Ballou Tabla

[Greatest Cockney Rip Off]

Tabla didn't stand out against England last month either. He didn't look bad but he didn't look like a player who should be demanding a call to the senior side. 

[BCM]

It's both annoying and insulting to us as a footballing nation when there are calls to cap players after their first match at a lower-level pro league (or even major pro league). Yet we hear it time and time again --  Di Chiara, Stinson, Smits, Elva, the list goes on ... and will continue to go on.

[SCF08]

2 hours ago, Blackdude said:

You're saying that he accepts it, but what about the pressure that you're putting on a 17 year old kid who might have a dream and could say no? It's a pressure call to tell him that he has to make his international future known now. That's the part that you don't get. We captied a 19 year old dual national in a WCQ 4 years ago. You know how many times he has played for Canada since? one friendly sub appearance. I'm not defending that said player, but if that player wasn't captied 4 years ago, would he have played more for Canada? I'd say yes. Now it's a case by case, because every player is different, but that's something you can't denied. 

Also, how much have you seen of him? He looked good against TFCII. Tosaint Ricketts would look better against TFCII. Also since when is he a regular starter when he's has one career pro start? Let him gain more starts and see where he is, but a lot of kids have looked good at this age and disappeared. He could be special, but the world is could. He's not better than Ricketts right now. He needs to learn and show what he can do in USL and if he does well there and with the youth national team, he can position himself for a call-up.  If he was heads and shoulders above Ricketts, how come he was disappointing at the U17 WCQ? 

I don't even know why people are worrying oh we could lose (Player X) to (Country Y) Captie him! 

Tabla was disappointing at the U17 WCQ? He was by far the best player on the team in the U17 Concacaf tournament. I've seen plenty of matches of Tabla against quality opposition (Slovak Cup where he won player of the tournament, matches vs Belgium U17 where he was MOTM). This guy is miles ahead of Ricketts in all aspects of football.

You trying to compare the opponent he plays against is also irrelevant. Ricketts his first touch, vision, finishing or dribbiling skills don't improve against lesser opposition. You get into pressure moments against every type of opponent. You get into more pressure moments where you have less time against better opponents  If you analyse the quality of skill of Tabla is pressure moments vs Ricketts you simply see that there is a world of difference between the two.

Tabla is almost always in control, knows what he wants to do, he can change his mind during moves he´s trying to do, good finishing ability, good vision, good technique, smart movement without the ball. Ricketts can´t even control the ball let alone keep his balance or his head afterwards. The guy is useless.

If you don´t see the difference in quality between Tabla and Ricketts (and then I´m not even talking about potential yet) than it´s hard to communicate.

[AvroArrow]

26 minutes ago, SCF08 said:

You trying to compare the opponent he plays against is also irrelevant. Ricketts his first touch, vision, finishing or dribbiling skills don't improve against lesser opposition. You get into pressure moments against every type of opponent. You get into more pressure moments where you have less time against better opponents  If you analyse the quality of skill of Tabla is pressure moments vs Ricketts you simply see that there is a world of difference between the two.
 

If the level of your opponent doesn't matter, then Robin Van Persie is the greatest football player ever.  Pure domination.
 

 

[Blackdude]

9 hours ago, SCF08 said:

You trying to compare the opponent he plays against is also irrelevant. Ricketts his first touch, vision, finishing or dribbiling skills don't improve against lesser opposition. You get into pressure moments against every type of opponent. You get into more pressure moments where you have less time against better opponents  If you analyse the quality of skill of Tabla is pressure moments vs Ricketts you simply see that there is a world of difference between the two.

It is. We've seen kids stand out in youth competitions and disappear. Of course it's relevant. Tabla's first touch, vision, finishing and dribbling skills won't improve against stronger opposition. Does he have more skill than Ricketts? Yes, but that doesn't mean that he can play on the senior team because he has skill. And talking about pressure moments when you're playing against boys is different. He looks better than the others, but that doesn't mean that he'll look better when playing against difficult opposition. I'm more in the wait and see approach. Let's see how good he is in the next 2 months to see how he responds before saying oh he's heads and shoulders above Ricketts based on what he did at the youth level.

 

Do you know who was the last Canadian male player to score a hat trick against the US at any level? I'm not going to tell you, but that player looked good as a youth then. So, let's chill out and see how he fares in 2 months to see if he still stands out then. That's why I'm not all in against a guy who's played ONE pro match. 

[SCF08]

On 12-4-2016 at 2:35 AM, Blackdude said:

It is. We've seen kids stand out in youth competitions and disappear. Of course it's relevant. Tabla's first touch, vision, finishing and dribbling skills won't improve against stronger opposition. Does he have more skill than Ricketts? Yes, but that doesn't mean that he can play on the senior team because he has skill. And talking about pressure moments when you're playing against boys is different. He looks better than the others, but that doesn't mean that he'll look better when playing against difficult opposition. I'm more in the wait and see approach. Let's see how good he is in the next 2 months to see how he responds before saying oh he's heads and shoulders above Ricketts based on what he did at the youth level.

 

Do you know who was the last Canadian male player to score a hat trick against the US at any level? I'm not going to tell you, but that player looked good as a youth then. So, let's chill out and see how he fares in 2 months to see if he still stands out then. That's why I'm not all in against a guy who's played ONE pro match. 

Scoring 3 goals doesn't say anything about the quality of a player. All the aspects that I mentioned in my post do say something about the quality of a player. That's the big difference. 

It doesn't matter how Tabla performs in the next 2 months. The USL shouldn't be a benchmark. His qualities should be the benchmark. At this moment in time he's already superior in almost all aspects in football and that's why he should be picked ahead of Ricketts in the squad. 

[Blackdude]

4 hours ago, SCF08 said:

Scoring 3 goals doesn't say anything about the quality of a player. All the aspects that I mentioned in my post do say something about the quality of a player. That's the big difference. 

It doesn't matter how Tabla performs in the next 2 months. The USL shouldn't be a benchmark. His qualities should be the benchmark. At this moment in time he's already superior in almost all aspects in football and that's why he should be picked ahead of Ricketts in the squad. 

If the player can't be good at the USL level how could you expect him to be better than Ricketts when playing in Honduras? The thing is that it's one thing to do it against players who are under 23 mostly, it's another thing to do it against men. That's why I want to see more of him before saying he's better than Ricketts. Does he have skill? Yes, but a lot of players have skill and disappear at 22 because they have a poor work ethic. That's why you want to see the players keeping at it regularly. Tabla's doing that after his first pro match. I want to see that continue. I never said that it said anything about the quality. If Tabla plays like an uninterested player in the next 2 months, he's not better than Ricketts in all aspects in football. Ricketts scored goals like that at a higher level also showing that he has the skills to score like that. Check his goal against Besiktas 2-3 years ago.

I do think Tabla's the future, but if you want to have a player on the Canadian national team that plays on the wing that is on a Canadian team who isn't captied, Tabla's not my first choice. I want to see more of him, but the sample size is too few to say that he's better than Ricketts based off games against boys. Wyn Belotte was supposed to be our best ever player according to some people and he bombed out. A lot of skilled players have come and go. I remember Stalteri who said that he wasn't the most talented player in Canada, but he worked hard at it and that's why he was able to play at the level he played. If Tabla's not able to replicate to the level that is better than Ricketts in USL, how do you expect him to be better than Ricketts for the senior team? 

[SCF08]

17 hours ago, Blackdude said:

If the player can't be good at the USL level how could you expect him to be better than Ricketts when playing in Honduras? The thing is that it's one thing to do it against players who are under 23 mostly, it's another thing to do it against men. That's why I want to see more of him before saying he's better than Ricketts. Does he have skill? Yes, but a lot of players have skill and disappear at 22 because they have a poor work ethic. That's why you want to see the players keeping at it regularly. Tabla's doing that after his first pro match. I want to see that continue. I never said that it said anything about the quality. If Tabla plays like an uninterested player in the next 2 months, he's not better than Ricketts in all aspects in football. Ricketts scored goals like that at a higher level also showing that he has the skills to score like that. Check his goal against Besiktas 2-3 years ago.

I do think Tabla's the future, but if you want to have a player on the Canadian national team that plays on the wing that is on a Canadian team who isn't captied, Tabla's not my first choice. I want to see more of him, but the sample size is too few to say that he's better than Ricketts based off games against boys. Wyn Belotte was supposed to be our best ever player according to some people and he bombed out. A lot of skilled players have come and go. I remember Stalteri who said that he wasn't the most talented player in Canada, but he worked hard at it and that's why he was able to play at the level he played. If Tabla's not able to replicate to the level that is better than Ricketts in USL, how do you expect him to be better than Ricketts for the senior team? 

I don't think we're to agree on this topic mate. I'm a firm believer that he's ready and better than Ricketts based on his ability and you're clearly still on the fence awaiting his development. Let's agree to disagree and see what happens regarding his development!

[Vince193]

If he is as good as everyone thinks he is, Montreal should be looking to sign him to a senior contract soon.

[IceCreamMan]

Apparently people are taking notice depending on how much you buy into these sort of articles. 

http://www.espnfc.com/story/2853811/ballou-jean-yves-tabla-eyed-by-premier-league-sides-source

[OnkelDal]

ESPN FC & The Score reporting this.

Something to keep an eye on in case one of the clubs tries to make a move. Won't look too much into in yet.

Maybe can join Tomori at Chelsea.

[Ansem]

That's good for Canada if he joins EPL. He'll be that much more solid when he's recalled for the National team

[Keegan]

Not surprised to be honest, really an amazing young talent.  We are starting to produce some really good youngsters the past few youth cycles, hopefully we can finally break our U20 WC drought.  

[Ansem]

The future is bright for Canada. CPL would just accelerate the production of depth for the national program while we produce quality guys at a consistent basis like Larin who needs to be polished...good thing he's learning directly from one of the best...Kaka

[shermanator]

Interestingly he wasn't in the 18 for FC Montreal on Sunday despite scoring in his debut. Their offense sure could have used him in the lineup.

[shamrock]

37 minutes ago, Keegan said:

Not surprised to be honest, really an amazing young talent.  We are starting to produce some really good youngsters the past few youth cycles, hopefully we can finally break our U20 WC drought.  

It's not as much "producing" as it is getting discovered and offered a pathway that plays here. The technical skills of players like Tabla and Boakai are developed well before they ever saw a maple leaf. 

[Shway]

4 minutes ago, shamrock said:

It's not as much "producing" as it is getting discovered and offered a pathway that plays here. The technical skills of players like Tabla and Boakai are developed well before they ever saw a maple leaf. 

Agreed, the proof is in the pudding that we are developing better younger prospects, but my concern has been two things. 

1. Do they have "attainable" paths to elevate  expectations. 

2. We still need additional professional clubs to develop more talent. To think that Toronto fc is the professional academy that develops kids from 12-22,(about 100 kids of a million playing in the GTA), what happens to the ones who are truly good, but just didn't have a good showing in the academy... The Babouli story is nice, however it shows substantial gaps. 

Oh yea and... 

3. Not everybody can go to Europe to better there talents, it's seen as the mecca, but it sometimes it's the opposite to ones career. 

[Soccerpro]

Look at our best youth players, Alphonso Davies, Ballou Tabla, Hanson Boakai etc

Notice a pattern? They all learned to play as kids in Africa before coming to Canada. We're merely providing a pathway for these talented kids that played lots of unstructured soccer in other countries before arriving in Canada.

[Blackdude]

I don't think that Tabla's going anywhere because he's only 17.  He could have trials in Europe, but he won't be 18 until next March, so even if the Impact sells him, he will be loaned back to Montreal, because he can't  play for an EPL youth team. 

[kohanz]

3 hours ago, Soccerpro said:

Look at our best youth players, Alphonso Davies, Ballou Tabla, Hanson Boakai etc

Notice a pattern? They all learned to play as kids in Africa before coming to Canada. We're merely providing a pathway for these talented kids that played lots of unstructured soccer in other countries before arriving in Canada.

I don't know about Ballou Tabla, but Alphonso Davies came to Canada at around age 5 and Boakai at around age 7, so the "learned to play" is a bit of a stretch.

[Stryker911]

Is it too much to ask for one top prospect that only has Canada as an option??!!!

[Coramoor]

43 minutes ago, kohanz said:

I don't know about Ballou Tabla, but Alphonso Davies came to Canada at around age 5 and Boakai at around age 7, so the "learned to play" is a bit of a stretch.

Tabla's official website says as a child, not overly descriptive really but probably indicative that most of his development was done in Canada

[El Hombre]

4 hours ago, kohanz said:

I don't know about Ballou Tabla, but Alphonso Davies came to Canada at around age 5 and Boakai at around age 7, so the "learned to play" is a bit of a stretch.

But have you seen Liberia's U5 program?  It is off the charts!  Second only to Guinea's U7 program.

Obviously this means we need to send Fonseca to Africa to do research for 6 to 18 months and come up with a proper pre-natal program.  All doulas should at least have their "B" level coaching certificate in order to bring these potential soccer stars into the world properly.  Until that happens we'll never make the World Cup.

[shamrock]

6 hours ago, kohanz said:

I don't know about Ballou Tabla, but Alphonso Davies came to Canada at around age 5 and Boakai at around age 7, so the "learned to play" is a bit of a stretch.

If you have little more to do than playing barefoot with a tennisball at a very young age, chances are you're not in Canada. 

[Vince193]

I am legitimately worried Drogba, who has talked about him recently, is going to push him to abandon Canada and represent the Ivory Coast instead.