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Mousa Dembele

how many bad days at the office are we going to have before it becomes unacceptable?

it was an average anderlect side, and we didn't even deserve to score that one!

Please elaborate: do you think Dembele should never play again? Or do you mean Poch should be fined?
 
It was what I expected to be honest. A cobbled together side who had good and bad moments. I'm just disappointed that we had to bring Harry on. He could have with sitting this one out.
 
how many bad days at the office are we going to have before it becomes unacceptable?

it was an average Anderlecht side, and we didn't even deserve to score that one!

With this young side, quite a few.
Are there any clubs not experiencing these bad performances this year. Every EPL teams seems to suffer one every now and then.
It is frustrating to watch I know. I can't think of anybody who played well yesterday even Hugo was nervy. But Dembele, Lamela and Eriksen particularly disappointed.

Anderlecht for me were very good after the first 15 minutes and played very well on the break.

"unacceptable" is a bit pompous and OTT - that smacks of my old geography master looking at my work many years ago.
 
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Dembele was back to what he has been for the last three years, plenty of talent but more often then not fails to deliver, as for playing him alongside Dier I hope I never see that again
 
With this young side, quite a few. Are there any clubs not experiencing these bad performances this year. Every EPL teams seems to suffer one every now and then.
It is frustrating to watch I know. I can't think of anybody who played well yesterday even Hugo was nervy. But Dembele, Lamela and Eriksen particularly disappointed.

Anderlecht for me were very good after the first 15 minutes and played very well on the break.

"unacceptable" is a bit pompous and OTT - that smacks of my old geography master looking at my work many years ago.

Pretty much sums it all up for me, the biggest problem with a team full of youngsters is that they are inconsistent and and it will happen.
 
With this young side, quite a few. Are there any clubs not experiencing these bad performances this year. Every EPL teams seems to suffer one every now and then.
It is frustrating to watch I know. I can't think of anybody who played well yesterday even Hugo was nervy. But Dembele, Lamela and Eriksen particularly disappointed.

Anderlecht for me were very good after the first 15 minutes and played very well on the break.

"unacceptable" is a bit pompous and OTT - that smacks of my old geography master looking at my work many years ago.

Anderlecht were not good, we let them into the game with a terrible bit of defending and then continued to make mistakes that led to them getting chances. Our defending was poor for both goals. However the main reason we lost was our inability to take chances......again!!
 
Anderlecht were not good, we let them into the game with a terrible bit of defending and then continued to make mistakes that led to them getting chances. Our defending was poor for both goals. However the main reason we lost was our inability to take chances......again!!

Our defending was certainly poor for first goals but the reason we lost for me was that we settled into too slow a rhythm of game and then could not raise our game when we needed to.

You see it time and time again and if you have played, you must know how difficult it is to raise the tempo when you find yourself on the back foot.

It was inexperience letting us down, we thought the game was won after ten minutes and sat back.
 
It was inexperience letting us down, we thought the game was won after ten minutes and sat back.
As a fan, I had the same feeling as what you suggest. After 10-12 minutes I felt we couldnt lose this. We were superior all over the park. But the mentality changed when they got their goal, and even though we created enough to win, they were running more and was a lot more dangerous on the break. Trippier had a lot of trouble with the no. 18 when he got onto the pitch, by the way.
Hopefully the team will learn from it. We should have had 3 points in the bag yesterday.
 
Please elaborate: do you think Dembele should never play again? Or do you mean Poch should be fined?

i think dembele is very skillful and should move on to another side where his strengths will be used appropriately and appreciated. we are
With this young side, quite a few. Are there any clubs not experiencing these bad performances this year. Every EPL teams seems to suffer one every now and then.
It is frustrating to watch I know. I can't think of anybody who played well yesterday even Hugo was nervy. But Dembele, Lamela and Eriksen particularly disappointed.

Anderlecht for me were very good after the first 15 minutes and played very well on the break.

"unacceptable" is a bit pompous and OTT - that smacks of my old geography master looking at my work many years ago.

much of this season has been frustrating to me. sure its a young side but poch has had at least half a season and a full pre season with many of them.

take out ali, son, and alderwereld and ask if poch has built a team on the rest that has improved both individual and team performance...if you think about the team from last season, again how many have improved or benefited from the extra time together with poch?

its just me i admit, i have higher hopes for poch and want to see steady progress, but at this stage of the new season i don't and i am getting slightly frustrated.
 
Dembele continues to be somewhat enigmatic and his story seems doomed to be one of unfulfilled potential. He is fantastic at some parts of the game, but his weaknesses seemingly make himextremely difficult to find a good role for in a team at this level at least.

Good squad player for sure. Capable of delivering without much match practice it seems, perhaps because his game is so heavily based on individual skill and physical strength rather than team play. A good fit for a smallish portion of games each season.

I must say I will be both impressed and surprised if he manages to overcome his weaknesses at this stage of his career and fulfill his potential. But as long as he's a Spurs player I will keep hoping... For me quite clearly not first choice unless he does.
 
i think dembele is very skillful and should move on to another side where his strengths will be used appropriately and appreciated. we are


much of this season has been frustrating to me. sure its a young side but poch has had at least half a season and a full pre season with many of them.

take out ali, son, and alderwereld and ask if poch has built a team on the rest that has improved both individual and team performance...if you think about the team from last season, again how many have improved or benefited from the extra time together with poch?

its just me i admit, i have higher hopes for poch and want to see steady progress, but at this stage of the new season i don't and i am getting slightly frustrated.

The big problem is the lack of goals. We have made many excuses but Kane has had a barren run and we have lost Son and we are struggling pure and simple. That is disappointing and frustrating.

I would think you and Pochtinho are of a simular mind.
 
What are Dembele's weaknesses?

1. Doesn't score enough. In his 387 career games he's scored 60 goals. The most at AZ (37 in 160 appearances). AZ is not the Prem etc, but it does indicate that he can put the ball in the net. With Fulham and us he's only scored 12 in 193. According to Wikipedia.

2. Dwells on the ball, doesn't pass forward as sharply as some.

3. In the past he's sometimes looked content to take a back seat, and never ran the game. But I don't think this one is fair on his performances so far this season.

He's also releasing the ball better and passing better. Baby steps, but he was very effective against Pool and one of our better players midweek (not saying much). What are Dembele's strengths?

1. Can you name a better shielder of the ball? Someone who can turn out of multiple challenges and literally leave opponents lying on the ground? Yes he needs more to his game but in tight games with lots of pressing (most games these days) holding the ball, turning players and passing forward, is so much better than passing backwards which often results in the keeper kicking. With Dembele playing there is less passing back to the keeper - would be interesting to see if there are any stats to back this up.

2. He can ghost past players. Its what he does with the ball once he's created the space however. Can he find an incisive pass, cross or get a shot away? This is a confidence thing and getting comfortable with his role in the team.

3. Defensively he is excellent. There's not much to say here. He makes tackles, doesn't miss runners, show intelligence.


I would like Poch to keep the faith and ask a lot of him. He's 28, and one of the senior players now. With confidence he can continue to deliver this season. Judge him on what he does now, not his past.
 
The issue with Dembele for me is that his passing is not incisive enough to be played deep in our system.

These are the passes that Dembele made against Liverpool

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If we compare it against Dier's passing against Swansea

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or Mason against Leicester you can see that he is a lot more conservative

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Have to see those chalk boards in context. Pool were all over us, not leaving any room. Not sure Dier's chalk board would have been better. Possibly worse with passes backwards as he's closed down. It's also a different shape with Dier playing deeper etc
 
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Have to see those chalk boards in context. Pool were all over us, not leaving any room. Not sure Dier's chalk board would have been better. Possibly worse with passes backwards as he's closed down. It's also a different shape with Dier etc

Absolutely but we don't have many other games to choose from when it comes to Demebele playing that position under Poch. He also brings some of that pressure on by not playing with his head up. He gets away with it because he is strong on the ball but it does have an impact on how we play.
 
Absolutely but we don't have many other games to choose from when it comes to Demebele playing that position under Poch. He also brings some of that pressure on by not playing with his head up. He gets away with it because he is strong on the ball but it does have an impact on how we play.

True. You really want him dribbling further up the pitch too. Turning the last man or back 4. It's too 'safe' in midfield. He can do it further forward. Tomorrow's game will be interesting. To see where and how he plays. I'd like to see him back on the wing.
 
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Well that was a short lived bandwagon ;)

Didn't see the game but my question would be where was Mousse playing? Most of the criticism seems to have been levelled at the full backs and wingers for lack of movement. If he was part of the two DMs even with Dier playing, then Poch needs to take some blame for his defensive orientated set up. This was the perfect time to play counter attack but with no attacking width on the break we would have been stymied.
 
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