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Ex-Player Watch Player Watch: Mousa Dembele

spursfan77

Well-Known Member
Aug 13, 2005
46,680
104,956
Just coming in to post that Jenas article as it’s the best one I’ve read on Dembele. It shows why he frustrates me so much. Since he’s joined us he’s only completed 90 minutes in 25% of the games he’s played for us. That’s seriously bad. He is such a good player on his day that it’s been allowed to go on. Once he’s retired it will be interesting to see if he speaks about his injuries. I’d love to know what the real problem has been in his career.
 

am_yisrael_chai

Well-Known Member
Feb 18, 2006
6,409
10,931
Just coming in to post that Jenas article as it’s the best one I’ve read on Dembele. It shows why he frustrates me so much. Since he’s joined us he’s only completed 90 minutes in 25% of the games he’s played for us. That’s seriously bad. He is such a good player on his day that it’s been allowed to go on. Once he’s retired it will be interesting to see if he speaks about his injuries. I’d love to know what the real problem has been in his career.
Sad that we’ve had 2 players - Ledley and Moose - who would have been acknowledged as world class but for injuries.
 

gavspur

Well-Known Member
Jun 24, 2004
5,255
8,686
Sad that we’ve had 2 players - Ledley and Moose - who would have been acknowledged as world class but for injuries.

That’s kind of a double edged blade though. If they had been fit and able to play all games, they maybe would have moved on to one of the BIG teams.. I’d like think Ledley wouldn’t have, but you have to remember that he played for us when we were generally pretty awful. Only the arrival of Santini saw the change for us getting better.
 

Lilbaz

Just call me Baz
Apr 1, 2005
41,363
74,893
That’s kind of a double edged blade though. If they had been fit and able to play all games, they maybe would have moved on to one of the BIG teams.. I’d like think Ledley wouldn’t have, but you have to remember that he played for us when we were generally pretty awful. Only the arrival of Santini saw the change for us getting better.

Yeah we were great under santini.
 

Lilbaz

Just call me Baz
Apr 1, 2005
41,363
74,893
This. No need for the sarcasm @Lilbaz Sanitini didnt last long enough to have any effect, but our fortunes changed and we started to move where we are now when he, Jol and Arsenen (spelling) came on board

We coceded more goals than in any premier league start and were shit under him no matter how short his reign was. Giving him any benefit for our improvement is unjustified.
 

Lemon

End World Debt
Jul 17, 2014
2,436
4,664
We coceded more goals than in any premier league start and were shit under him no matter how short his reign was. Giving him any benefit for our improvement is unjustified.

That the season Phil Ifil started and got MOTM against Liverpool (?), or did well anyway.

Then we parked the bus.

He crammed quite a lot into his 6 games!
 

Lilbaz

Just call me Baz
Apr 1, 2005
41,363
74,893
That the season Phil Ifil started and got MOTM against Liverpool (?), or did well anyway.

Then we parked the bus.

He crammed quite a lot into his 6 games!

Ifil ended up playing for kennington i think.
 

smallsnc

Well-Known Member
Mar 30, 2017
699
1,237
If Dembele does that better than anyone, and Kane is the best striker and TA is the best CB, and up until last year, according to everyone on here we had the best RB in the world, the best LB in the league, why didn't we win the league the last two seasons ?

Could it be that some of those statements are in fact a little bit exaggerated football fan bias ?
Or could it be that we had injuries to some of these "best" players while also dealing with European competitions while the winners both years had few injuries and no europe to deal with?
 

gavspur

Well-Known Member
Jun 24, 2004
5,255
8,686
We coceded more goals than in any premier league start and were shit under him no matter how short his reign was. Giving him any benefit for our improvement is unjustified.

You’re missing the point of what I said though. Never mind.
 

gavspur

Well-Known Member
Jun 24, 2004
5,255
8,686
If you'd have said when jol and arnesen joined i'd totaly agreed with you. Sorry as i said i don't want to give santini any credit.

In that pre season, Santini/Jol/Arnesen all joined. That was the beacon of light after years of crap. No matter who out of those three you mention, it was that moment in time.
 

Dharmabum

Well-Known Member
Aug 16, 2003
8,274
12,242
https://www.footballinsider247.com/souness-raves-tottenham-star-team-mates-believe-best/

Former Liverpool manager and current Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness has been left raving over the talents of Tottenham’s Mousa Dembele and says his team mates will think he is the best player at the club.

The Belgian midfielder has been a regular for Spurs this season, aside from a spell out of the side as a result, and has put in some top quality performances to help his side secure important results in some of their biggest games this season.

However, due to his role, Souness says that his more attack-minded team mates, such as Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen, steal the headlines, but insists that most of the Spurs squad would name the 30-year-old as the most talented star among them.

peaking on Sky Sports’ coverage of Tottenham’s clash against Crystal Palace (25/02, 11:30), he said: “The only thing missing in his game is he doesn’t score enough goals.

“He wrong-foots people, glides past people for fun, a wonderful talent.

“I know Harry (Kane) gets all the headlines and Eriksen is a little craftsman as well but there’s a real argument there.

“I think if you asked Tottenham players who’s the best player at the football club, I think maybe the majority might go for Dembele.”

This season has seen the 72-cap Belgium international turn out 28 times for Spurs, 20 of those appearances coming in the Premier League, but as Souness alluded, is yet to score a goal during the current campaign.

He has a total of 225 outings under his belt for the north Londoners, but that has seen him net just 10 times across all competitions.
 

Dharmabum

Well-Known Member
Aug 16, 2003
8,274
12,242
https://www.standard.co.uk/sport/fo...e-matuidi-the-pest-will-be-real-a3782436.html

Frank Lampard: Tottenham's Mousa Dembele is one of the best but Blaise Matuidi the pest will be real test

Tottenham are the favourites to progress past Juventus on Wednesday night and that has presented them with a different kind of challenge.

After securing such a good result in the away leg by getting a 2-2 draw, there is now expectation on their shoulders — and that can make things difficult.

They would be foolish to underestimate Juventus and I’m sure they won’t. It will be a very tough game and they have to approach it in the right way. When you’re holding on to a good result away from home, it can still be on a knife-edge.


There will be a period just like in the first match, where for 15-20 minutes, things will be going against them and Juventus will be on top. It is important the concentration levels and ability to organise themselves remains high at that point.


Nerves from the crowd can soon transfer on to the pitch. I played in lots of European games like that against teams not as good as Juventus.

If Spurs were to go a goal down, then all of a sudden it changes. Italian teams are very savvy and astute at pulling out results.


It should be pointed out that this time Spurs will be facing a Juventus side boosted by the recent return from injury of Paulo Dybala and Blaise Matuidi.

I rate Dybala very highly. I remember watching him impress on the way to the Champions League Final last year. Before that, I had wondered if he was a luxury player and whether he brought enough to the team.

But he has great quality on the ball, great awareness. He can create goals and score himself.

He is one of the top young players in European football and having him back is huge for Juventus.

When you have players like Dybala against you, they can score and change the tie in a second. There is an extra focus that knockout games in the Champions League demand from you because of that.

Meanwhile, Matuidi is a real pest in midfield. I liked him at Paris Saint Germain a lot and was surprised that they sold him, given they were a team on the rise.

He has great energy and gets all over the pitch. That will be crucial at a ground like Wembley. He can link the game and has a lot of attributes that were sorely missed by Juventus in the first game.


It will be great to see him battle it out with Mousa Dembele in the middle of the pitch.

I played against Dembele when he was at Fulham and in his early days at Tottenham. I wasn’t quite sure what kind of player he was back then.

He was playing in a more advanced role. He could beat you left and right but there was no massive end product to justify being so far up the pitch.

Now he has adapted his game to play deeper and still uses his ability to dribble past people. Not many midfielders can do that.

I always thought it was risky in that position, I liked the ball to move, but he’s different. He can commit and beat somebody, which opens up the whole game.

So he has something extra and he is also very strong in the tackle. He is a complete central midfielder.
 

guy

SC Supporter
May 31, 2007
4,507
6,182
Will he actually start for Belgium this week and in the world cup? Always baffled me how Wilmot and Martinez don't have Dembele as a mainstay in CM and Jan and Toby at CB. Mental really
 
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