Taarabts too good for you…. Really
By Gregg Halsey
“Taarabts too good for you, Taarabts too good for you!” is a chant often heard sung at opposition fans up and down the country by the fans of Queens Park Rangers.
Now do they believe their ‘Moroccan magician’ really is too good for the opposition, or do they chant this to try and remind the young playmaker of how good he actually can be?
If he is ‘too good’ for them, does that make him ‘too good’ for us?
I myself am an actual Queens Park Rangers fan, and sometimes I think to myself ; do we still believe he is this ‘magician’?
For a man so talented, why is he still a Queens Park Rangers player? Where is Real Madrid, Manchester United, AC Milan or even Paris Saint German? They certainly haven’t been making sure they grab the signature of Adel Taarabt before the others do.
I love my club but in the real footballing world we have to be realistic, we are not a top 4 team in the Premiership (as much as we like to sometimes pretend) so why are we so lucky to have this amazing talent at our disposal?
In his first full season after signing with Queens Park Rangers this young man finished the campaign with amazing stats: games 43 (1) assists 16 ,goals 19, a winner’s medal, and the Player of the Season award and was club captain.
So where does young Adel let himself down? My opinion is his attitude, I believe it was away at Hull City, our Championship winning season where the ‘boy wonder’ was unhappy at the grief he received from the home supporters, and a pass didn’t go directly where he wanted it so he stopped playing, threw his arms in the air and demanded our then manager Neil Warnock to remove him from the pitch.
The request was refused and he ‘played’ I use the word played lightly as he didn’t take any interest in the rest of the game and we got a full glimpse of both side of our ‘magician’ he was also allegedly scouted by a big club on this day.
His tricks and taunting opposition players in many games in what was to be his first full Premiership season and all was good, but his flair and style wasn’t anything new to these top class defenders who, after once or twice just put a stop to it; something Adel didn’t like and got frustrated with.
Sadly Adel’s other side began creeping in, and at half time in a torrid game against arch rivals Fulham, Adel decided he was going home.
He was actively seeking a move away from the club touting such names as Manchester United a ‘dream move’ in his words or heading back to France as it was closer to his family and girlfriend.
A new manager was brought in after QPR started heading down to the relegation dog fight, and Adel was revived and back to the player we all knew and loved setting up the goals in a 3-2 victory over Liverpool from 2-0 down, scoring the only goal against his former club Tottenham to name a few instances.
QPR survived, everyone was looking forward to the following season with lots of signings coming in and Taarabt being given the number 10 shirt looked a promising season ahead as Adel would be in his element with such players as Park and later on Granero around him.
However an opening day thrashing and Adel was placed on the bench for the foreseeable future…
Then with the team 2-0 down at home and the big names not cutting it, Adel is called upon and the QPR fans are straight away on their feet as he hits a trademark outside the box top corner dipping effort in to the goal .He is back…. Isn’t he?
Sadly the magic still wasn’t being produced to the standard of which the fans saw in the Championship winning campaign…
Has the magicians’ wand lost all its powers?
Have we placed him on a pedestal too high?
Does he set his own bar too high?
Since the arrival of Harry Redknapp we have seen little sparks of what powers Taarabt holds within his grasps such as the lay on to Shaun Wright-Philips for the winner against rivals Chelsea which was quoted as “if Juan Mata had played that pass we’d hear of it for months” – Ray Wilkins but then against Tottenham he seemed to just try too hard and was his own worse enemy…
A player with such a talent and the entire wrong attitude when things do not go his way.
In the opinion of his Moroccan coach - “I want a team that plays as a team and Taarabt does not fit that description” and “I don’t want players who want to be the stars and show off. He lacks discipline and I don’t want that in my team.”
So “Taarabts too good for you” is he really?