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by Paul Abbandonato, South Wales Echo, Apr 21 2011
Adel Taarabt: How do you stop him?
HE has been dubbed ‘The Matador’, officially named the best player in the Championship.
Even his own manager, Neil Warnock, says he would want to boot him up in the air if he were playing against him.
This is the genius that is Adel Taarabt, the Queens Park Rangers captain who comes to Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday as public enemy number one to the Bluebirds’ promotion hopes.
The mercurially gifted Taarabt is probably even more Jason Koumas-like than the enigmatic Welsh star himself.
A magical match-winning maverick on his day, completely anonymous when he is off his game.
To be fair to Taarabt, his good days are far more consistent than those of Koumas, but Dave Jones and his team must ensure they have a game plan in place this weekend which ensures we see the worst, rather than the best of the brilliant 21-year-old Moroccan.
It clearly takes someone very special to be rated ahead of Bluebirds captain Craig Bellamy as the best player outside of the Premier League, but that is an accolade pundits, fans and Taarabt’s own peers have bestowed on him.
Taarabt’s goals and creativity have proved the difference between QPR being top or part of the chasing pack.
He was the difference between the two teams when QPR beat City 2-1 at Loftus Road back in November.
His performance against Swansea four weeks on, when QPR won 4-0 and Taarabt made mugs of normally water-tight defenders with his tricks and dribbling skills, was probably the best individual showing of the season.
Taarabt has had quite a few special displays in 2010-11, though.
Which is why Warnock, whose teams are historically renowned for route one power play, has changed his style somewhat and pretty much built his team around one individual.
Warnock picks a bruising back four, and the solidity of Shaun Derry in midfield, to enable the free spirit that is Taarabt to roam as he sees fit, dropping grenades in areas of the pitch where they can do most damage to the opposition.
QPR fans reckon Taarabt, who played for France at age-grade level but stars for the full Moroccan international team these days, has scored the sort of individual goals this season which first got Diego Maradona noticed.
In fact, he has been so good, there has been talk of a £10m Real Madrid swoop this summer.
BUT, and to give Bluebirds fans hope, there is a big but, with young Taarabt at the moment it is everything or nothing.
He’s either the magnificent match-winner, or someone so out of sorts QPR might as well have 10 players on the pitch.
Such a scenario, of course, happened during the drab 0-0 draw with struggling Derby on Monday night when Rams skipper Robbie Savage gleefully spoke of having Taarabt tucked up in his pocket.
Savage, approaching 37 and retirement, followed Taarabt’s every move, chipping at his heels and chirping in his ear until he was finally substituted with 20 minutes to go.
Taarabt hurled a water bottle in frustration as he stomped off, while Savage mimed taking him back out of his pocket to the delight of the travelling fans.
“It was hard for me to run around at times, given the extra 12 stones I was carrying in my shorts,” chided Savage.
“Look, Taarabt deserves to be the player of the year because he has got great ability and he is very good on his day.
“But sometimes when it is not going his way he can have a little strop.
“He was taken off against us, but I would have preferred him to remain on because he was not doing anything.”
Adel Taarabt: How do you stop him?
HE has been dubbed ‘The Matador’, officially named the best player in the Championship.
Even his own manager, Neil Warnock, says he would want to boot him up in the air if he were playing against him.
This is the genius that is Adel Taarabt, the Queens Park Rangers captain who comes to Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday as public enemy number one to the Bluebirds’ promotion hopes.
The mercurially gifted Taarabt is probably even more Jason Koumas-like than the enigmatic Welsh star himself.
A magical match-winning maverick on his day, completely anonymous when he is off his game.
To be fair to Taarabt, his good days are far more consistent than those of Koumas, but Dave Jones and his team must ensure they have a game plan in place this weekend which ensures we see the worst, rather than the best of the brilliant 21-year-old Moroccan.
It clearly takes someone very special to be rated ahead of Bluebirds captain Craig Bellamy as the best player outside of the Premier League, but that is an accolade pundits, fans and Taarabt’s own peers have bestowed on him.
Taarabt’s goals and creativity have proved the difference between QPR being top or part of the chasing pack.
He was the difference between the two teams when QPR beat City 2-1 at Loftus Road back in November.
His performance against Swansea four weeks on, when QPR won 4-0 and Taarabt made mugs of normally water-tight defenders with his tricks and dribbling skills, was probably the best individual showing of the season.
Taarabt has had quite a few special displays in 2010-11, though.
Which is why Warnock, whose teams are historically renowned for route one power play, has changed his style somewhat and pretty much built his team around one individual.
Warnock picks a bruising back four, and the solidity of Shaun Derry in midfield, to enable the free spirit that is Taarabt to roam as he sees fit, dropping grenades in areas of the pitch where they can do most damage to the opposition.
QPR fans reckon Taarabt, who played for France at age-grade level but stars for the full Moroccan international team these days, has scored the sort of individual goals this season which first got Diego Maradona noticed.
In fact, he has been so good, there has been talk of a £10m Real Madrid swoop this summer.
BUT, and to give Bluebirds fans hope, there is a big but, with young Taarabt at the moment it is everything or nothing.
He’s either the magnificent match-winner, or someone so out of sorts QPR might as well have 10 players on the pitch.
Such a scenario, of course, happened during the drab 0-0 draw with struggling Derby on Monday night when Rams skipper Robbie Savage gleefully spoke of having Taarabt tucked up in his pocket.
Savage, approaching 37 and retirement, followed Taarabt’s every move, chipping at his heels and chirping in his ear until he was finally substituted with 20 minutes to go.
Taarabt hurled a water bottle in frustration as he stomped off, while Savage mimed taking him back out of his pocket to the delight of the travelling fans.
“It was hard for me to run around at times, given the extra 12 stones I was carrying in my shorts,” chided Savage.
“Look, Taarabt deserves to be the player of the year because he has got great ability and he is very good on his day.
“But sometimes when it is not going his way he can have a little strop.
“He was taken off against us, but I would have preferred him to remain on because he was not doing anything.”
NPower Champions 2010/2011
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