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Mousa Dembele

Re: Official - Mousa Dembele

He is so good defensively. In fact that seems the best part of his game
He ridiculously strong and holds people off so easily. He's looking more positive when he beats a player when attacking as well now. He used to beat someone then almost stop and slow the play down but not in the last few games.
Has so much potential.
 
Re: Official - Mousa Dembele

He ridiculously strong and holds people off so easily. He's looking more positive when he beats a player when attacking as well now. He used to beat someone then almost stop and slow the play down but not in the last few games.
Has so much potential.

The two situations where he first came crashing into Rooney winning the ball off him and then muscled his way in front of him frustrating him to the point where Rooney angrily pulled him down for the yellow were great I thought.

Not his best game on the ball against United, but he did a great job defensively alongside Capoue and later Bentaleb. Along with Ade he looked very aware of the threat Carrick posed and was really quick to close him down when needed.

The moose is not really a fitting nickname as a moose isn't a predator and the way Dembele comes charging into situations he looks like a predator.
 
Re: Official - Mousa Dembele

Interesting, I actually thought the Stoke and United games represented in a microcosm what I find frustrating about Dembele - going from absolutely dominating a game to being pretty anonymous in the next.* And I think that's indicative of his worst trait - a lack of desire / ability to get on the ball when there's little space in midfield.

*Dembele attempted 30 passes in 90 minutes, whilst Capoue attempted 31 in 64 minutes (albeit most of them to the opposition!)
 
Re: Official - Mousa Dembele

Did anyone think that Capoue was given a man marking task on Rooney for a period? He thought he was following him around like a lap dog for one spell, even when he was way out of position. When Bentalab came on he seemed to sit in front of the back four far more than Capoue had been doing. On the other hand I might have imagined all that as I had heightened stress levels for most of that match ;)


I thought Dembele played too far forward for the last 20mins or so, but overall he had a reasonably effective game. The Capoue/Dembele partnership doesn't have the same synergy as Dembele/Paulinho or even Dembele/Sandro IMHO.
 
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Re: Official - Mousa Dembele

Interesting, I actually thought the Stoke and United games represented in a microcosm what I find frustrating about Dembele - going from absolutely dominating a game to being pretty anonymous in the next.* And I think that's indicative of his worst trait - a lack of desire / ability to get on the ball when there's little space in midfield.

*Dembele attempted 30 passes in 90 minutes, whilst Capoue attempted 31 in 64 minutes (albeit most of them to the opposition!)

Very few central midfielders consistently dominate games though, particularly against top teams, and even more so when part of a two man midfield like Dembele was for most of that game. Even Modric had anonymous games, I don't think it's fair to expect Dembele to be a Pirlo-esque playmaker as it's not really his game.

He only attempted 30 passes, but he made 4 tackles (same as Lennon, Welbeck and Vidic, no one had more), he made one interception and in general our midfielders kept Rooney fairly quiet and didn't allow Carrick the space to play. He stood up and was counted in a tough game, he did his job defensively really well and was alright on the ball.

He could do more on the ball and get involved in play a bit more, although that could be said about most of our team yesterday. It might have been a quiet game from him, but when those are his quiet games that to me is very positive as he's dependable, solid and a real presence in midfield.

Did anyone think that Capoue was given a man marking task on Rooney for a period? He thought he was following him around like a lap dog for one spell, even when he was way out of position. When Bentalab came on he seemed to sit in front of the back four far more than Capoue had been doing. On the other hand I might have imagined all that as I had heightened stress levels for most of that match ;)


I thought Dembele played too far forward for the last 20mins or so, but overall he had a reasonably effective game. The Capoue/Dembele partnership doesn't have the same synergy as Dembele/Paulinho or even Dembele/Sandro IMHO.

From what I could see after Chadli came on we went more with a 4-3-3 with Bentaleb sitting deeper than Dembele and Chadli who took turns getting forward. I think it worked alright.
 
Re: Official - Mousa Dembele

I've been so disappointed with Mousa this season.

Starting to think we overrated him a lot due to his uncanny midfield ability to glide past players with consummate ease. He's good defensively but even in that aspect his play has been below par for a while. So frustrating on the ball at times, the amount of giveaways he has committed in the last month or two has been so poor.

If he's been carrying an injury I guess that makes it slightly more understandable but I just think he doesn't offer enough in a two man midfield right now. A rest would do him no harm with our other options in the centre of the park.
 
Re: Official - Mousa Dembele

I've been so disappointed with Mousa this season.

Starting to think we overrated him a lot due to his uncanny midfield ability to glide past players with consummate ease. He's good defensively but even in that aspect his play has been below par for a while. So frustrating on the ball at times, the amount of giveaways he has committed in the last month or two has been so poor.

If he's been carrying an injury I guess that makes it slightly more understandable but I just think he doesn't offer enough in a two man midfield right now. A rest would do him no harm with our other options in the centre of the park.

Excellent post.
=D>
 
Re: Official - Mousa Dembele

I've been so disappointed with Mousa this season.

Starting to think we overrated him a lot due to his uncanny midfield ability to glide past players with consummate ease. He's good defensively but even in that aspect his play has been below par for a while. So frustrating on the ball at times, the amount of giveaways he has committed in the last month or two has been so poor.

If he's been carrying an injury I guess that makes it slightly more understandable but I just think he doesn't offer enough in a two man midfield right now. A rest would do him no harm with our other options in the centre of the park.

I would agree he seemed to have a rejuvanation under Timmy but today was more ****. Overall he flatters to deceive an awful lot doesn't he?
 
Re: Official - Mousa Dembele

Similar comments were made about Dembele after the Swansea game, in the Adebayor thread, and once again last night he played more like Jenas than Yaya, whom he seems to get compared with whenever he puts in one of his better performances.

Whilst he appears to have all the physical and technical attributes to be a world class box-to-box midfielder, Mousa rarely plays a great through ball and averages just 1 goal per season in the league which a poor return for someone with his talent.

SeasonStarts (sub)ShotsOn TargetGoalsAssists
2013/1417 (4)11411
2012/1326 (4)23613
2011/1233 (3)25812
2010/1122 (2)592223
 
Re: Official - Mousa Dembele

I've been so disappointed with Mousa this season.

Starting to think we overrated him a lot due to his uncanny midfield ability to glide past players with consummate ease. He's good defensively but even in that aspect his play has been below par for a while. So frustrating on the ball at times, the amount of giveaways he has committed in the last month or two has been so poor.

If he's been carrying an injury I guess that makes it slightly more understandable but I just think he doesn't offer enough in a two man midfield right now. A rest would do him no harm with our other options in the centre of the park.

Agree. If you don't watch closely then he looks good but in reality rarely creates chances or scores. On the basis of that, I don't see how he and Sandro can be paired together otherwise you have nothing from your CMs from an attacking perspective. Add in Capoue and we have three deep CMs (though different in type, in the same way that Carrick and Sandro are different) and I think that's one too many
 
Re: Official - Mousa Dembele

Agree. If you don't watch closely then he looks good but in reality rarely creates chances or scores. On the basis of that, I don't see how he and Sandro can be paired together otherwise you have nothing from your CMs from an attacking perspective. Add in Capoue and we have three deep CMs (though different in type, in the same way that Carrick and Sandro are different) and I think that's one too many


Have to say I am surprised by the negative comments towards Moussa. I thought he played well and was one of the main drivers in our improvement latter part of the 1st half. In fact I thought the game would turn when he was replaced with Capoue.
 
Re: Official - Mousa Dembele

Have to say I am surprised by the negative comments towards Moussa. I thought he played well and was one of the main drivers in our improvement latter part of the 1st half. In fact I thought the game would turn when he was replaced with Capoue.

+1 He is easily one of our best players. When Sandro is fit it should be Sandro/Dembele and Eriksen infront.
 
Re: Official - Mousa Dembele

he frustrates me because I think he is capable of so much more, there have been a couple of occasions now when he's picked the ball up relatively deep, beaten his man with ease and smashed it in from 25 yards, its looked so effortless that I wonder why he isn't doing it every game
 
Re: Official - Mousa Dembele

Sandro and Dembele was immense last year when they played together. I would love to see their partnership again.

------------Dembele--Sandro-------------
-----------------------------------------
Lamela/Lennon----Eriksen-------Townsend
-----------------------------------------
---------------Ade/Soldado--------------

Let's use the rest of this season to bed in Lamela, and get him up to speed and ready for the next season. Bentaleb is promising, but not good enough yet. In Dembele and Sandro we could have a great pairing for years to come so it's not like we're sacrificing youth for some old has beens!

Let the front four play together over time and let them get used to eachother.

Edit.

I believe this would get the best out of both Dembele and Eriksen. With Sandro shielding the back four it frees up Dembele a bit, and he can go on his "skipping past a coupple of players" runs, and instead of having to play the incisive pass himself he can just lay it of to Eriksen who then has space to operate in after Dembele ties up a player or two.

Sounds good in my head anyway...
 
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Re: Official - Mousa Dembele

I think Sandro and Dembele is a very solid base to build on. But the trio of Siggy, Lennon and Eriksen was so so bad yesterday. This for me remains our major weakness in terms of really competing with the top sides. Eriksen (and potentially Lamela) for me are the only players other top sides would consider in those positions out of all the options we have (Holtby, Lennon, Townsend, Siggy, Chadli)

Sorry that's going a bit OT.

But I always was a huge fan of Dembele and Sandro. It had the one thing this side has lacked through the season. A balance. They dovetail really well together.
 
Re: Official - Mousa Dembele

Don't think Mousa is carrying an injury, more like Yaya dragged his studs down the back of Mousa's achilles. As for last night: The guy showed us what he is, a midfielder that attacks well but doesn't have the defensive mind to operate as the midfield anchor. By this I mean that he does well with a DM who will coordinate the defence for him but not so well when he is expected to be the one coordinating. He is not the man for this job.

To fit him into the team we do need a more defensively aware player alongside him (Capoue or Sandro), certainly not Paulinho or Bentalab. We could argue this is a coaching issue, but I just feel that he lacks the defensive awareness to be the boss in that role. He is far more punishing when given the chance to attack.
 
Re: Official - Mousa Dembele

Even though I appreciate his defensive work, I would like to see how he develops playing in the position he did against Everton as the furthest of the three CMs. He showed glimpses of talent in that role, more than one occassion I saw him beat players near on in the penalty box and look threatening. Would be interested to see if given a run of games he could have more of an impact, be more direct and cause some real damage.....
 
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