Somewhere for all the bits and bobs about our players that are elsewhere. Will Miller opened his account for Burton on the weekend with a late leveler at Wolves: Not relevant to Miller, but that penalty early in the game was a joke. Wolves literally had six players in the box when it was struck and two of them cleared it.
So what were the rumoured reasons behind N'Jie leaving? Did Poch just think that he'd seen enough to not rate him? Was he desperate to return to France? It just seemed like a bit of a weird one from the get-go considering how last season he certainly showed some promise and provided pace off the bench which we need(ed). Attitude problem? Falling out? I've wondered a few times too if a player's injury-proneness is being born in mind more now than ever before. Perhaps something about his injuries last season gave the staff some reason to think that he might be one of those who is in and out of the treatment room a lot?
Damning article about Bentaleb, which sounds a little too familiar: http://sportwitness.co.uk/tottenhams-bentaleb-accused-schalke-slacker-things-not-going-well/? I have to say though, if the manager can't get all of those young, talented players working, as well as some old pros, then perhaps he's the problem? They certainly don't seem short of quality, but then maybe that's not enough? More and more managers seem to be removing anyone who isn't completely professional from their squads.
He might just be getting stick for being at an underperforming side, but it's not a good sign, is it?
I don't think the article is all that damning to Bentaleb specifically. It says that Bild named nine "Schalke Slackers" which also included good players like Hunterlaar, Embolo, and Rahman. If 9 of your team are being accused of not trying then that seems more like a manager problem to me (see: Chelsea).
Here's the list of players Bild are dubbing the Schalke slackers, namely Nabil Bentaleb, Benjamin Stambouli, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Baba Rahman, Franco Di Santo, Leon Goretzka, Breel Embolo and Max Meyer. Here's a slant that Bild didn't consider, so therefore the English speaking websites reporting the story also didn't consider it: Schalke have had to do a hasty rebuild over the summer. Let's start with the players that left: Matip and Neustader were key players yet both of them left on free transfers during the summer, Matip to Liverpool and Neustader to Fenerbahce, Hojbjerg and Belhanda were both on loan and returned to their parent clubs in the summer, while Sane was a player they were trying to build around but thanks to City instead they had a hole filled with €50m in his place. Naturally this meant a few signings needed to be made, and this is where things fall apart quickly. They brought in the all-new midfield pivot of Bentaleb and Stambouli, yet they had no time at all to settle: Bentaleb arrived on August 25th while Stambouli came in on the 26th, and that given how important the pivot is to dictating the pace of your team they need some time to settle in pre-season - yet the pair arrived only a couple of days before their opening fixture. Similar can be said for Konoplyanka, who was needed to fill in for Sane and Belhanda not being there, but he didn't arrive until August 30th - three days after their opening fixture. Here's where things start to get clear: the issue isn't the lack of effort, although Bentaleb is getting criticised for some Mason-esque passes straight to the opposition, but there's a lack of orginisation that comes from throwing a key component of the team together at the last minute. Meyer and Choup-Moting play in the attacking band while Huntelaar, Embolo and Di Santo play up front, and what this list is actually saying is that the trio of Bentaleb, Stambouli and Goretzka aren't getting the ball forward particularly well - something which is hardly a surprise given the lack of experience playing alongside one another yet hastily being thrown together to form the spine of the team. The only player who doesn't fit into this is Rahman as he's a left back - until you realise he's been kvetching to anyone who'll listen about Conte loaning him out, at which point it makes him look like he's sulking at left back.
A bit unfair on Ryan Mason I think, Bentaleb started it first (see our opening game at ManU last season).
Not taking anything away from the lad, but that is awful defending. 3 Augsburg players in no-man's land marking no-one and tracking nothing. You'd think at least one of them would've picked up his run. Anyhow, well done son - now bring that back to the Lane. EDIT: Wembley, bring it back to Wembley.
Bentaleb combining well with former Chelsea and Wigan failure Franco Di Santo to open the scoring for Schalke: Lovely bit of passing in the buildup, as he scores his second and Schalke's third: That was the final score. Still very up and down at the moment, but a good result.