The Mighty Spurs - Swansea of Wales

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Stag said:
I dont think capoue has got what it takes to be a yaya toure, but i kinda get your point. He has the physicality there but i dont thibk the goal threat is there that toure has
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Toure is having by far his best season goal scoring wise in his whole career at 30. Before this season he was like 1 in 5 or there abouts. Capoue has the strength and physicality yes but he's also got the surging forward runs and pretty good ability on the ball. I could easily see him developing into a Toure or Vieira level player as he is a huge talent.

edit: honestly didn't realize Capoue was 25 already but yet in still he is a Toure type player and was looking very good before his injury maybe some of these cunts who aren't sure if I'm serious can enlighten me as to why he isn't.
 
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sicknote said:
...solid win today against a crap Swansea side - Chico Flores was total shiite - shows we can win comfortably without Soldado or Lamela (wastes of money)...Ade, Eriksen, and Walker impressive...Lennon is wasteful, Chadli is rusty, and Rose is a punk...
COYS
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"Fans" like you are the reason why the atmosphere at the Lane is shit.
 
Me, after Ade's first:
bJged1i.gif

(yes, I'm only catching up on TV now)
 
SchmoodSpur said:
Although I agree with that. Bentaleb and Xavi are not even close to alike. Xavi is much more incisive and forward thinking passer. Nabil doesn't have the confidence (yet) to back his passing into making such passes. All very sideways. Not criticising him, he's been good but he's not comparable to Xavi imo.
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Not a dig at you in particular mate but I hate all this bollocks about sideways passing being negative. Not every pass has to be forward, Quite often it will be a two yard sideways pass (or similar) that opens up the space for someone else to play a killer through ball. These short sideways or backwards passes are all about building pressure, manipulating the defense and eventually prying it open.

Admittedly most direct assists are forward passes but that pass is often facilitated by the quick, short, sideways or backwards passes that the likes of Bentaleb contribute. Now I am not saying that he is the lynch pin to our success but having a player like this is crucial to any team. Someone who keeps possession ticking over, who moves the ball quickly, gets it, gives it and moves. In terms of ability and achievement there is no comparison to be made between Bentaleb and Xavi, at the moment, who knows about the future. I don't even think they are that similar a player but I can see the logic.

On top of all this I seem to remember Nabil playing some really clever forward passes today and a look at his pass map depicts a performance with a whole variety of passes, with a peppering of forward ones among them.
 
JDK said:
I have to disagree. I think people on here are slating him much more than he deserves because he is young and unproven. Also, lost in the way we discuss football nowadays is nuance. Superb for one player might not be the same for another. But for Nabil Bentaleb today was a superb performance. Sure he's not Yaya Toure but who is? He's barely 19 years old.

If Sandro had put in today's performance with TEN out of TEN successful tackles (no one else had more than four), 9 ball recoveries, and 2 interceptions this forum would have fapped itself silly and deservedly so! He also didn't commit a foul when in past games given away silly free kicks has been a problem. He looked like a seasoned pro not a nineteen year old. Also, the whole team looked much better when Shelvey came off.

Of course Bentaleb didn't flash in the same way as Adebayor and Eriksen because he plays a position where there is very little glory. But when played properly and well, like it was today, it allows players like Adebayor and Eriksen to thrive.

Also, I know you didn't say this but the argument about his passing is so stupid. Only in English football commentary are ball winners and possession recyclers so undervalued. It's the same reason why Carrick can't get into the national team over glory ball players like Lampard and Gerrard despite the fact that Carrick is much superior player. Take a look at any of Busquets (who Guardiola said was the most irreplaceable footballer in the world), Schweinsteiger, Modric, Makelele etc passing charts and you will see plenty of sideways balls and short passes to the wings. They spread the ball, recover it, and keep things going.

Not saying Bentaleb is anywhere near any of those players but he's played that role to perfection these last two games.

Failure to understand the value of a player in that role is the reason why Florentino Perez doesn't understand football and Real Madrid don't win titles often. When he sold Makelele in 2003 following Real Madrid's best run in recent memory he said, "we will not miss him, he rarely passed the ball more than three meters". Of course a more adept minds like Zidane and Hierro realized he was an idiot with Zidane noting, "Why put another gold layer of paint on the Bentley when you are losing the entire engine?"

Overall, Bentaleb has a long way to go. He's young, there isn't a large sample size, and Crystal Palace and Swansea are not strong opponents currently. However, I can only judge on what I've seen as I cannot see the future and the last two games he has been superb. His game isn't a beautiful or glory filled and he will get slated for short passing and other nonsense but he is playing his role to a T currently. Also, he has showed passing range in the last two games on one occasion in each game. He played a great through ball to Rose against CP in behind the defense. I can't remember who his was to today.

Anyway, there's a reason why Busquets, Carrick, and Makelele have always been mentioned as underrated footballers and that's because the role they have is an under appreciated one. Bentaleb is playing in that same role and thus catching that same flak. It remains to be seen whether he can keep it up but for now IMO he's being knocked completely unnecessarily due to his role on the pitch.
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Sorry, but Nabil today was nowhere near a Busquets, Carrick or Makalele.

Obviously not in quality but neither in player type.

I don't think he he is poor at all, in fact I think he is mentally very strong and showing off a steep learning curve.

However it would be deluded to say he was a Michael Carrick today in the first half, when Swansea continuously shafted him. In fact, IIRC Shelvey got off three shots in the first 10 minutes alone. Carrick ruled that 150 sy area outside out box - Bentaleb was the opposite, he was all over the place, got dragged into faux positions and at several times got turned just with a drop of a shoulder - stats don't show that, yet it happened.

He was a direct component in Swanseas dominance of us.

I appreciate the support for him, but let us now revise what happened, shall we?
 
Pairsy1882 said:
Not a dig at you in particular mate but I hate all this bollocks about sideways passing being negative. Not every pass has to be forward, Quite often it will be a two yard sideways pass (or similar) that opens up the space for someone else to play a killer through ball. These short sideways or backwards passes are all about building pressure, manipulating the defense and eventually prying it open.

Admittedly most direct assists are forward passes but that pass is often facilitated by the quick, short, sideways or backwards passes that the likes of Bentaleb contribute. Now I am not saying that he is the lynch pin to our success but having a player like this is crucial to any team. Someone who keeps possession ticking over, who moves the ball quickly, gets it, gives it and moves. In terms of ability and achievement there is no comparison to be made between Bentaleb and Xavi, at the moment, who knows about the future. I don't even think they are that similar a player but I can see the logic.

On top of all this I seem to remember Nabil playing some really clever forward passes today and a look at his pass map depicts a performance with a whole variety of passes, with a peppering of forward ones among them.
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I think many of his passes are very poorly weighed and executed.

However his first touch is excellent, and although he sometimes tends to play the ball too early (thus putting teammates under unneeded pressure), he does have an excellent vision of the game around him and he does again and again choose some brilliant angled passes, completely putting off the opposition pressing players.

People compared him to Busquets in type. To me he looks like when Xavi was young and broke into their side. being more of the player moving the game along rather than spoiling it.

People like @ WindyCOYS WindyCOYS kept telling us Nabil's got it, long before his debut.

Despite the disagreements of how good or poor he was today, that much is sure: Nabil's got something, that is for certain.
 
BushHillSpurs said:
Campbell was at the ground today apparently...

Why? Does he not know that we think he is a judas prick.

#JellyAndIceCream
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Thankfully they didn't show him on the big screens or anything, did they? Would be a riot.

Saw him play us in the home draw in 2005. The bile at WHL was to thick you could cut slices from it
 
NorseYid said:
Sorry, but Nabil today was nowhere near a Busquets, Carrick or Makalele.

Obviously not in quality but neither in player type.

I don't think he he is poor at all, in fact I think he is mentally very strong and showing off a steep learning curve.

However it would be deluded to say he was a Michael Carrick today in the first half, when Swansea continuously shafted him. In fact, IIRC Shelvey got off three shots in the first 10 minutes alone. Carrick ruled that 150 sy area outside out box - Bentaleb was the opposite, he was all over the place, got dragged into faux positions and at several times got turned just with a drop of a shoulder - stats don't show that, yet it happened.

He was a direct component in Swanseas dominance of us.

I appreciate the support for him, but let us now revise what happened, shall we?
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We struggled for the first twenty minutes as a team and of course Bentaleb was a part of that. But the rest of the game he was composed and excellent.
 
Mad Yid said:
Toure is having by far his best season goal scoring wise in his whole career at 30. Before this season he was like 1 in 5 or there abouts. Capoue has the strength and physicality yes but he's also got the surging forward runs and pretty good ability on the ball. I could easily see him developing into a Toure or Vieira level player as he is a huge talent.

edit: honestly didn't realize Capoue was 25 already but yet in still he is a Toure type player and was looking very good before his injury maybe some of these cunts who aren't sure if I'm serious can enlighten me as to why he isn't.
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Capoue was excellent before his injury.

No revisionism can change that. If he is allowed to leave, it is our loss, not the other way round.
 
JDK said:
We struggled for the first twenty minutes as a team and of course Bentaleb was a part of that. But the rest of the game he was composed and excellent.
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I thought he was very poor throughout first half. Clearly, this was down to our lack of possession (and also due to lack of support from Dembele), rather than just the natural gap in quality vs. Shelvey.

2nd half he did fine and as well as we could hope for, lots of balls won too as I recall it.
 
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