Why is Dembele being frozen out?

[NickHSpurs]

I'm baffled by Dembele's absense and can't believe he wasn't even in the squad today. I don't think he's injured as no mention of it in yesterday's team news?!

He had a bad half against West Ham and it seems like Poch hasn't forgiven him for it as he's been missing since despite hitting some of his best form before that.

Anyone got any light to shed on it?

 

[DEFchenkOE]

Would love to know also

 

[13VanDerBale13]

Is he fucking injured or not

 

[Francis Gibbs]

thought he was injured today - injured or not he is not just another average performer to throw in the mix tbh

 

[marvel]

Wasn't at the public training was he? Could be a recurrence of his injury

 

[DuDe]

Is he fucking injured or not

Indeed. This is the question ...

 

[TH1239]

http://www.espnfc.us/story/2366900/...ansfer-exit-lack-of-starts-very-disappointing

Those were Dembele's quotes during the international break. He has no clue why he is being frozen out, either. He was on the bench last weekend, and Poch didn't even use him against Burnley. Does anyone really think he got injured somehow in the first three days of the week? That very well might be the case, but with no mention in the team news injury report provided by the club, I just have a hard time believing he wasn't just left out completely by choice today.

 

[DaSpurs]

I wonder if he's one of the players Trix alluded to that we've received interest in, and as he's clearly not in favor with Poch, he's just been dropped altogether to yield more time to players Poch plans on moving forward with. There's just no other explanation for why he had only one poor half and was just utterly ostracized. Going from starting every game for a stretch to absolutely nothing is just stunning, especially when you consider the names getting time and now even on the bench over him.

Dembele's quote is spot on the money, he definitely seems frustrated that all it took was that one match against West Ham and he entirely lost his place. Makes no sense in football terms, and can only mean Poch has frozen him out for future plans.

 

[eddiev14]

I am just as confused by this but, let's be honest, we always hail one player who isn't getting game-time as the solution to our problems when we're on a bad run.

Dembele just isn't ever going to consistently be the player we want him to be. When he is that player, it lasts 3-4 games and we're back to the incredibly frustrating version of him for the next 10.

We need solid players who can consistently put in an 8/10 performance and do the job the manager wants them to do, not players who occasionally wow us with a 10/10 performance but generally average at a 5 or 6 and just want to do their own thing on the pitch.

Sadly the latter is Dembele. He's not the Messiah, he's a very underwhelming boy!

 

[Paq]

Strikes me as we're looking to move him on in the summer, along with the usual suspects. Not playing him sends out the message that he isn't needed without actually alienating him like the others. Seems a strange decision considering others that make the squad in front of him.

 

[bat-chain]

Poch is wrong here, really wrong.

 

[tdk101]

Starting Paulinho ahead of Dembele at Burnley away. Enough said......

 

[worcestersauce]

Maybe he is not part of our future although surely neither is chiriches and he played today! I'm also confused by Vertonghen's absence, is he injured? I haven't seen anything about it but I hope that's all it is.

 

[NickHSpurs]

Maybe he is not part of our future although surely neither is chiriches and he played today! I'm also confused by Vertonghen's absence, is he injured? I haven't seen anything about it but I hope that's all it is.

Jan is out due to illness, at least his absense was explained in the team news, just radio silence on Moussa.

 

[TH1239]

What central midfielder are we exactly planning to sign that's better than Dembele, for us to be willing to just sell him off? He was one of the major reasons why we won against Chelsea, Arsenal, and Liverpool, so any idea that people complaining about his exclusion aren't justified is just wrong. He was arguably our most important player after Bale a few seasons ago, as we seemingly never won when he was hurt. Then, he was injured on and off last season, and this season he found great form and was dropped after one bad half.

 

[Mullers]

Maybe Poch just got tired of him not fulfilling his potential, it's not like Dembele doesn't know what to do to make himself a better player, he knows but he's just not doing it.

 

[Mr Pink]

Absolutely mind boggling.

 

[BK007]

Poch is a fraud.

 

[TH1239]

What are some people talking about in this thread. If Dembele had been abject all season, then the complaining wouldn't be as justified. Dembele was outstanding against Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, West Brom and Sheffield United away, had one bad half against West Ham (like everyone else), and the guy was just completely dropped since then. I don't even think he started in either Europa leg. That's just ludicrous management. Dembele has never struck me as anything but professional. Someone who trains hard and is well liked by all of his teammates.

 

[kitchen]

He's our best central midfielder excluding Eriksen who is a number 10 imo. Retains the ball better than all the others. Relieves pressure better than all the others. Better dribbler/carrier than all the others. Might not be the most creative but then neither are Mason and Bentaleb. Baffling why he's not getting in the team. Less baffling that our poor form has coincided with his exclusion.