This young lad under Sherwood seems the centre point of our midfield. While his performances have been fair, average and unnoticeable he seems the first one on the team sheet. A bit of a jack of all trades but does he do enough to be No 1 choice. Is this Tim's calling card to prove to Daniel that youth is the way to the next level and also very economic. Surely the team should be built around someone like Eriksen who has shown signs he could be a playmaker as we are devoid of creativity with power players being in abundance. With everybody back does he bring enough to justify his constant place?
I like him but yes, we shouldn't be looking to rely on him too much. Sandro's out though at the moment and one of Paulinho and Dembele has been injured since he's been started games(until yesterday) so I'm not sure it's fair to say he's untouchable. Sherwood seems to prefer him to Capoue though and that's a big call, Etienne has looked a bit clumsy when he's come on lately but that could easily be a lack of game time losing his sharpness. It's a decision that will either boost his chances of getting the job for another season or help seal his fate if he falls short. It's always nice to see a young player brought through but ignoring a more experienced player like Capoue is disappointing to see.
It's odd that Bentaleb is getting preferential treatment - and let's be honest, that's exactly what he's getting - at the same time Adam Smith is allowed to leave for peanuts, Luongo was allowed to make his loan to Swindon a permanent deal, Kane hasn't had any time on the pitch since his cameo at Old Trafford, and Vejlkovic never got off the bench even when we didn't have two fit centre backs for several weeks. In other words, Sherwood may claim to be highlighting the youngsters but he isn't: he's highlighting one of them.
It's a hard balancing act,it's good to see young players that have come through the ranks make it,but there are experienced players usually in front of them,as a manager you either have to keep them both happy and give them play time,or decide which one you prefer and let the other one go,the perfect example was Shilton,and Banks,in the end they Kept Shilts,the younger one
Eriksen hasn't shown enough to warrant the team being built around him as hes too inconsistent with his ability to effect a game, most of his play comes from when we hit on the counter and catch teams out and even players like Jonjo Shelvey can open a defence when hitting a team on the counter. I want to see Eriksen demand the ball and look to use his vision and ability to dictate play more, or get to the level of VDV who was capable of scoring some fabulous goals and created two great partnerships, one with Crouch and one with Adebayor. Eriksen has the natural ability but I don't believe in building the team around him. As for Bentaleb being untouchable, it does appear to be the case, you often see managers reward young players they personally rate as they believe by backing them, giving them games and allowing them to play through tough periods, Sherwood isn't the first manager to trust such a young lad who is still learning. Rodgers done it last year with Sterling and hes a better player for it, so Sherwood will say that if Bentaleb becomes a top player, then his current selection is crucial. Also I remember when Bentaleb wasn't being picked or anywhere the first team, fans on here where saying "I'll like to see Bentaleb feature", well here he is!
As YV says, bit too soon to be saying untouchable until everyone is fit. Based on what I've seen so far I'm fine with Sherwood preferring him to Capoue, but it'll be a tougher call once Sandro is fit. What I really like about Bentaleb is how quickly he moves the ball on. No faffing around taking unnecessary multiple touches or doing tricks, if there's a pass on to a team-mate he'll play it simple straight away.
Who was Sterling competing with, Roo? Nobody of note, frankly. Bentaleb's up against a bunch of full internationals for countries with top notch players, in my opinion. He's not at that level yet. In order to pick a balanced side we need to have one of Sandro and Capoue paired with one of Paulinho, Dembele or Bentaleb in the centre. As much as the youngster's impressed in his recent appearances, he's just not as good as the two players that he's competing with. Eriksen needs to play in either the hole in a 4-4-1-1 or off the left in a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3. He's not being used correctly and underperforming because of it. The lack of balance in the midfield is undermining the ability of the players that we have available. We're nicking some good results anyway, but it's often down to individual quality. We're not playing like a team, as the system is a mess.
Corrected for you No, he wasn't competing with the same standard and I'm not personally saying Bentaleb should be playing each week but Sherwood himself as said "attitude before ability" and doesn't pick players based on names so you need to look at this from Sherwoods side to understand why bentaleb is being picked. Also Capoue is good but the way some fans react you would believe hes a world class DM, hes just a decent player, I feel he gets over praised and isn't near the level of Sandro, not just in ability or potential so maybe Sherwood believes long term Bentaleb will become a better player and to do that has to play games when learning.
Oops! Sorry, Roo. Bentaleb's not a holding midfielder though, Boss. It'd be like picking Harry Kane over Lloris because he works harder in training. I wouldn't, but I think that the Belgian could help us sort out other problem positions, which would leave us with Paulinho as first choice and Bentaleb as cover and competition. Sherwood's picked Sigurdsson in there too, but I don't even know where he fits into our side now, to be honest.
But PNP, thats the thing, Sherwood is picking Bentaleb over Capoue, but this goes back to Sherwoods beliefs and he has decided the qualities of Bentaleb offer more overall then Capoue. Now I know Capoue is a decent player and has been unlucky but the real test will be when Sandro is fit, that for me will tell me how highly Sherwood rates Bentaleb and how he views the importance of a DM.
And Sherwood's wrong. He even admits that he's wrong with his substitutions, though he can't bring himself to remove Bentaleb.
I don't care Capoue is an International...on about 7 caps! anyway, whenever I've seen him there's been a scary moment, yesterday lucky to not give a pen away, another day, another ref, no 3points, i get where TS is with him, ok player most of th e time, but there's an accident waiting in every game with him. He has a clumsy style in the tackle and first touch. With Bentaleb I can't recall any cringy moments where an unecessary error might affect the result, he just does the simple things very well, and is effeicient with his usage of the ball. We used to slate the Jenas's for their inability to execute a 10 yard pass to someone wearing the same shirt, well, we have one now.
Fill the team out with a real left winger (Townsend), and real right winger (Lennon, if fit), Ade and Eiriksen or perhaps Soldado or Lamela and we're done. The problem is it leaves so many out in the cold, Dembele or Paulinho to begin with. Just because they both seem to deserve a regular place, we add Bentaleb to the mix. A plan to start all three resulted in the funky and dysfunctional lineup against Everton. I like Bentaleb, I agree he's an effective no-frills midfielder, and I'm not sure there are any easy answers (though that doesn't usually discourage me from suggesting some).
I agree on Capoue's tendancy to do something dumb but when he's on the pitch we do look better defensively. Like, I can't put my finger on it, we just seem more comfortable swatting away attacks, even under pressure. Bentaleb was good yesterday though and deserves to keep his place, although I don't think he did after City and Hull.
Even if capoue does seem slightly clumsy, his presence improved the performance of other defensive players. He just takes the pressure off and makes life easier. As I mentioned on another thread, Dawson seemed much more calm when capoue was introduced.
I think Bentaleb's definitely risen up on the pecking order but I don't think he's untouchable. Sandro and Paulinho have both been out for 95% of the period Bentaleb has featured thus meaning that so far, it's only been Capoue that he's kept out of the side. Spurcat mentioned that Capoue was late to Soton - where Bentaleb made his debut - and it's fair to say he hugely impressed that day so was naturally given another chance in the following match(es). He's looked good against sides outside of the top 4, unfortunately (and as predicted by myself and many) against Arsenal and City he was poor, throwing an inexperienced 19 year old against those sort of teams wasn't the best of ideas but other than those games, he's not looked out of place and has done a decent job while others are still out/ returning from injury, though I'd expect him to drop to the bench once Sandro is back fit. I do feel somewhat for Capoue though, I thought he's looked really good in the games he's featured in and despite the fact for ages I was calling for Bentaleb to be given a 1st team chance long before he actually did, I didn't expect it to come in the Prem at the expense of a good player. Capoue is the closest player we have to Sandro and many would consider The Beast as one of the first names on the team sheet when fit, so while he's out, why is his alternative not featuring?
Why was Capoue bought if not for cover for Sandro, One heavyweight covering another, Benty a light middleweight has been ok if not dynamic , but I still see him as semi defensive worker with adequate technic. We have a host of middleweights in dembele, Paulinho etc. What we need in the centre is finesse , the new Modric , someone that can dictate play , the only player that may offer this is Eriksen , or an outside chance Carroll but I cant see him making the grade. More Hazard than Hoddle. Benty and Dembele seem first choice if fit but seem to me a half way house. Neither defensive or creative, somewhere in the middle.
If Mousa got his head up more and looked at the bigger picture and not just a simple pass, he could take a Modric role in the side. Both have similar characteristics in how they can easily glide past players, rarely get moved off of the ball and more often than not, WHEN they scored for us it was a usually a cracker but what Modric had over Mousa is once he beat a man, he could make "the pass before the assist" or the assist itself, where as Mousa keeps things simple and rarely makes a killer pass.
I'm not worried about him getting preferential treatment. As far as i'm concerned he's shown he has the talent to make it and he needs time on the pitch to further his developement. What i'm a bit worried about is that he is playing EVERY game, as a 19yr old in a high stakes position (eg, mistakes will get noticed and could lead to goals against). A bit of rotation with him coming off the bench would make me feel a little easier, but i certainly don't see him as a weak link when his name is down to start so i can't criticise Sherwood for actually picking him
