Player Watch Player Watch: Dejan Kulusevski

BorjeSpurs · Feb 4, 2024

joey55 said:
Deki is good player, but as a fan base we need to start aiming higher.

fishhhandaricecake said:
The fact this got so many disagrees is an issue with our fanbase being scared to go to the next level and seriously challenge for the title.

It got so many disagrees because it is tiresome when someone starts their argument with 'we need to do better as a fanbase' to enhance their own opinion, which you echoed in your post.

This then continued with statements such as 'Deki is a squad player at best' and 'Deki is a new Lamela' etc.

On top of this type of argumentation, our most expensive signing this season has been in the main position that Kulu plays in, which means that a new statement signing at RW is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

jurgen · Feb 4, 2024

Guntz said:
IMO he was brought in as a rotational player that could cover all the forward positions.

But yeah, he should have been that player considering the amount of money we spent.

Guaranteed instant improvement in a position like that is gonna cost more than we paid for Johnson nowadays

fishhhandaricecake · Feb 4, 2024

BorjeSpurs said:
It got so many disagrees because it is tiresome when someone starts their argument with 'we need to do better as a fanbase' to enhance their own opinion, which you echoed in your post.

This then continued with statements such as 'Deki is a squad player at best' and 'Deki is a new Lamela' etc.

On top of this type of argumentation, our most expensive signing this season has been in the main position that Kulu plays in, which means that a new statement signing at RW is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

To be fair to the poster his full comment re. Lamela comparison was “Instead we still talk about Lamela so fondly (i love Lamela.) Deki is a new Lamela. He's got plenty of talent, he works so hard, he's really likable, but he is never going totally shit the opposition up because they are terrified of his pace and finishing.”

The doing better as a fan base comment does have some merit, I genuinely do think some spurs fans are scared to reach for the stars and dream of PL titles etc and I don’t blame a lot of them after years of being let down, heck unless you’re 40yrs old + you won’t have even ever seen Spurs win a major trophy in your lifetime.

Picking just the “Deki is a new Lamela” loses the context of what the poster was trying to get across.

The bottom part of your post I agree with, it’s unlikely we will sign a new top class RW this summer as we just spent £47.5mil on Johnson.

But in an ideal world we do need one more top top goalscoring attacking player as Son & Richy can’t do it on their own most weeks and if we are in CL & PL we’ll need more firepower than just that.

Whazam · Feb 4, 2024

Why are we so narrow-minded in the way we judge him, and wingers in general?

I've been banging this drum before, but a winger doesn't always have to be all about pace and trickery.

Yesterday was a very good example of that. When Deki came on for Brennan it was the first time since our opening goal we started to grab hold of the game again. (Then we gave it away shortly after that with all the substitutions, and Deki messed up big time with the free kick.) Deki offers so much off the ball and also in helping us control games.

I agree he should be more of a goal threat, and I think he will be with time, but it's not the end of the world that he currently isn't. Why? Because we are still scoring a lot o goals. And Deki is creating a lot of chances (he's one of the best in the league in this metric), and he is constantly moving us up the pitch.

He's almost like a playmaker, but from the wing. When we have Maddison, Son/Timo/Brennan, and Richy on the pitch at the same time, Deki's attributes are essential to add balance to our team.

mil1lion · Feb 4, 2024

Whazam said:
Why are we so narrow-minded in the way we judge him, and wingers in general?

I've been banging this drum before, but a winger doesn't always have to be all about pace and trickery.

Yesterday was a very good example of that. When Deki came on for Brennan it was the first time since our opening goal we started to grab hold of the game again. (Then we gave it away shortly after that with all the substitutions, and Deki messed up big time with the free kick.) Deki offers so much off the ball and also in helping us control games.

I agree he should be more of a goal threat, and I think he will be with time, but it's not the end of the world that he currently isn't. Why? Because we are still scoring a lot o goals. And Deki is creating a lot of chances (he's one of the best in the league in this metric), and he is constantly moving us up the pitch.

He's almost like a playmaker, but from the wing. When we have Maddison, Son/Timo/Brennan, and Richy on the pitch at the same time, Deki's attributes are essential to add balance to our team.

Sorry I have to disagree there. We were in control for much of the 2nd half. Far better than the first where we got 2 goals with little offensive play. We were much further up the pitch but we just didn't create much in the final third. When Kulusevski came on we were still in control and he had some good moments in attack but then Everton finished the game stronger. It was only when we were pegged back to defend he struggled and then the free kick he gave away was a silly one.

djhotspur · Feb 4, 2024

mil1lion said:
Sorry I have to disagree there. We were in control for much of the 2nd half. Far better than the first where we got 2 goals with little offensive play. We were much further up the pitch but we just didn't create much in the final third. When Kulusevski came on we were still in control and he had some good moments in attack but then Everton finished the game stronger. It was only when we were pegged back to defend he struggled and then the free kick he gave away was a silly one.

Exactly this. We dominated, they had 2 long ball counters but bar that we controlled everything. We lost control later on after subs.

Whazam · Feb 4, 2024

mil1lion said:
Sorry I have to disagree there. We were in control for much of the 2nd half. Far better than the first where we got 2 goals with little offensive play. We were much further up the pitch but we just didn't create much in the final third. When Kulusevski came on we were still in control and he had some good moments in attack but then Everton finished the game stronger. It was only when we were pegged back to defend he struggled and then the free kick he gave away was a silly one.

I'm sure you are partly correct. We were definitely creating more in the second half, and not pinned back as much. But we were far from controlling the play the way we should be against Everton. Not until Sarr and Deki came on. When they did, Maddison raised his game a couple of levels as well, and him combining with them gave, in my opinion, actual control.

We also created our best chances in the half around this period (Maddison's shot and Deki putting Richy through).

Tyler24durden · Feb 4, 2024

Guntz said:
Always maintained that we can upgrade him.

Definitely needs some more competition.

Morgan Whittaker at Plymouth is a player I really like and worth Spurs scouting (I’m sure they will as they will monitor Devine and Phillips).

olise at CP is fantastic but would cost £50m.

Rosco1984 · Feb 5, 2024

mil1lion said:
Sorry I have to disagree there. We were in control for much of the 2nd half. Far better than the first where we got 2 goals with little offensive play. We were much further up the pitch but we just didn't create much in the final third. When Kulusevski came on we were still in control and he had some good moments in attack but then Everton finished the game stronger. It was only when we were pegged back to defend he struggled and then the free kick he gave away was a silly one.

Silly one is an understatement it was unprofessional and petulant and it cost his team 2 points totally unnecessarily.

easley91 · Feb 5, 2024

He's still only 23. Remember that.

Bluto Blutarsky · Feb 5, 2024

easley91 said:
He's still only 23. Remember that.

until he turns 24.

Tucker · Feb 5, 2024

easley91 said:
He's still only 23. Remember that.

He’s in a bad patch of form, but we all know his qualities when he’s on it. A functioning midfield will be a big help to him.

ultimateloner · Feb 6, 2024

fishhhandaricecake said:
In this Ange system would you play Kulu or peak Aaron Lennon RW?
For me it would be Lennon. Mabye not as strong or as good on the ball but his pace and delivery would cause oppo’s so many issues.

Imagine if in this Ange system he had Bale LW, Lennon RW and Kane up top, surely we’d win the league, we’d win about 6-2 every match!

Kulu is better than peak Lennon imo.
Lennon's game hardly improved/evolved over the years. His main and only asset was his pace. He wasn't consistently productive. He wasn't a goal threat. His technique, especially his first touch, wasn't good. He had decent work rate though.
By today's standards he would at best be an average PL AM. He would struggle to compare favourably in off-the-ball aspects.

Nick-TopSpursMan · Feb 6, 2024

ultimateloner said:
Kulu is better than peak Lennon imo.
Lennon's game hardly improved/evolved over the years. His main and only asset was his pace. He wasn't consistently productive. He wasn't a goal threat. His technique, especially his first touch, wasn't good. He had decent work rate though.
By today's standards he would at best be an average PL AM. He would struggle to compare favourably in off-the-ball aspects.

You can talk about Lennon's final delivery and ball striking being inconsistent but his first touch poor? You're having a laugh there! I spent years in awe watching him bring down high ball switches of play on a sixpence instantly. It was a regular feature at WHL and would have the crowd applauding. His first touch was absolutely outstanding and his technical ability in general was hugely underrated, much like the player himself.

God only knows how good he would have become if Ange had coached him from a young age. He was developed in an age where 2 striker formations were still a big thing and wingers played a bit deeper. If he was being developed by someone like Ange now he'd have been amazing with his attributes. Class player.

Tucker · Feb 6, 2024

Nick-TopSpursMan said:
God only knows how good he would have become if Ange had coached him from a young age. He was developed in an age where 2 striker formations were still a big thing and wingers played a bit deeper. If he was being developed by someone like Ange now he'd have been amazing with his attributes. Class player.

Ange is doing great here, but let’s not go over the top. It’s not like Lennon didn’t work with some good coaches during his time as a professional. Ange is great, but he’s only been here 6 months, we have no idea what affect he’s going to have on our young players yet.

Styopa · Feb 6, 2024

ultimateloner said:
He would struggle to compare favourably in off-the-ball aspects.

I think Lennon was actually good defensively and worked hard off the ball.

I wonder with Lennon whether part of it was playing a lot of football from a very young age and burning out? It happened with a quite a few players off his generation.

ultimateloner · Feb 6, 2024

Styopa said:
I think Lennon was actually good defensively and worked hard off the ball.

I wonder with Lennon whether part of it was playing a lot of football from a very young age and burning out? It happened with a quite a few players off his generation.

I think this is likely. Pace is an important attribute that is easy to spot.

I also think that due to this pace there was less need for him to work on other aspects of his offensive game. However when he eventually met his match pace-wise he had less tools to deploy.

GutBucket · Feb 6, 2024

Styopa said:
I think Lennon was actually good defensively and worked hard off the ball.

I wonder with Lennon whether part of it was playing a lot of football from a very young age and burning out? It happened with a quite a few players off his generation.

He was, one of the reasons why Corluka's lack of pace was never a problem. Obviously he was also great at positioning but Lennon was helping him out on defensive end. Kulusevski is special in that department but Lennon was pretty good too.

Wig · Feb 6, 2024

fishhhandaricecake said:
A good comparison is D.Jota from Liverpool, he has 8 goals 2 assists (3 more goals) in 6 games and many minutes less than Kulu in the PL this season.

Jota isn’t even at Salah,Son,Mane,Saka etc levels of wide player but he’s closer to the level we should be aspiring to than settling on Kulu, imo.

That being said Jota is 27 whereas Kulu & Johnson are 23&22 so plenty of time for improvement, I just fear with Kulu that his lack of pace will hold him back a bit from becoming world class like we have in Son on the other side.

Let’s see.

Speaking to a Liverpool supporting mate, he says that Jota overall is an awful player, he appears to do nothing all game, however this efficiency in front of goal is unbelievable.

Kulusevski is such a different player to Jota, he just doesn't seem to have that striking instinct to hit it early. Jota also plays more as a centre forward from what I've seen so he's closer to goal. I just hope Deki can rediscover his mojo and back himself to shoot more and earlier.

Viking78 · Feb 6, 2024

Nick-TopSpursMan said:
You can talk about Lennon's final delivery and ball striking being inconsistent but his first touch poor? You're having a laugh there! I spent years in awe watching him bring down high ball switches of play on a sixpence instantly. It was a regular feature at WHL and would have the crowd applauding. His first touch was absolutely outstanding and his technical ability in general was hugely underrated, much like the player himself.

God only knows how good he would have become if Ange had coached him from a young age. He was developed in an age where 2 striker formations were still a big thing and wingers played a bit deeper. If he was being developed by someone like Ange now he'd have been amazing with his attributes. Class player.

I agree, his first touch was phenomenal

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