Mousa Dembele

[Pirate55]

That's another thing I like about Poch , he is pretty pragmatic when it comes to selections. He sees no price tags, reputations etc, and anyone with egos that can't be checked are sent on their way.

Players will buy-in as long as Poch demonstrates consistency,fairness and inclusiveness to the whole group. (something mourinho is failing miserably at at the mo).

As long as his ideas on the pitch look to be working, the group start to bond and it all starts to move in the right direction. Loving (or even just respecting) the manager is massive, especially when you're still a second tier club.

Ps. It's so good not to have Ade around.

Particularly agree with last sentence! No Ade around is like being able to breathe fresh air again with no bad juju.

 

[Gazza]

Dembele should be a beast and i think his ability raises his expectations ... sadly will never be able to deliver consistently hence not playing for the elite teams

 

[parklane1]

Dembele should be a beast and i think his ability raises his expectations ... sadly will never be able to deliver consistently hence not playing for the elite teams

My thoughts as well, he has talent but more often then not he fails to deliver. I still think he will be gone by the time next season comes along.

 

[Gazzasrightboot]

Dembele should be a beast and i think his ability raises his expectations ... sadly will never be able to deliver consistently hence not playing for the elite teams

If we are criticising him because he could be better, then fine. But the level he is playing at currently is more than good enough for our team/squad. The fact that he can do better makes it an even easier decision to retain him. It's when his performances do not warrant a space in our team that I would say get rid, but he offers something that not a lot of our players give which is retention of the ball in the toughest of situations.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I don't think that he is a perfect fit but he is not an impediment to our play which I think he can be when played deeper.

Played further forwards he is certainly a good option if we need to hold the ball up the pitch and is another option if we need to get through a tight defence.

The key with that is where he holds it as you say

Him holding the ball up on the half way line gains us very little

Dembele holding it up in and around the opposition area puts pressure on the and forces them to think and possibly make mistakes

It doesn't work well against well organised negative sides as they simply don't change but better sides and arguably more naive ones will step out to take him on and he can take two players out with one move and release which is actually what he has been doing of late

 

[milo]

The key with that is where he holds it as you say

Him holding the ball up on the half way line gains us very little

Dembele holding it up in and around the opposition area puts pressure on the and forces them to think and possibly make mistakes

It doesn't work well against well organised negative sides as they simply don't change but better sides and arguably more naive ones will step out to take him on and he can take two players out with one move and release which is actually what he has been doing of late

I don't think that he is very good at releasing the ball quickly wherever he plays and that can hinder our attacking play. That said, I think that he is a useful squad player and provides cover for a couple of positions which is really handy.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I don't think that he is very good at releasing the ball quickly wherever he plays and that can hinder our attacking play. That said, I think that he is a useful squad player and provides cover for a couple of positions which is really handy.

He doesn't release it quickly but what he does do is suck in a couple of players so that when he does release it we have an advantage. It's something that when I see him and Eriksen play together Eriksen looks for as it means he has less players to deal with

 

[milo]

I'm going to bow out of this conversation for the moment. It's getting cyclical and I doubt that anyone is going to change their mind.

As with all Spurs players, I hope that he plays a blinder every time he pulls on the shirt. I trust Poch to pick a team based on merit, so if he retains his place in the coming weeks, it is good news for us.

 

[Maltese Falcon]

He doesn't release it quickly but what he does do is suck in a couple of players so that when he does release it we have an advantage. It's something that when I see him and Eriksen play together Eriksen looks for as it means he has less players to deal with

I would go along with that but to be honest it is very rare for Dembele to suck in two opponents and then play a pass to an unmarked offensive colleague. More of then not he will pirouette around himself and pass back to some ten yards behind him, killing all the momentum of a counter attack

The only place I see for him is in the holding duo where his ability on the ball means that a high press by the opponent will be relatively ineffective and where he does not have a regular option to pass back.

 

[braineclipse]

He doesn't release it quickly but what he does do is suck in a couple of players so that when he does release it we have an advantage. It's something that when I see him and Eriksen play together Eriksen looks for as it means he has less players to deal with

I really don't see that happening very often at all. In theory it might sound good, but in practice he very rarely makes good purposeful passes to contribute to our attacking play I feel.

Even if he sucks in two players (instead of the ususal 1), him taking 6-7 touches means that the other 8 outfield players for the opponents have all the time in the world to find their positions and get organized. So often Dembele manages to keep the ball and finds a team mate, but a lot of the time we would have been better off with him moving it on quickly with a one or two touch involvement. Or perhaps even with him moving somewhere else to open up space. Sometimes it looks like he's almost looking for situations to received the ball under pressure rather than find space. Bentaleb (on form) with his movement, first touch to find space and quicker passing seems a much better player to me.

Again, in theory, his ability seems better suited to playing further forward. A back 4 is much more unsettled with two players being sucked in. But again, in practice both for us and for Fulham his contributions when played further forward have been way too limited.

He's a good option for some games. Wouldn't mind him starting against Arsenal for example. His pace and athleticism does make him a decent counter attacking player and in games where we have to defend a lot he can be awesome. Not sure about him in games against "smaller teams" though.

 

[SteveAWOL]

https://twitter.com/x/status/661272785784844288

 

[stinkfoot]

It must be great playing with Dembele. Even if he's got a couple of players on him you know you're pretty safe passing it to him anyway.

 

[GrimsbyYid]

Where's gutter boy?

Dembele. Showing again. He's by far one of our better players.

 

[Gazza Dazzla]

Completely lost control of the game when Dembele went off. When will people realise what he brings to us?

 

[Robbo]

It must be great playing with Dembele. Even if he's got a couple of players on him you know you're pretty safe passing it to him anyway.

Of all the Spurs players today, Dembele is the one I'd least like to face in a game of football.

Everyone would probably run in circles around me, but he'd flatten me in the process, that big beast of a Moose-man.

 

[mjc23]

I love Dembele. Looks like one of those kids that play in the wrong age group. So strong on the ball.

 

[NorwegianSpursFan]

Clark was holding on to him with both hands and trying desperatly to pull him down, but Dembele had none of it and just powered straight through. Very impressive.

 

[braineclipse]

Completely lost control of the game when Dembele went off. When will people realise what he brings to us?

Lost control because of the goal. Just like we've lost control in the past with Dembele on the pitch. And like we've kept control with and without him on the pitch in the past.

From what I remember Villa created one chance, the well placed long range effort that either hit the post or perhaps Lloris just got a touch. The rest of what they created was our making from errors from Dier, Mason and Lloris.

We also wrestled control back for the last 5-10 minutes after losing it. That's not something we've always managed in the past.

Clark was holding on to him with both hands and trying desperatly to pull him down, but Dembele had none of it and just powered straight through. Very impressive.

Extremely strong. And he does it against other strong players...

It continues to mystify me why he can't do stuff like that more frequently...

Poch has talked about "finding a role/position" for Dembele this season (can't remember the direct quote). If we could we would have an immense player on our hands. I'm just not holding my breath for it.

 

[Gazza Dazzla]

Sorry but the goal was conceded because we lost control, not vice versa, they hit the post a few minutes before! The goal was coming.

If moussa gets ripped apart for the times he's not the best player on the pitch then he should be equally praised for when his impact is as clear on a team/display as it was yesterday.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Sorry but the goal was conceded because we lost control, not vice versa, they hit the post a few minutes before! The goal was coming.

If moussa gets ripped apart for the times he's not the best player on the pitch then he should be equally praised for when his impact is as clear on a team/display as it was yesterday.

They hit the post with only there second shot of the game on target (if you class post as on target) so for me the goal wasn't coming it was a lucky deflection

But at least it was the shot in the arm we needed to kill the game off