Capoue and Stambouli, A Tenacious Defensive Pairing

I can’t wait to see Etienne Capoue and Benji Stambouli teamed up together in front of the back four for Spurs this season. This tandem could be the key to Tottenham’s defensive fortunes this season and I am really excited to see what these two future French teammates can do playing side by side against some of the more dangerous attacking teams in the Premier League.

Etienne Capoue

After playing a key role in front of the defense last year (see the Manchester United game as proof), Capoue was injured and never really found his place at Spurs. When he returned from injury, Tim Sherwood rarely used him and he was seen as a fringe player.

There were many Spurs fans this offseason that were calling for Capoue to be transferred out with Morgan Schneiderlin as a potential replacement, but why?

Before his injury, Capoue was a solid performer for Spurs and in his years with Toulouse, he excelled enough to get called up to the French senior side on seven occasions. You could argue that Schneiderlin wouldn’t even have made the trip to Brazil if Capoue had been healthy last season.

This season he has shown himself to be one of the top passers percentage-wise on the team. Plus, he reads the game well, is rarely out of position, knows his role, and likes to move the ball forward. A deep lying playmaker he is not, but he does have the ability and vision to find the open man and key a break. His biggest weakness is his tacking in crucial situations (especially in or near the box), but I think with the addition of Stambouli, there will be less emphasis on this aspect of Capoue’s game as his countryman excels in this particular endeavor.

Benjamin Stambouli

Stambouli has come into the side and made an instant impact. He immediately came into the Sunderland game and tackled and tackled and tackled some more. He was calm and composed in front of a raucous crowd and good attacking side in Belgrade in midweek. If he keeps playing like this, Spurs fans might quickly forget the name Sandro.

Stambouli was the vice-captain at Montpellier HSC so his leadership ability is not in question. Having a championship pedigree can’t hurt either. Montpellier won Ligue 1 in 2012 with Stambouli playing a key role. There is little doubt that the Frenchman will get a call up to his national side pretty soon.

When will it happen?

The issue that many Spurs fans may take with this particular combination (the “two” of the 4-2-3-1) is that it removes either Christian Eriksen or Mousa Dembélé from the mix. For that reason alone, I don’t think we’ll see the pairing of Capoue and Stambouli this weekend. Dembélé was simply too good last weekend to leave out of the side, and lest we forget that the Belgian does many of the things listed above pretty well himself.

But at some point, Spurs will have a game where they will have to rely on the playmakers up field to make plays while also depending on six or more men to consistently defend. Games against Chelsea and City come to mind here. I am in no way promoting negative football, I just like our chances against these high scoring sides when we don’t have to battle out of a hole. A strong defensive midfield in front of Jan Vertonghen, Federico Fazio, Younes Kaboul, or Vlad Chiriches (some combo of those guys) would be formidable.

 

Good article and well written, its early days but im looking foward to seeing a lot more Stam he looks like a player that wants to play and is willing to run thru a brick wall to get on the pitch.

 

I would put dembele as our main striker and drop ade. I would drop kubol at center back and put the 2 french guys in front of the back 4.

 

I agree Dembele could do well up front as he has the strength the intricacy and shooting ability to do well!
Also ever thought about moving Kyle walker to right midfield worked wonders for Bale?! Just a thought

 

I was thinking the same although my option would be to push Dembele higher up the pitch and drop Chadli. Bit harsh following recent goals but can we drop Lamela or Eriksen at the moment?

 

It's a good call about walker playing right my, I said this 3 seasons ago with Kaboul at rb. People forget that walker has a shooting right foot as well as a pass but if we can see these things surely Mo Po can too?
I like ade up front but maybe swap during game Chadli for dembele?

 

Dembele has to play full stop. He's our best player our most complete player. Quick over the ground, strong as an ox,can carry the ball at pace,great in the tackle with two good feet. I think the days of playing up front have been stifled out of him unfortunately due to poor management and team selections. I remember his performance v man utd at old Trafford for Fulham the week before we signed him thinking I want that player and couldn't believe we snared him n utd didn't sign him there and then. I find it hard getting excited about the above named duo when u compare it to Sandro/dembele or Parker/dembele to be honest...

 

Dembele has lots to offer and if you look back to the Sunderland game especially in the first half, he showed just what a strong, intelligent player he really is. I am not sure that I would play him as a striker, but I definitely agree that he should be one of the first names on the team sheet. Playing Stambouli and Capoue together could work, and we certainly need to improve our defensive set up this years, if we are to start showing we can beat the teams who regularly appear in the top four.

I would be interested to see if Fazio starts, who drops out of the team. It unlikely to be Kaboul just yet, but maybe he will start this Sunday?

 

I like Faz already after watching him on Thu. Made some crucial 'stops' . Could be our biggest assett and best signing sofar. If he is anything like the mighty Ledley King he'll play regularly. But Kabul ???? Was a time when he was a rock in defence - so what happened that an injury has lowered his ability??

 

Dont see Dembele as a striker or in a more advanced position to what he plays now, he looked very good last week playing the ball out of the middle alongside Capoue so I dont expect to many changes there with Stam and Benteleb as back up. Also doubt we will see Faz start in a league game just yet as it would be odd to name Kaboul as captain and then drop him. I do however expect Faz to become third choice CB and push Chiriches down the order which will probably see him moving on in the near future

 

What a load of nonsense.

Spurs midfield is bad enough without playing any real creative playmaker with a defensive midfielder. Bentaleb, Paulinho and Dembele are not creative.

The only creative playmakers we have are Mason and Eriksen. Eriksen has been playing as part of the front three so we need someone else who can pass and create in central midfield.

To have two defensive midfielders and even less creativity would be a joke. The team was boring enough to watch against Partizan Belgrade. Surely you don't want it to be even more boring to watch.

 

Can EASILY see your point and it's a decent one. I suppose a lot of how good that partnership could be will depend on how Stambouli develops his game under Pochettino.

At Montpelier, Benji wasn't exactly renowned for his adventurous forays into the oppositions half, or his creative abilities.
I think that in a 4-2-3-1, one of the two CM's would ideally be able to effectively join in with attacks while the team is in possession, which means either Stambouli or Capoue would have to leave what has become a bit of a comfort zone in their play.

To be fair, I think a player with Stambouli's technical ability SHOULD be doing more offensively/creatively to aid the team. Obviously, give the kid time he has barely kicked a ball for Spurs, but I would definitely hope to see the new recruit attempt to dictate play from higher up the pitch, occasionally, in future.

It goes without saying, that as things stand, Dembele is far more natural at this, but another player who could benefit from being a bit more adventurous in his work is Nabil Bentaleb.

Because while I feel that Bentaleb HAS justified his promotion up to the senior squad, I still feel as if Nabil hasn't really paved out a clear role for himself within the team.

I suppose you would call him a deep lying playmaker at the moment, and yet he still isn't able to dictate play for 90 mins on a consistent basis.

Listen, the kid is 19 and hasn't even played a full season in the EPL yet, but I can't help but feel he is still playing it a little too safe to REALLY establish himself at the highest level.

Look, the talent is there, as are the physical tools, but at the moment what usually happens is we get a good 35-45 mins display from the youngster and then the rest of the game he goes quite, seemingly happy to pass to maintain possession, rather than pass to penetrate the defensive lines.

In the role he plays, and with the ability he has, he needs to begin to play between the lines with more regularity to move his game on. Getting the ball to the likes of Chadli, Townsend, Eriksen, etc, etc in the spaces behind the oppositions midfield as often as possible has to be one of his main objectives.

Once he does that, hopefully he will develop the ambition to start following his passes forward and expressing himself more within the final third.

I actually think Bentaleb would be a more effective player operating in a 3 at the moment, where he would be given more of a break from his defensive duties, and more license to make things happen offensively.

Nabil has a decent turn of speed, a good eye for a pass and from what I have seem so far , a very good strike on him, so I would just like to see him operate in the space outside the oppositions box a bit more.

The special young talents are the ones who ALWAYS look to stamp their authority/influence on games and that for me is where Benteleb just falls short at the moment. I suspect part of that is due to the role he is playing in, and a desire not to make a mistake.

The midfielder is an exciting prospect though, who I feel given time to develop, perhaps a change of role and a more expressive attitude could become an exceptional talent.

Something tells me that a goal for the youngster (and a good one at that) will do wonders for the kids self-esteem and belief as far as feeling as though he can have a big influence on this Spurs side.

 

Dembele? On what evidence would you play him up front? He doesn't even have a palatable scoring record from midfield!

 

How would playing these two jeopardise Eriksen's role?? He plays as our no. 10 in our top 3, behind the main striker?... Other than that fair assessment.

 

Wot have our strikers done so far. Dembele looks more creative . He can get us sitting on our edge of the seats more exciting to watch. Just how i think lol