Dejan Kulusevski

[Raziel]

Sadly Kulusevski has gone right off form, to the extent that I've forgotten what he is meant to be good at. An attacking mid but not a playmaker, doesn't score, certainly doesn't tackle or track back. Does the current Deki do anything remotely good? With Madders out we need a creative spark, but unless Deki ups his game, he isn't going to provide it.....

He was run into the ground until his inevitable injury. He seems to be a rhythm player, struggles a little coming back from layoffs.

He's consistently on top of charts in the league re big chances created, tops charts in ground covered, has 12 goals, 13 assists across all comps this season, so not sure I agree with your don't know what he does viewpoint.

We need him now, we need him to turn up like he does against sides like City.

 

[Bullet]

IIRC, at some point of the season Deki would be the one to hold the ball up and fight off 2 players and lay it through for others, thus being indispensable. Whereas Son would NEVER fight for a ball. He also popped up with clutch goals against MNC and would run further than anyone else.
Conversely, at some point of the season Deki was poor when played wide right, as he just trundled along, cut back inside and fluffed a shot or cross when we wanted someone to go down the line.

With Madders injured and a need for us to be solid in Norway, I assume he will be told to play 10 but get stuck in and fight, along with Richie/Solanke fighting.

 

[Grays_1890]

Still a very good player....season disrupted but when on it still very important to us.

 

[Raziel]

IIRC, at some point of the season Deki would be the one to hold the ball up and fight off 2 players and lay it through for others, thus being indispensable. Whereas Son would NEVER fight for a ball. He also popped up with clutch goals against MNC and would run further than anyone else.
Conversely, at some point of the season Deki was poor when played wide right, as he just trundled along, cut back inside and fluffed a shot or cross when we wanted someone to go down the line.

With Madders injured and a need for us to be solid in Norway, I assume he will be told to play 10 but get stuck in and fight, along with Richie/Solanke fighting.

They (Bodo) really didn't seem to handle the physicality well, so agree.

 

[Muttley]

IIRC, at some point of the season Deki would be the one to hold the ball up and fight off 2 players and lay it through for others, thus being indispensable. Whereas Son would NEVER fight for a ball. He also popped up with clutch goals against MNC and would run further than anyone else.
Conversely, at some point of the season Deki was poor when played wide right, as he just trundled along, cut back inside and fluffed a shot or cross when we wanted someone to go down the line.

With Madders injured and a need for us to be solid in Norway, I assume he will be told to play 10 but get stuck in and fight, along with Richie/Solanke fighting.

That's all very logical, but is Deki OK at the moment? Was watching him this weekend and he seemed way off it. He only had 46 touches and managed just 17 passes. I was surprised how easy he was dispossessed. There was none of that strength on the ball and players bouncing off him. He just looked fragile to me.

 

[Bishop]

That's all very logical, but is Deki OK at the moment? Was watching him this weekend and he seemed way off it. He only had 46 touches and managed just 17 passes. I was surprised how easy he was dispossessed. There was none of that strength on the ball and players bouncing off him. He just looked fragile to me.

He might be recovered from his injury but he's playing like someone who is unfit. It often does take some time and minutes to get the rhythm in your legs.

 

[El Dante]

Which Premier League Players Walk, Run and Sprint the Most, Least, Fastest and Slowest? | Opta Analyst

We delve into Opta's well of tracking data to look at the Premier League players who stand out in 2024-25 for their physical output.

theanalyst.com

View attachment 19284

Is it just me who is starting to look at this stat as a complete mixed blessing. You could have a player run up and down the line all match along, contribute nothing to the team’s performance and they would be the player that ran the most. What’s important isn’t how far players run, it’s what they do with their running. It’s like a secondary stat.
Also it needs to be managed well so as to make sure players don’t run themselves into the ground.

 

[parklane1]

Is it just me who is starting to look at this stat as a complete mixed blessing. You could have a player run up and down the line all match along, contribute nothing to the team’s performance and they would be the player that ran the most. What’s important isn’t how far players run, it’s what they do with their running. It’s like a secondary stat.
Also it needs to be managed well so as to make sure players don’t run themselves into the ground.

Agree, that is the problem with stats it help creates what ever those who churn these stats out want. And on a lot of ocassions are misleading some into believing they are important and meanfull.

 

[SteveAWOL]

Is it just me who is starting to look at this stat as a complete mixed blessing. You could have a player run up and down the line all match along, contribute nothing to the team’s performance and they would be the player that ran the most. What’s important isn’t how far players run, it’s what they do with their running. It’s like a secondary stat.
Also it needs to be managed well so as to make sure players don’t run themselves into the ground.

True but Kulusevski leads the team for chances created too, just like Eriksen used to do that double for us back in his pomp, plus progressive carries and has also won possession in final 3rd more than anyone in squad. No wonder he’s knackered out, as he was carrying our injury ravaged team for months.

How can Spurs create without the unique skills of Dejan Kulusevski?

Spurs don't have a like-for-like replacement for the Swede, so who can shoulder the creative burden in the crucial decider against AZ?

www.nytimes.com

Hopefully he’ll be able to share that workload with Bergvall next season and we’ll have further qaulity reinforcements to ensure our super Swedes aren’t run into the ground again.

 

[thfcsteff]

That's all very logical, but is Deki OK at the moment? Was watching him this weekend and he seemed way off it. He only had 46 touches and managed just 17 passes. I was surprised how easy he was dispossessed. There was none of that strength on the ball and players bouncing off him. He just looked fragile to me.

He kept going for so long it's almost like the injury has allowed that deeper fatigue to settle in and come out!!!! I don't think he will hit mid-season form again but he will be very important.