Taarabt still needs to change, says Curle
Adel Taarabt still needs to change his mentality if he is to establish himself as a Premier League player, according to ex-QPR coach Keith Curle.
There is bound to be speculation about Taarabt’s future following Rangers’ relegation.
And Curle, who worked with the Moroccan while part of Neil Warnock’s backroom team at Loftus Road, believes there are still question marks hanging over whether Taarabt is cut out for the top flight.
He told West London Sport: “Ability-wise, when Adel is on song, he has the ability to play in any team in the Premier League.
“Unfortunately, when Adel’s head is not screwed on he can become a liability for a team that is struggling in the Premier League, when you need 10 outfield players all tuned in, all knowing their roles and responsibilities within the team framework.
“The level he was playing in the Championship, it’s completely different to what is needed in the Premier League.
“Adel needs to up his workrate and work harder at his game if he wants to be a Premier League player.
“Ability-wise everything is there. The thing with Adel is his mindset.
“If you give him a football he will train all day. As long as a training session and involves a football, being creative and doing anything related to a game, you could keep Adel training as long as you want.
“As soon as you say ‘Right, balls away, now we are doing fitness’ you might as well send Adel in.
“When Adel wants to work he is as good as anybody and as fit as anybody. It’s the mental side of the game that he needs to approach.
“He can do with a football what other people can’t do. Other players don’t see the passes or shot, the execution of skills that he can.
“And then there are other things that players do which Adel does not see as football, as in winning headers and tackles.
“That is how Adel has been brought up and how he sees the game. That’s not a fault, that is his upbringing and culture.”
Whatever his shortcomings, Taarabt was instrumental in getting Rangers out of the Championship two years ago under the then manager Warnock.
And Rangers are reluctant to part with him now, believing he could do the same again now they have dropped back into the second tier.
Current boss Harry Redknapp has warned that winning promotion will be no easy task, but Rangers’ swift progress under Warnock showed it can be done.
Curle recalled: “We needed to sign, in our opinion, the best available players for the division that we were in.
“We also knew that the downside to that was that if we did gain promotion those same players might not be the right players to take the next step and keep the club in the Premier League.
“But that was our gamble that we had to take on behalf of the football club. We also got the best out of players that were already there, like Adel and Ale Faurlin.
“The players we brought in, some of them didn’t have a resale value, but we knew what they were going to do and they knew what they were going to bring to the table.
“Adel was the cream of the crop. I hope that he stays and takes the football club back up.”
Keith Curle was attending Kick It Out‘s ‘Raise Your Game’ conference in London.
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