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Mousa Dembele

Bedfordspurs said:
It's no coincidence that we have lost one league game with Moussa starting and that was United

He brings so much to the way we play and no surprises to say we have no one like him. As well as Tom Carroll has payed he was no replacement for the mighty Moussa. For me it has to be Mason if he is up to speed or ideally Alli (although we need to be prepared for a couple of yellows in both derbies)
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Remember the first Arsenal game this season... Alli starting deep alongside Dier as he had just about every game up until then, Dembele starting behind Kane. We were way too open early on, Pochettino switched Alli and Dembele and we were a lot more solid. From there on Alli has started every game (as far as I can remember) in the #10 position with Dembele in the deeper position.

For me Mason, Carroll or Bentaleb as the replacement for Dembele for the league games keeping Alli in his very productive #10 role would be the natural choice. Remember both Mason and Bentaleb have had very good games against good sides before, and alongside Dier they should be able to do a fine job.
 
Ade's folks are ok really said:
Bentaleb hasn't shown anywhere near enough composure or quality since returning to make me feel confident he's ready for a buggy like Arsenal or West Ham away.
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Based on this season Mason would be my preference.

But I also rate Bentaleb very highly and if he performs well against Fiorentina and/or Swansea he might be in contention for the two London derbies after that. Of course at this point we don't even know if he'll get game time in those games so it's a bit of a theoretical point.
 
Ade's folks are ok really said:
Bentaleb hasn't shown anywhere near enough composure or quality since returning to make me feel confident he's ready for a buggy like Arsenal or West Ham away.
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What a way to put down a relatively young player, eh...

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braineclipse said:
Based on this season Mason would be my preference.

But I also rate Bentaleb very highly and if he performs well against Fiorentina and/or Swansea he might be in contention for the two London derbies after that. Of course at this point we don't even know if he'll get game time in those games so it's a bit of a theoretical point.
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I also rate him highly and think there's a very decent player there, as shown in previous seasons. However, we're at a point where anyone that comes in needs to seriously hit the ground running. We can ill afford any errors or carry players whilst they get up to speed with first team football. Not with a Europa tie and crucial London Derbies ahead. So far, Bentaleb looks like a man trying too hard to impress again, playing risky passes that often go astray or faffing on the ball too much and giving possession away.

I can see Dier getting those extra yellows clearing up the mess caused by Nabil at this rate!
 
Ade's folks are ok really said:
I also rate him highly and think there's a very decent player there, as shown in previous seasons. However, we're at a point where anyone that comes in needs to seriously hit the ground running. We can ill afford any errors or carry players whilst they get up to speed with first team football. Not with a Europa tie and crucial London Derbies ahead. So far, Bentaleb looks like a man trying too hard to impress again, playing risky passes that often go astray or faffing on the ball too much and giving possession away.

I can see Dier getting those extra yellows clearing up the mess caused by Nabil at this rate!
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We afford errors in every game we play. If you're seriously arguing that Dier and Demele have not made errors you simply haven't been paying attention. I get that what I'm saying here is somewhat pedantic, but it sets an unreasonable high standard for those coming in.

Getting up to speed with first team football is what happens when players return from injury. It's what happens with a handful of scattered PL starts this season has to take someone's place because of an injury. This is football.

Luckily at least Pochettino has rotated a fair bit for cup games giving some of the players likely to come in a fighting chance to hit the ground running in the upcoming league games.
 
I hear you. And yes of course both of those have made errors.
I guess the crux of it for me is that I'd feel far happier if Bentaleb (or Mason for that matter) had to come in for a game against a Norwich or B'mouth, rather than Fiorentina or West Ham. Yes I know there's Swansea in the middle of that which isn't the toughest fixture either so that's a plus. But we already have Dier treading a fine line to not get booked, so alongside a Bentaleb who hasn't done anything of note in his cameo's as yet, i'm not as confident in our CM's as i'd like to be approaching this next fortnight or so.

But i do acknowledge your point about Poch's rotation. He's done it pretty well so far albeit with a relatively fully fit squad for the most part. It'll be interesting to see how we fair tonight without, for me, two of our most key players (along with Toby).
 
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