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Player Rodrigo Bentancur

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Maureen said:
I remember motd doing analysis on him one game. They should he would play that round the corner pass first time and you have basically broken through the lines. But we had prime Kane and son then.
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He had the ability to glide around players and break lines like that. Now he's just so pedestrian and it's always safety first. It's such a shame because he was the engine of this team and he's a shell of himself. Prime Lolo was a problem.
We still have outlets to give it to, but he doesn't want to make it. Really hope he can trust his body again and start playing like he used to. Before he went down he was our best player that season.
 
Bentancur is one strange player. He plays according to what's perception of him. If you think he's solid and classy, his performance will make you think he is. If you think he's poor, hiding and useless, his performance will also make you think he is.

He is like the debate on the colour of a dress (was it a dress?) that once broke the Internet - you could see it as white and gold or blue and black. That's Bentancur for you.
 
Play Up Spurs!!!! said:
Q. "On Rodrigo Bentancur, you said he can still improve, what areas do you see that he can push on to another level?"

A. "I think one thing I have seen, I am very happy with him as a player and as a character. I think when he plays at his best level, he is a top level as a midfielder here in the Premier League and I probably need to see a little bit more consistency there.

"I also want him to and I told him myself, I want him to a little bit more dictate the game and get on the ball when it’s tough because he’s so good on the ball. He is so composed and so good to get the ball in tight areas and get out of situations. That I would like to see a little bit more, so I think that is the first bit and he can easily add goals to the game, but the more we can control the middle of the pitch with him, the better."

Frank's assessment is pretty spot on, and we might want to ask whether this should be a real concern. Rod can be excellent but he can also drift in and out of a game. Frank must be confident he will get more out of him, and more consistently. At the same time, Archie is coming on well and may compete sooner rather than later for the place Rod occupies, which means he'll have to up his game.

I'm intrigued to see what happens next.
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Someone needs to tell Frank we have a player like that wearing our no. 8. Too bad his discipline isn't up to par. I'm just afraid Frank is trying too much to insist Biss skill set into Bentancur.
 
glacierSpurs said:
Someone needs to tell Frank we have a player like that wearing our no. 8. Too bad his discipline isn't up to par. I'm just afraid Frank is trying too much to insist Biss skill set into Bentancur.
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Probably can’t over-value turning up on time, tho. That’s a skill set every manager’s going to take over an(other) inconsistent player who keeps making mistakes, switches off and doesn’t seem to take their (very well-paid) job seriously. Redknapp nearly loaned Bale because he didn’t seem to be taking the job seriously; Ferguson got rid of Beckham…’hard work beats talent if talent doesn’t work hard’ etc..

Learning from mistakes and actions that show basic respect go a long way in any workplace. If Biss were to seek the road to redemption seriously, fair enough, but he doesn’t seem to. He’s not good enough to be cut that slack at the moment (imo).

The issue right now is that we have lots of similar MF, with Bentancur really being second choice for the holding role. We are having to play as we are with Bents as a starter most weeks as there are two significant injuries and a gaping hole on the LW which can’t be filled effectively with the personnel we currently have. Biss / Bentancur / Gray - makes no difference who’s running around there as it’s not really what we need: may as well use the ones that are (more) reliable.

EDIT: Ange had to rotate Biss in as he had even more injuries. Conte didnt rate Biss for different disciplinary reasons (on field tactical ignorance / ill-discipline iirc) but is it a ‘no smoke without fire’ situation? Biss has been disappointing for us and not the revelation he was at Brighton - let’s not over-egg the pudding.
 
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bus-conductor said:
What I don't get is people claiming his injury ruined him?

He's always been this player, Juve fans couldn't wait to get shot of him. He was doing the same shit in a slower, inferior league (personnel wise).
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I never really watched him at Juve to be honest.

I've seen have some good games prior to the injury but he was still inconsistent.

Since the injury he just looks slower in all aspects of the game.

Not saying the injury has changed things dramatically but I think it's played some part.

Going forward I think we'll see:

Palhinha
Bergvall
Xavi

That's our most dynamic and balanced three imo.
 
latman said:
I never really watched him at Juve to be honest.

I've seen have some good games prior to the injury but he was still inconsistent.

Since the injury he just looks slower in all aspects of the game.

Not saying the injury has changed things dramatically but I think it's played some part.

Going forward I think we'll see:

Palhinha
Bergvall
Xavi

That's our most dynamic and balanced three imo.
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I'm struggling with Palhinha and Bergval for different reasons too.

Palhinha is so limited in a footballing sense, he'd really have to be Makalele and Kante combined to be genuinely valid, and he's not. Not any more.

Bergval is a kid with good energy and some carrying ability, but he also isn't a great user of the ball (yet) and is a liability off it some of the time. He should be off on loan somewhere, playing every week, making mistakes and learning, not doing it here, now. And he's definitely not an ACM/10 or a double pivot CM in this league right now.

I'm looking forward to us revamping the midfield completely to be honest. Bergval might have a future at this level, but he's got a lot of learning and improving to do IMO.
 
bus-conductor said:
What I don't get is people claiming his injury ruined him?

He's always been this player, Juve fans couldn't wait to get shot of him. He was doing the same shit in a slower, inferior league (personnel wise). It was literally the Sissoko factor.
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Agree- I think he's playing about as well as he ever did before his injury. I don't see him as being permanently diminished by it. He was always a pretty average water-carrier 8- never had shown much creativity or range of passing. He's always been a defensive-oriented CM 8.

I will give him credit however for winning the 50/50 that led to Tel's goal- he gave it to the guy who assisted Tel. Was it Kudus that played Tel in? Rodrigo laid it off to them.
 
bus-conductor said:
I'm struggling with Palhinha and Bergval for different reasons too.

Palhinha is so limited in a footballing sense, he'd really have to be Makalele and Kante combined to be genuinely valid, and he's not. Not any more.

Bergval is a kid with good energy and some carrying ability, but he also isn't a great user of the ball (yet) and is a liability off it some of the time. He should be off on loan somewhere, playing every week, making mistakes and learning, not doing it here, now. And he's definitely not an ACM/10 or a double pivot CM in this league right now.

I'm looking forward to us revamping the midfield completely to be honest. Bergval might have a future at this level, but he's got a lot of learning and improving to do IMO.
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I think Bergval having to compete for playing time is going to help him improve. I think he's got an ego and I mean that in a positive way. He's not going to be happy on the bench and I think he'll work hard to get better at the things he needs to do to stay on the pitch.
 
Well, at first I felt that it is OK to give him a new contract and keep him around as a squad option.

But two things that MASSIVELY annoy me about this -
1) We have played 11 games this season so far. He has started 9 (!) of them. Playing in total 764 minutes. That is 78% of all available minutes. That does not look like a squad player. That is nailed on starter. And for that he is just not good enough, it is pretty obvious. I enjoyed the clip added few pages ago, but that is not how he plays right now. He gets the ball off himself as soon as there is any opposition player closer than 6 meters to him. Mostly it goes back or sideways. He does not turn nor progress the ball at this day and age. Basically his passing is not good enough, he does not retain possession under pressure well enough and his defensive contributions are so-and-so (nowhere near Palhinha level).
2) When you look at players around him - we have so much talent in similar areas - Bergvall 19, Gray 19, Sarr 23. And quite frankly Bergvall is already better in ball progressing. And Sarr is better at pressing / generally playing without the ball. But I am not sure neither of them or Gray at this point in time are really good enough to be the main tempo-setter and starters of our attack. I really think we cannot play Palhinha and Bentancur together. Also not sure in how many games would Benta be very good as #6. So I feel that actually we would need someone elite into #8 position right now, if we want to play for CL spots and have hopes going deep into CL run. Though if we get new #8 AND have talented youngsters coming through - then what is point of having Bentancur around at all?!? Considering he takes a foregin player spot, then just to have him as 2nd choice #6 and like 4th #8 is questionable.

So all there is to hope is that extention was made to retain his value. And that in January or in summer we can sell both Bentancur and Bissouma and bring on another #8 in someone like Tonalis style.

Then we could have -
#6 Palhinha -> Gray -> Sarr
#8 New CM -> Bergvall -> Sarr
#10 Xavi -> Kulu-> Madders
Basically 8 players for 3 spots.
 
Personally I don’t think a new contract means much more than protecting a player’s long term value nowadays, so I’m not using it as a metric of what a future team may look like.

As we saw with Isak, if a player wants out bad enough they can kick off, but the contract length at least protects the club to some degree as far as the return they can expect.

Bents getting a new contract means if a better midfield option should be purchased, we could expect at least £15m-£20m return for him which we wouldn’t get if we hadn’t tied him down. It also gives us time and stability should we decide to wait to the summer or next winter to replace him.
 
bus-conductor said:
It was literally the Sissoko factor.
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You're giving me PTSD just thinking of Sissoko. To go from Modric and Dembele to Sissoko was the clearest indication that something was wrong with scouting and player recruitment. Watching him early on I remember feeling that the ball looked like it was magnetically repelled from his feet. He just had the heaviest and clumsiest first touches.
 
bonaspur23 said:
Not hard to see that he’s quick and agile in those videos compared to slow and plodding now.
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Quick and agile?

Im Not Sure Season 11 GIF by One Chicago
 
VirginiaSpur said:
You're giving me PTSD just thinking of Sissoko. To go from Modric and Dembele to Sissoko was the clearest indication that something was wrong with scouting and player recruitment. Watching him early on I remember feeling that the ball looked like it was magnetically repelled from his feet. He just had the heaviest and clumsiest first touches.
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TBF he wasn't signed to replace Modric & Dembele...... Poch thought he could play him out wide instead of Mane (on the basis of a few France games).

NUTS.
 
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