Taarabt

[Marshy]

I'm beginning to think, very sadly, Adel might be part of our problem, not the solution. It really pains me to say that as I value him as a player and have loved having him here. Every attack we have, however, tends to go exclusively through him, especially when he plays in the middle and drops deep. Other teams know this. They mark him or they close off his options up front. He always carries the ball and never releases it if he has some space (if he hasn't he tries to make space). This slows us up everytime because it enables the other team to rally behind the ball. This means we never break at speed, never make effective use of the flanks, and spend whatever time we have on the ball trying to keep possession and probing for space which we never find...

That is a blessing, I mean, if he is being man0-marked and taking out the opposition's players, then it is up to be creative enough to go through the other channels.

[Marshy]

Goodness, an 'anti' Adel post with a decent argument behind it!

I agree to an extent, but I think the problem here is that our wingers offer minimal attacking threat, Cisse couldn't be arsed, and Diakite and Mbia rarely made good runs beyond Adel. It's hard to 'break with speed' when Mackie is the only player on the team willing to break into a sprint to get ahead of the defenders. I can think of several instances where we turned over possession, played it to Adel, and suddenly it was 6 pool defenders vs Cisse and Mackie who were busy marking defenders.

There's a reason 'all our attacks keep going through Adel' - because he always offers himself up for a pass. Watch him constantly floating around looking for space between the CMs and Cisse, and ask yourself why Mackie and SWP are rarely in these sort of positions. Adel's movement is particularly noticeable when Granero or Faurlin are playing behind him. Diakite, Mbia and Derry simply aren't as good at getting the ball to him, hence Adel dropping deeper.

Best post on the thread. Some people saying not breaking with speed is Adel's fault? Who the heck exactly do we have in our team that breaks with speed? It certainly isn't Cisse, Mackie, M'bia, Diakite, Granero, Derry or Faurlin. But hey, let's just blame it all on Tarbs.

[Marshy]

You are either seriously deluded, or simply watched another match to everyone else.

His use of the ball and decision making EVERY time he had it was poor and he constatly lost posession by trying stupid tricks when not needed as a pass / break was on. Liability when playing like this.

Think it's you who saw another match.

[Marshy]

Have you ever known a player who has devided our suport as much as Adel? some think he can do no wrong others have a real perspective on him Talented? YES, inconsistant? YES, scores wonder goals? YES, loses & gives the ball away needlessly YES, should we sell him personally I think if someone makes Harry a decent offer he will sell?

I am one of his biggest fans, but I think he does a lot of wrong. Still doesn't change the fact that he is the only decent player we have in a team full of rubbish.

[Martinmalta]

I do agree that Adel can win you a game on his own....but that comes once every 6 or eight games! As for Taarabt joining a bigger club and playing better with good players around him....well do he needs good players around him as he seems he wants to make everthing on his own. He is good and we should not sell now when we are in this position. However, Harry should not play him regularly as this soften his hunger to prove himself. Remember when he came on as sub against West Ham? Aspecially when we play away, we should drop Adel and put in a more defensive minded player.

[Del]

Think it's you who saw another match.

Not at all. He's greedy, inefective and nowhere near as good as he thinks he is. Add to that the fact when he loses the ball needlessly yet again, half our team are taken out of the game after running beyond him, and we're then stretched at the back when the other team break.

But please feel free to elaborate to all the good things he did with the ball yesterday.... And please don't include pointless shots from 30yards or the ones he tries to place from the edge of the box, messes up and they roll to the keeper!

He has 1 good effective game in 10.

[vblockranger]

Not at all. He's greedy, inefective and nowhere near as good as he thinks he is. Add to that the fact when he loses the ball needlessly yet again, half our team are taken out of the game after running beyond him, and we're then stretched at the back when the other team break.

But please feel free to elaborate to all the good things he did with the ball yesterday.... And please don't include pointless shots from 30yards or the ones he tries to place from the edge of the box, messes up and they roll to the keeper!

He has 1 good effective game in 10.

100% spot on and add to that the rumours that nobody in the dressing room can stand the bloke and the looks and gestures he gets from his own team mates make sense.

[paulmason]

Not at all. He's greedy, inefective and nowhere near as good as he thinks he is. Add to that the fact when he loses the ball needlessly yet again, half our team are taken out of the game after running beyond him, and we're then stretched at the back when the other team break.

But please feel free to elaborate to all the good things he did with the ball yesterday.... And please don't include pointless shots from 30yards or the ones he tries to place from the edge of the box, messes up and they roll to the keeper!

He has 1 good effective game in 10.

Whenever you ask someone to explain what Adel actually did in a game instead of being told what he can do, Ric-Roc and his crew go very quiet, try to change the subject to what another player done or abuse you, its hilarious.

Every player seemed to have a word with Adel yesterday and he dismissed them all.

[Del]

Ask yourself this... if he is sooo good, why have Morrocco not picked him for the ACN..... He fell out with the manager in the past and then made it up, but last year after being picked for the squad never started matches. I'm sure his primadonna attitude in that camp is what has put them off .. no doubt larging it up as the Premier league player and expecting to be treated like royalty.

Clearly they think this year the team will be better off without him around.... I think that's probably about right.

[dave58]

Not at all. He's greedy, inefective and nowhere near as good as he thinks he is. Add to that the fact when he loses the ball needlessly yet again, half our team are taken out of the game after running beyond him, and we're then stretched at the back when the other team break.

But please feel free to elaborate to all the good things he did with the ball yesterday.... And please don't include pointless shots from 30yards or the ones he tries to place from the edge of the box, messes up and they roll to the keeper!

He has 1 good effective game in 10.

I agree Adel was poor yesterday and anyone who thinks otherwise must be watching with rosé tinted glasses, I sit in the upper loft and all around me were saying how bad he was, I think his problem is when he's good he's very good ( Fulham) which is not often enough, & when he's bad he's woeful, which is far too often, as I've said in an earlier post 21 games can probably count on one hand the amount of decent games he's had,

[Shania]

Offer him to olympic Marseille.

[Marshy]

Not at all. He's greedy, inefective and nowhere near as good as he thinks he is. Add to that the fact when he loses the ball needlessly yet again, half our team are taken out of the game after running beyond him, and we're then stretched at the back when the other team break.

But please feel free to elaborate to all the good things he did with the ball yesterday.... And please don't include pointless shots from 30yards or the ones he tries to place from the edge of the box, messes up and they roll to the keeper!

He has 1 good effective game in 10.

You are joking, right? You DO realise, don't you, that we rarely have more than 2 or 3 players in front of him, don't you?

If people actually noticed, most of the time he gives the ball away is when he has very little options in front of him.

[Marshy]

Not at all. He's greedy, inefective and nowhere near as good as he thinks he is. Add to that the fact when he loses the ball needlessly yet again, half our team are taken out of the game after running beyond him, and we're then stretched at the back when the other team break.

But please feel free to elaborate to all the good things he did with the ball yesterday.... And please don't include pointless shots from 30yards or the ones he tries to place from the edge of the box, messes up and they roll to the keeper!

He has 1 good effective game in 10.

He didn't do much good, but he still played better than Mackie, Cisse and SWP. At least he was always available for the ball, and looked the most potent threat (which is not saying much) compared to the others.

[Marshy]

Ask yourself this... if he is sooo good, why have Morrocco not picked him for the ACN..... He fell out with the manager in the past and then made it up, but last year after being picked for the squad never started matches. I'm sure his primadonna attitude in that camp is what has put them off .. no doubt larging it up as the Premier league player and expecting to be treated like royalty.

Clearly they think this year the team will be better off without him around.... I think that's probably about right.

Actually, it was Adel who said he does not want to go. So your whole post was pointless.

[Del]

You are joking, right? You DO realise, don't you, that we rarely have more than 2 or 3 players in front of him, don't you?

If people actually noticed, most of the time he gives the ball away is when he has very little options in front of him.

Yeah you keep telling yourself that and it might come true....

Actually,on many occasions he slows the attack so much that we often have a number of players in front of him, including one of the sitting midfielders and often fullbacks when he comes very deep, do the maths.

As for options, picking one example, I suppose the other day when he tried a pathetic attempt at a Cruyff turn 40 yards from our own goal, which he typically messed up and lost the ball, he had no options on either....?

You need to take those Adel tinted specs off.