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Mousa Dembele

Gutter Boy said:
The best way to mark someone like him is actually just to stand off and let him beat himself. The old Wanchope trick
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Just let him do his customary pirouette on the edge of the area, safe in the knowledge that Dembele' very unlikely to shoot let alone score (3 league goals in 75 games for Spurs which makes Modric look prolific) and probably will lay it off backwards.

Like Lamela, he can be relied upon to put in a good shift but we could do with more than one league goal a season from the pair of them. Hopefully Poch can continue Dembele' recent improvement and turn him into the Yaya we all hoped he'd become.

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Jamie Carragher @Carra2312 hours ago
Spurs played their part in a great game tonight but, the performance of Dembele caught my eye what a player he could be if he added goals & assists to his game. He was like a man in a boys game at times charging through midfield rarely wasted a pass, a performance like that annoys me that he doesn't do it more often or add more end product to his game. Great game that's why they're are now going to cost 10 million plus!! #football
 
I can't think of another player who just slips by defenders and tackles like Dembele does, its head-scratchingly beautiful to watch when it happens.

If he would just do that 5-15yrds further up the pitch and use it to give himself an opening to shoot or play in that killer ball rather than just find another man to beat and another, or ending with a pass sideways/backwards he would be phenomenal. Is it entirely his fault or a lack of runners forward?

You would think if Dembele was doing that centrally and Erik was running at an angle towards goal we might see some of Eriks Roma type goals for us.

An incredibly gifted player, seems to have that slight nasty edge that Rose has too when necessary.
 
I think Pochettino now has Dembele in his best position and is starting to get the best out of him. He is important in that ACM role because the players know that they can pass to him no matter even if he isn't in space as the ball will stick and it will allow us to push our other attacking midfielders and our full backs up. He is also very effective at helping with our press.

Was definitely our best midfield player last night. My only real criticism of him is that he needs to just look to the right a bit more often as he has a natural inclination to want to move to the ball to our left side.
 
Gutter Boy said:
For me the obvious comparison is Stephane Dalmat
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The comparison works in the sense that Dalmat was clearly a supremely skillful player, but it doesn't work at all in the fact that he played only for himself and not the team and he also didn't bother himself with things like closing down an opponent or tackling, which meant that he was not liked at all by his team mates.

I think you need to stop letting your prior prejudice against Dembele cloud your judgement. It is OK to say that you had it wrong, or that the player has improved. Just because you've previously been quite vocal in the fact that Dembele should be the first player we sell, it doesn't mean you need to stick to your guns forever.

Watch how Dembele actually plays instead of how you think he has played before and therefore will do so again.

I found I had been doing a similar thing with Lamela and cound only see his negative aspects as a result. Because Lamela takes the wrong option or loses the ball so regularly I found that I was completely ignoring any postive play from him and deciding that he was a poor player and not worth a place in the team.

I think you are capable of changing your mind on a player eventually - after all you realised that Capoue was rubbish in the end after singing his praises for a long while even when clear his contribution was consisentently turd. Try it in the next game, look at what Dembele brings to our game in a positive light instead of a negative one - you may be surprised.
 
The biggest problem Dembele has is that he hasn't got a right foot so is always trying to get it back on to his left.

It amazes me the number of professional footballers who are so one footed.
 
Poker Boy said:
The biggest problem Dembele has is that he hasn't got a right foot so is always trying to get it back on to his left.

It amazes me the number of professional footballers who are so one footed.
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Its usually left footers who look incredibly one footed
 
No the biggest problem with Dembele is you can actually see the gears moving round in his head before he decides where he's going to pass the ball.
Nothing that couldn't be fixed on the training pitch with a remote control and a pair of electrodes.
 
Finney Is Back said:
The comparison works in the sense that Dalmat was clearly a supremely skillful player, but it doesn't work at all in the fact that he played only for himself and not the team and he also didn't bother himself with things like closing down an opponent or tackling, which meant that he was not liked at all by his team mates.

I think you need to stop letting your prior prejudice against Dembele cloud your judgement. It is OK to say that you had it wrong, or that the player has improved. Just because you've previously been quite vocal in the fact that Dembele should be the first player we sell, it doesn't mean you need to stick to your guns forever.

Watch how Dembele actually plays instead of how you think he has played before and therefore will do so again.

I found I had been doing a similar thing with Lamela and cound only see his negative aspects as a result. Because Lamela takes the wrong option or loses the ball so regularly I found that I was completely ignoring any postive play from him and deciding that he was a poor player and not worth a place in the team.

I think you are capable of changing your mind on a player eventually - after all you realised that Capoue was rubbish in the end after singing his praises for a long while even when clear his contribution was consisentently turd. Try it in the next game, look at what Dembele brings to our game in a positive light instead of a negative one - you may be surprised.
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If you check back a few pages, I actually said that I thought last night was Dembele's best ever game for us. I don't think he hindered our game at all.

I have two central criticisms of Dembele:
1) He's all style but no substance - he looks good but never actually produces anything. He's not effective. The complete opposite of Mason, who doesn't ever look good, but is actually the driving force of everything. People get swayed by the veneer and don't look at the outcome. The same as 85% of people didn't truly appreciate the importance of Carrick or Modric to the team until they'd left - they did the smart things, but not the showy things. I think so many people's perception of Dembele is still highly influenced by that Man U youtube video. IMO the issue is simple lack of intelligence/vision - it's like having a sports car with an enormous engine, but no steering wheel
2) His ponderous/non-existent transitioning made us 'turgid'. He was the root of all that. He needs to learn to move the ball quickly and vertically.

Until he addresses those, I'll continue to see him as a liability, rather than an asset. I can be proved wrong - notice how I've completely about-turned on Rose this season. But I suspect like Defoe and Parker, he'll just be another player I'll remain completely intolerant of.
 
Steviejman said:
I Think Dembele is getting better with every game, it's now time for him to shoot more often.
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I heard a journalist talking about this recently and he said that Dembele's reluctance to shoot develops from how he learnt to play football. He played on an estate that had a basketball court but no football pitch. Teams had to dribble the ball underneath the net instead of shooting.

No excuse for not shooting now, but interesting if true.

I think he is playing his best for us recently, but he does need to add a degree of speed to his play, he can become predictable.
 
clownfoot said:
I heard a journalist talking about this recently and he said that Dembele's reluctance to shoot develops from how he learnt to play football. He played on an estate that had a basketball court but no football pitch. Teams had to dribble the ball underneath the net instead of shooting.

No excuse for not shooting now, but interesting if true.

I think he is playing his best for us recently, but he does need to add a degree of speed to his play, he can become predictable.
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That's pretty funny. I wonder if I'm fairly adept at keeping my shots low because I grew up playing on a field with a railway line behind the goal J
 
Talking about one footed players, was watching Barca put 5 past Bilbao at the weekend and Xavi went around the goalkeepers right, his own left when put through, all he had to do was slide it into an empty goal from the 6 yard box with his left foot. He couldn't and brought it back on his right and crossed with the outside of his right foot.. couldn't believe it at the time and not much was made of it.
 
clownfoot said:
I heard a journalist talking about this recently and he said that Dembele's reluctance to shoot develops from how he learnt to play football. He played on an estate that had a basketball court but no football pitch. Teams had to dribble the ball underneath the net instead of shooting.

No excuse for not shooting now, but interesting if true.

I think he is playing his best for us recently, but he does need to add a degree of speed to his play, he can become predictable.
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Here's the interview where Dembele states why he is so reluctant to shoot

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...Tottenhams-Mousa-Dembele-new-Luca-Modric.html
Mousa Dembele is explaining why he does not score many goals — just six in the Barclays Premier League since joining Fulham in August 2010.

The Tottenham midfielder takes his time and chooses his words carefully, exhibiting the same calm, unhurried manner and balance with which he plays.

It’s not a lack of confidence, he says, but a desire to score the right kind of goal; to ‘do it nice and beautiful’. Welcome to the relaxed, laid-back world of Planet Dembele, where time seems to tick at a different pace and style is everything.

‘I just like to play, to pass the ball and dribble,’ says the Belgium star. ‘When I was young I never shot. I always wanted to dribble the ball in the goal. I don’t want to shoot because I don’t like to, but it’s different now. You have more experience and you think more.

‘Is it about scoring the perfect goal? Yes, maybe. Before I always played on the street with two lampposts that were like a basketball pitch, and we could not shoot. You had to dribble and touch the ball on the posts to score. We never shoot the ball.

‘So maybe it’s because I always played on the street and I liked to do it nice and beautiful.’ He smiles, before saying ‘boom’ and mimicking a driving shot from distance.

‘I know now it’s important to shoot and have the combination,’ he adds, ‘not only to dribble but to shoot a lot as well. I try to do this more and more.

‘It’s true that I have to improve my hunger to score goals and I think in the last two years I have concentrated more on this. I don’t score a lot of goals but before I only thought about playing nice football. Now I try to be more important for the team by trying to score goals as well.’

This is just one of the reasons Dembele (below) believes we have not yet seen the best of him.
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He cannot name a footballing hero because he never used to watch his sport on television. Even now, he can usually suffer just 30 minutes at a time — and then it has to be a ‘top team’ featuring a player or team the midfielder knows well.

He prefers going to the theatre or to watch a musical in the West End. Jersey Boys is his favourite and he knows all the Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons songs because he has seen it three times. ‘I never watched football,’ says Dembele.

‘I could not watch a game for 10 minutes. But in the last three years I’ve started watching football more and more, and now I watch quite a lot. I find it more interesting. Before, I just wanted to play football. Now I can watch it.

‘I like to watch the top teams in different countries, like Spain or Bayern Munich in Germany. The rest I don’t watch. I have nothing to do with that.

‘I’m not a freak. I know guys who watch every game. I’m not like that. I need to know someone or have a bit of history.

‘Ninety minutes? Impossible. Maybe 30 minutes, then 10 minutes doing something else, then another 20 minutes. Ninety minutes is too long.’
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Hopefully Pochettino will be the coach who can finally persuade Demble that scoring goals is even more enjoyable than dribbling!
 
Superhudd said:
Talking about one footed players, was watching Barca put 5 past Bilbao at the weekend and Xavi went around the goalkeepers right, his own left when put through, all he had to do was slide it into an empty goal from the 6 yard box with his left foot. He couldn't and brought it back on his right and crossed with the outside of his right foot.. couldn't believe it at the time and not much was made of it.
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Did they score from it?
 
Since the turn of the year he has gone from a luxury ball carrier to an important cog in the machine

He is playing better and better and just needs to sort out what in reality are minor things

If eriksen, Kane and Chadli are scoring we don't necessarily need Dembele to score too.

What we need is him to manage possession in the oppositions half where he can do the most damage (like he has done of late). It's why we sank back last night when he went off IMO.

He is part of our current best spine of the team (and I was a big. Eriksen in at 10 man), which looks like Hugo, jan and one other in front, Mason and. Bentelab with Dembele then Kane. That's an incredibly technically capable spine and better than pretty much everyone in this league other than City/Chelsea. Again it's why I think Pochs subs crooked us because he changed the spine rather than the areas where Liverpool were weak like Moreno defensively
 
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