My year with Nabil

Article by Joe Fish

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I’m slightly ashamed to say that I had never heard of Nabil Bentaleb until 12 months ago.

I was a Tottenham fan who would watch every game, and incessantly discuss with my father the usual Spurs issues; the need for stability, the need for a top-class striker, the obvious deficiencies of Aaron Lennon; that sort of stuff.

But the torturous slowness of my old laptop discouraged me from badgering forums and the club website to investigate beyond the first team.

It was a laptop only good for an old Championship Manager 01/02 demo, which proved to be my escape from disappointing weekends for many years.

I ousted Glenn Hoddle from the Spurs job on so many occasions that I could still recite those who were in the reserves 12 years ago. Ciaron Toner (passing 20) and Yannick Kamanan (work rate 17) were just two of several youngsters who got Worthington Cup run outs.

But, not until I upgraded machinery to a quick, flashy, Christian Eriksen-type model, and subscribed to the Spurs programme, did I transfer this sadness into an in-depth interest in Tottenham’s current youth teams.

It was only then when I became familiar with the seemingly fine work that Bentaleb was doing in the NextGen series and Under-21s side.

Even then, though, I was as surprised as the £25m worth of international midfield talent that had been brought in during the 2013 summer at his emergence in the second half of last season.

There was a certain element of ‘I told you so’ about the way in which Tim Sherwood sidelined some of Franco Baldini’s signings to introduce talents that he had helped nurture himself, but Bentaleb held his own from his first minute.

Confidence immediately oozed from the 19-year-old as he made his debut as a substitute in the 3-2 win over Southampton. Future games would show that he was comfortable in possession, a very good athlete - fit, strong, and quick enough - and had a determination about him that was missing from many other players.

Some Spurs fans criticsed his overuse by Sherwood, but, if there was some self-indulgence behind his initial selection, his performances thereon in warranted him a place in the starting XI for the months that followed.

This was especially the case considering that his arrival to prominence coincided with Paulinho, Sandro, Etienne Capoue and Mousa Dembele often being unfit or underperforming. Sherwood promised that he would not pick on reputation or price tags, and he didn’t.

In the toughest of times, through the “gutless” capitulations, Bentaleb never shirked, he never gave up; he always wanted the ball and took on much of the responsibility that more senior figures should have accepted.

Of the three Spurs midfielders at this summer’s World Cup, Bentaleb and the two mentioned above, the Algerian has had by far the most impact, helping his country to the last 16 of the finals for the first time, only three months after debuting at international level.

Hosts Brazil have dropped Paulinho, while Dembele’s Belgium have largely underwhelmed on their way to the knockout stages, but Bentaleb’s continued rise has ensured that you don’t need a Spurs programme to read about him now.

He had played every minute of Algeria’s Group H campaign, and has impressed again with his ability to quickly and maturely adapt to previously unchartered territory, in terms of both standard and pressure.

His role in Algeria’s high-energy pressing game could be mirrored at White Hart Lane next season, with new Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino having notably used a similar approach while at Southampton.

One of Pochettino’s briefs is to develop the young talents at Spurs, as he did at St Mary’s, and Bentaleb is now the standout in Tottenham’s next generation.

This doesn’t mean that he should play every minute of every game, but he should form one fourth of the squad’s central midfield unit, alongside Paulinho, Dembele and Sandro, a quartet that would provide us with options and competition.

So those of you who are punishing him by association to Sherwood, stop the Bentaleb bashing. We have a great prospect on our hands and need to unite behind him.

He’s the Ciaron Toner of 2014. Wait, that doesn’t sound so good…

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