice, with all players fit, I’d probably choose Dembele over him most of the time, but he’s certainly being picked on merit rather than favourtism IMO.
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Yep, I agree
He played well on Saturday, got involved and almost scored. He's only 19!!! Just a kid playing against the big boys in the PL. Could be become an exceptional player and I'm sure he'll improve his positional awareness and defensive ability.

For now, I'd like to see us start with Dembele and Sandro, while Paulinho is a bit further up the field. Eriksen on the left and one either Townsend, Lamela or Lennon (if he sorts it out) on the right.

Edin,

Mancini used to bring on a DM when the team was losing, so that Yaya (who started the game) was played further forward and didn’t have to do the same defensive duties. Which is the advantage of bringing on a defensive midfielder as you are able allow the other CM to attack more.

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I kind of see your point. And without digging up an old debate, I recall certain posters mocking a Harry sub against Villa, where he took off a knackered VDV and put Parker on, but this was to change tactic as you describe.

We shouldn’t just look at the player X for Player Y, we should look at the whole picture and your analogy of Yaya is a good example of that.

I was surprised Sherwood didn’t make any tactical changes against Hull – and that may have been one to consider.

I was surprised Sherwood didn’t make any tactical changes against Hull
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This made me even more angry than Soldado's terrible finishing and Lennon's disgraceful display.

Paulinho looked knackered after 65min, understandably. Why didn't we sub him?
Lennon should have left at HT.

We had Chadli, Siggy and Capoue on the bench. Surely tactical changes were possible.

Chicken - Mr Consistent

Just seen your new user name.

Mr Consistent.

You slagged off AVB for losing a couple of games, and yet praise Sherwood for getting knocked out of two cups and losing as many games in the past few weeks than AVB had in the previous 6 months.

Mr Consistent is certainly not what you are.

Yeah Chicken, I dont think any substitution to change tactics is necessarily a bad one, just sometimes they are right and sometimes they are wrong.

What annoyed me about the Hull game was that things were clearly not working, but Sherwood bizarrely kept things the same.