Taarabt turns from fruitcake to QPR wizard Published: Monday, Dec 17, 2012, 9:26 IST Agency: Daily Telegraph Wizard? Fruitcake? Catastrophe? Whatever they say about Adel Taarabt, it is no surprise that the man from Fes can be a magician and he made his mark on Queens Park Rangers' chaotic season in the most emphatic way by scoring twice to see off Fulham. QPR's first win of the season, at the 17th attempt, took them off the bottom of the table and Taarabt was outstanding. If the first - a deflected shot seven minutes after half-time - had a slice of luck, the second had the touch of genius, as Taarabt waltzed from the halfway line through a crowd of defenders before curling the ball past Mark Schwarzer with the outside of his right boot. It was like watching Matthew Le Tissier at his best. "The first was lucky, the second was very good," said the Moroccan afterwards. Fulham substitute Mladen Petric scored in the 88th minute to set home nerves jangling again, but QPR held out to give Harry Redknapp his first victory as manager after three draws since he took over from Mark Hughes last month. And if Redknapp is to live up to his Harry Houdini reputation as the great escapologist, he knows the secret will be making the most of Taarabt. "Yes, getting Adel in the right position is important," the manager said. "He has played off the left but he's not as effective out there, so I freed him to play in the hole. We try to get the ball to him at every opportunity because he can do damage to anybody. He's as strong as an ox on the ball, people can't knock him off it. "He's not a lightweight with skill, he's a strong, powerful player with the ball. It was a great performance." Taarabt's talent has been evident since he made his debut as a teenager for Tottenham under Martin Jol, who described him as a "wizard, sometimes in a good way and sometimes in a bad way". But the Moroccan's mentality has been questioned by a succession of managers. "He's hard work," admitted Redknapp. "He can be a bit of a nut but his heart's in the right place, he wants to do well and he thinks about the game. I took him off at Wigan last week and he wasn't in the best of moods. He didn't behave well so I called him into my office on Monday and had a good heart-to-heart chat with him and he's responded to that. "He's temperamental but he's an amazing talent. He needs to harness that talent and just play. I said, 'Don't throw your arms up when you lose the ball, don't stand with your hands on your hips, just get after the ball if you lose it otherwise everyone sees that you made a mistake and it gets highlighted'. And he did that and he was fantastic." When QPR lost 6-0 at Fulham last year, Taarabt was substituted and left Craven Cottage at half-time, leading to disciplinary action from the club. On Saturday he was lauded by fans and staff alike. "That's what I'm saying," Redknapp added. "Talented people like that are difficult to handle." Redknapp compared him with Paolo Di Canio, whose career he resurrected when they were both at West Ham in the 1990s. "Paolo was difficult to handle but he was a genius who could win you a match and Adel is the same. He can be a top, top player. He's like Di Canio, doing things nobody else can do. He nutmegs people, he goes past two or three and they're hanging on to him, but they can't get the ball off him." Taarabt hardly played at Spurs and Redknapp sold him for pounds 1?million in 2010. "He used to come back to see his mates and I'd say to him, 'You're making me look a fool, Adel. I keep seeing you on TV and you're worth pounds 20?million. I sold you too cheap!' "He wasn't a player I wanted to release. He's grown up now, he's better than he was. He was a complete fruitcake at Tottenham." Armand Traore, QPR's Senegal international, said: "I've known Adel since I was 14 or 15, so I know what he's like. He was a catastrophe," laughed Traore. "We used to play together in the French national team at junior level.. I used to overlap him and he would nutmeg the same guy four or five times. The manager used to say, 'If you don't pass the ball, you come off'. Adel didn't care. He was getting penalties, scoring goals. "He's now improved a lot in terms of work-rate, and matured as a person. I think he's got further to go. We see some goals in training no one has seen." But QPR fear a call-up by Morocco for the Africa Cup of Nations is imminent. "I was in that situation last year," added Traore. "If you say no to your country, you and your family will get slaughtered."
Here come the stories now The headline should read Mainstream fans and journos and people without creative insight are now jumping on the Taarabt bandwagon Let's focus on Spurs and HR not QPR He was rejected and did nothing at Spurs he became a player at QPR He is QPR and credit should be given to NW. He is not English in fact he is from a land far away where they eat camel dung so he will have to prove himself five times more than say he was Spanish. HR said 20 million today and a lovely kick back to Spurs and maybe HR who knows? From the first time I watched him I knew he was as good as Zidane and he will be
Watch and learn Cerny watch and learn ... the tone towards Taarabt has always been offish yet he produced a good display and the articles start to appear from the parasites ... never seen very much praising him prior to the match Sat ... in fact its normal practice still to consider him a luxury player. many of us have stood by him from the start and Imaz made a great point that because he is not English we as a footballing public feel better putting a player down if we can. His goal Saturday (more the finish) was WORLD CLASS right up there with the best finishes i have seen. Harry is quoted at saying 20 million, I have watched Zidane many many times before maybe you even knew he existed in this country. Taarabt is not only a world class prospect he has a lot of what Zidane had at that age. he is very very strong on the ball which sticks I can draw and see a complete comparison... you maybe can't. I will go on record as saying he will do more ... much is to come.
