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Mousa Dembele

There is that Poch quote that basically says Dembele is the one player he wished he had from a young age, and he puts Dembele in a list with Maradona in terms of his top 5 players worked/played with.

I have honestly never seen a player so hard to dispossess, the tweet above with Lions and the Hippo is fudging hilarious because that's exactly how it looks sometimes with Dembele.

As i say i am not knocking him at all ( but i still think with the ability he has he could/should do better) as for Maradona i am old enough to have seen him in the flesh and he was a amazing player, now Poch knows more then me and if he believes that Dembélé is/should be as good as him then maybe i am right about him not making the most of his talents/ability. Lets be honest if he was up there with Maradona i doubt he would have spent most of his here and at Fulham.
 
As i say i am not knocking him at all ( but i still think with the ability he has he could/should do better) as for Maradona i am old enough to have seen him in the flesh and he was a amazing player, now Poch knows more then me and if he believes that Dembélé is/should be as good as him then maybe i am right about him not making the most of his talents/ability. Lets be honest if he was up there with Maradona i doubt he would have spent most of his here and at Fulham.

We agree mate, he could/should have been more. That game where he singled handled took United apart playing for Fulham was a glimpse of that.

Hard part is it isn't an attitude thing, I think its more a role thing, he can play deep/forward, he can defend/attack, not sure Dembele knows what he wants to be.
 
We agree mate, he could/should have been more. That game where he singled handled took United apart playing for Fulham was a glimpse of that.

Hard part is it isn't an attitude thing, I think its more a role thing, he can play deep/forward, he can defend/attack, not sure Dembele knows what he wants to be.

Good points, as i said earlier if i was a coach working with him he would have me tearing my hair out.
 
Dembele for all his skill does not have that killer instinct around the box. When he used to play as a forward for Fulham he would beat people with ease then lay it off. Never shooting. I remember one league game for us where he was pulling our right back all over the place. But he never hurt us with end product. For all his silky movement and ease of beating people it usually gets him into space, any space. Not on Goal or into a good shooting position. Its like freestyle dribbling to retain the ball.

So Jol moved him back into midfield. Here he could be like Modric. A ball carrier. Someone who can retain position and then lay it off. Its been his best move. He can still have effective games up front like when Sherwood played him against Saudi Sportswashing Machine and we won 4-0 but they are sporadic. In Midfield he can boss a game. He should still get more goals, but its not the be all and end all of what he is doing for the team.

Dier has shown that as a Right back, Centre back, Defensive Mid he has more killer instinct in front of goal than Moussa. If he did have that he would be worth more than Bale went for. I love him as a player. He is amazing on the ball. But if he did not have that deficiency he would probably not be playing for us.
 
There is that Poch quote that basically says Dembele is the one player he wished he had from a young age, and he puts Dembele in a list with Maradona in terms of his top 5 players worked/played with.

I have honestly never seen a player so hard to dispossess,
the tweet above with Lions and the Hippo is fudging hilarious because that's exactly how it looks sometimes with Dembele.

It is amazing really. I have never seen a player retain possession as well.

The player I have seen with the best control is Zidane. When Zidane controlled the ball it wasn't just to get it under his spell, it was to put the ball in a place where the defender had no chance of getting it. He was reading the defender's mind. What a talent to continuously view yourself through the eyes of the opposition in order to gain an advantage. I see a bit of that in Dembele too. Henry was good at it too, the clam.
 
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It is amazing really. I have never seen a player retain possession as well.

The player I have seen with the best control is Zidane. When Zidane controlled the ball it wasn't just to get it under his spell, it was to put the ball in a place where the defender had no chance of getting it. He was reading the defender's mind. What a talent to continuously view yourself through the eyes of the opposition in order to gain an advantage. I see a bit of that in Dembele too. Henry was good at it too, the clam.

Berbs was the king of bringing a ball down under control imo.
 
Great - but unfortunately all too rare!
Indeed, such a great shot with his left peg. If only Dembele had been coached by someone of the calibre of Pochettino when he was in his teens or early 20s... or had that natural ruthless goal scorers instinct like Dele...
 
This is getting silly now!

If only wanyama could beat 3 players, if only Toby was 6 inches taller, if only Verts was as quick as King, if only eriksen could tackle like Keane, if only Son had an instant first touch, etc. etc.

So what Dembele doesn't score more, he's played defensive mid pretty much since he joined us. If he scored 10 a season from there he'd be in the Messi, Ronaldo category of player.

Can't we just enjoy the player we've got instead of damning him with feint praise all the time. "Dembele MOTM again 100% pass rate, 10 dribbles, interceptions, tackles, etc. but he should score more for a player of his ability"!
 
This is getting silly now!

If only wanyama could beat 3 players, if only Toby was 6 inches taller, if only Verts was as quick as King, if only eriksen could tackle like Keane, if only Son had an instant first touch, etc. etc.

So what Dembele doesn't score more, he's played defensive mid pretty much since he joined us. If he scored 10 a season from there he'd be in the Messi, Ronaldo category of player.

Can't we just enjoy the player we've got instead of damning him with feint praise all the time. "Dembele MOTM again 100% pass rate, 10 dribbles, interceptions, tackles, etc. but he should score more for a player of his ability"!
The thing is Dembele is able to beat 3 players, can tackle like Keane, is as fast as King, has a great first touch and a powerful shot...

Hence Pochettino recently being quoted as saying:

"I always say 'Mousa, in my book you will be one of my genius players that I have been lucky to meet'. One was Maradona, the others Ronaldinho, Okocha and De la Pena - he was a genius too - and Mousa Dembele.

"We always told him that if we had taken him at 18 or 19 years old, he would have become one of the best players in the world. I would have loved to have taken him on at 18."
 
The thing is Dembele is able to beat 3 players, can tackle like Keane, is as fast as King, has a great first touch and a powerful shot...

Hence Pochettino recently being quoted as saying:

"I always say 'Mousa, in my book you will be one of my genius players that I have been lucky to meet'. One was Maradona, the others Ronaldinho, Okocha and De la Pena - he was a genius too - and Mousa Dembele.

"We always told him that if we had taken him at 18 or 19 years old, he would have become one of the best players in the world. I would have loved to have taken him on at 18."

I don't think he's suggesting he'd get Dembele scoring 10 a year from defensive midfield is he?!
 
I don't think he's suggesting he'd get Dembele scoring 10 a year from defensive midfield is he?!

I suspect that Dembele would've continued in a more advanced role had Pochettino been given the chance to coach this prodigious 21 year old, who scored 10 goals (despite missing a couple of months of the season due to a knee injury) in just 23 league games...


"Mousa Dembele is completely different to two-and-a-half years ago when we arrived here. He didn't play too much in his first season, he always had problems, or physical problems. I must give all credit to these guys," Pochettino said, pointing to Perez. "Sports science and all the medical staff to create a Mousa Dembele now that is strong and can play."
 
I suspect that Dembele would've continued in a more advanced role had Pochettino been given the chance to coach this prodigious 21 year old, who scored 10 goals (despite missing a couple of months of the season due to a knee injury) in just 23 league games...


"Mousa Dembele is completely different to two-and-a-half years ago when we arrived here. He didn't play too much in his first season, he always had problems, or physical problems. I must give all credit to these guys," Pochettino said, pointing to Perez. "Sports science and all the medical staff to create a Mousa Dembele now that is strong and can play."

So you're saying play him further forward so he can get the goal return you think his talent warrants?

Who plays center mid alongside wanyama and who is dembele replacing further forward?

Im not sure I'm understanding the argument?
 
If Poch had to play Dembele further forward he could become a player that beats people and tucks the ball in the net. But he's not as good at shooting as Kane, or even Janssen. That's something Poch presumably would have taught him aged 18. Dembele also doesn't have Kane's mentality. Kane loves being the centre of attention. As he rose to fame, he only feed off it, and become better in the limelight. Dembele's not like that, he's shy, far more happy a bit under the radar - imo.

At the beginning of last season Poch was starting him on the wing before he got injured. He looked dangerous and had a new Poch installed determination. But we have a balance now with him playing centrally, we'd miss Dembele's screening and tackling, and it suits his character playing there.

No doubt we are lucky to have him, he's invaluable to us.
 
Odd that one of our key players goes off injured at half time and it barely gets a mention on here. He was limping through the final few minutes of the first half with what looked like a fairly bad knock. Best case scenario its a dead leg which improves in time for Sunday. Will be waiting for confirmation from Poch in the press conference tomorrow. In big games like the NLD he is essential.
 
Odd that one of our key players goes off injured at half time and it barely gets a mention on here. He was limping through the final few minutes of the first half with what looked like a fairly bad knock. Best case scenario its a dead leg which improves in time for Sunday. Will be waiting for confirmation from Poch in the press conference tomorrow. In big games like the NLD he is essential.
Massive for us vs Arsenal....
 
Had to search half way down page 3 to find the Mousa thread.

From Poch's press conference today, Mousa has been playing through pain with a foot injury (hence not being able to start the last run of games) and will be seeing a specialist at the end of the season.
 
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