Match Ratings Ratings vs Newcastle

[Bus-Conductor]

Yes, I agree Dembele’s level has dropped this season and he has played in some matches when not fit. Of course there have been some games over his Spurs career when his skill set have been more important than others , but I think you could say that about pretty much every player we have . I still hope we keep him for another season to come off the bench for those phases in matches that you mention. As we have seen there have been games when Kane has been totally ineffective and we looked better without him . The only 2 players we have who look “ irreplaceable “ right now are Eriksen and Vertonghen.

I’m sure you wouldn’t suggest Wanyama , even when 100 % fit , has skill sets vital every game. And I know you will always downplay how important the Dembele of the previous 2 seasons was to our success. Damning him with faint praise as they say.

But Dembele only played about 60% of last season. Our best ever season. I honestly think Wanyama was more pivotal to how we played. Not because he is a technically better footballer than Dembele, he's not, but because teams need a balance of skills, and we had lots of creative and productive players last season, and Wanyama brought what they needed to perform, and he did it every week, not just occasionally.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

Couple of items of housekeeping that slipped my mind:

1 That was a decent game from Lloris. First in ages.

2. @Gilzeanking must have been fuming with the ref for letting that challenge on Vertonghen go. Even I was fucking livid