Tottenham's Missing Link: What's Wong with Nabil Bentaleb?

It's early in the Tottenham season but something has clearly been missing from the promising side we saw at the end of last year. A certain spirit that flowed through the Hotspur squad has gone missing. There are a number of potential reasons for this absence but for me the most likely culprit is Algerian midfielder Nabil Bentaleb.

It's been a pretty miserable start of the season for Bentaleb. He was quickly dropped from the starting 11 in favor of Eric Dier who is quite possibly playing out of position and still being selected first. How could this happen to a player who last year was arguably the team's best midfielder?

My theory is that the youngster simply has experienced too much success too fast. It's easy to forget how young Bentaleb really is. He won't turn 21 until November and that makes him easily one of the youngest members of the squad. He is significantly younger than his typical midfield pairing Ryan Mason despite looking to be the eldest of the pairing. Still, only a short time ago Bentaleb was a largely unknown player who was thrust into the first team amid critical cries of being Tim Sherwood's pet.

Fast forward that fresh faced lad who looked to have been thrown to the wolves to the player we have now and quite a lot has happened. He has played extensive minutes for Tottenham and has frequently been our emotional leader. Perhaps even more impressively he played big minutes for Algeria in the Workd Cup. His exploits for both Club and country have made him a sort of cult hero amongst fans. And did I mention that he is still just 20 years old?

It is folly for us to expect a player so young to be the model of consistency. I look back to the level of responsibility I had at Nabil's age and I was barely able to keep my dog alive. I certainly couldn't have handled the money, fame and pressure that Bentaleb has experienced over the past 12 months. Yet we, as fans, forget about the personal lives of our favorite athletes despite our yearning to know about their personal lives. We forget he is still a kid with lots to learn about life, his profession and himself.

The good news is that young Bentaleb could bounce back into form as easily as he lost favor. If he does, expect Tottenham to rediscover the drive in the middle of the pitch that unlocked our creativity late last season. With all due respect to Eric Dier and Ryan Mason, an in form Nabil Bentaleb puts them both in their proper secondary places.