A QPR supporter's tuppence worth on the unpredictable Morrocan: http://thisismyengland.blogspot.com/2011/06/adel-of-way-to-carry-on.html
Fixed. I think I may have spotted that around the time you did. Thanks, though. If you see any others let me know.
You have to wonder how someone can be that arrogant. It's a bit depressing that the only way someone has got the best out of him is by indulging that arrogance rather than reducing it.
Taarabt has unbelievable skill but at Spurs, he worked under Jol, Ramos and Redknapp, surely all 3 of them couldn't have been wrong when they said he lacked the right attitude. Warnock had to pester him for ages to get him to sign. Does he really think he can go to Arsenal and act like that?
He's going to be a nightmare for any "big" side that make the grave mistake of signing him. Being signed by a big club will only feed his ego. This is a boy who thinks he better than his national side FFS! At QPR, he's clearly better than any player they are likely ever to sign, so they his ego can be massaged by being made captain and by having the team built around him, and by having adoring fans clamouring for his autograph ahead of any other player at the club, etc. He won't get that at a big club. He didn't get it at Spurs, and so he forced a move, instead of buckling down and working within the system. I suspect that the system at you Gooners is, at the very least, as strict as it is at Spurs, and probably even stricter at 'Pool or United or Chavski. He simply won't last any any of these clubs, any more than he did with us.
He's potentially great but needs to be man managed. when he joined Tottenham... "If we can get him playing he is a genius," said Redknapp. "He's an amazing talent, I've not seen too many with that type of skill in my life. It's frightening". But they quickley gave up on the guy. he would certainly be a gamble but he's a player I like alot. I personally think he's a striker and not a midfielder. .
He's got great skills but even at Championship level he got caught out by being a massive tw*t from time to time. I don't think a Premier league club can afford to have a luxury player these days due to the speed of the game but, were we to have one, I'd want a better option than Taarabt. FWIW I get equally frustrated watching the wee Russian playing when he tries a deft flick to nowhere and then failing to track back to rectify his mistake. May just be me though, I'd rather watch a team playing for each other than a squad of individuals. Worth noting though that if Wenger can't get the likes or Arshavin tracking back/playing for the team (and it's not a personal swipe as I like him) then he has no hope with Taarabt!
TheBear, We quickly gave up on the person, not the player. He signed his own loan agreement with quite frankly the worst performance I have ever seen, in a pre-season friendly at Brisbane Road, where his petulance stood out more than his football. Setting the Championship alight is one thing, he won't get anywhere near that amount of time on the ball in the Prem. And will certainly throw a plethora of hissy fits when his form is affected and things stop going his way. If there was a league made up of the Prem bottom 10 and the Championship top 12 then he would be a perfect fit
Maybe, he's another Balotelli in many ways. He's quick, strong, skillful and has all the physical attributes to be a TOP player its just wether or not he's mentally up to the challenge of top level football.
Not without a labotomy IMO. He will always think he is better than he really is! Plus he will easily get taken down a peg or two - can you imagine him trying to be a fancy boy with deft flicks & touches away to Stoke? He'd get battered!
Arsenal have always played through the team, rather than around any one individual. Sure, you've had some great individual players over the years, but they have always expressed themselves through the ethic of the team, never purely through their own individual talent. That team of "Invincibles" that you are always boring us with, had some amazing individual talent, some of the best players I've ever seen, in fact, but do you think they, as a team, would have been any where near as effective if you'd had an ego as large and as disruptive as Taarabt? I cannot see him being your type of player. Spurs, Chelsea, Liverpool, even United, we've all accommodated that type of flair player, perhaps sacrificing the team as a result, but even these teams have realised that you're not going to achieve much in the modern game by building a side around the ego of one player. I actually think it's going to be a mistake for QPR to keep Taarabt, and he'll be a major cause of their relegation back to the Championship. They'd be better off leaving him out and concentrating building a tight, disciplined squad, one that's prepared to work for one another, to track back and press when needed, and not to throw tantrums when things (as inevitably they will) go against them.