Ex-Player Watch Player Watch: Mousa Dembele

[ebzrascal]

Dembele is a puzzle that I have yet to solve as an armchair scout. He has all the ability in the world, but still leaves me scratching my head as to where he fits in the team.

Is he a DM?

He lacks the defensive abilities to be a complete DM like Wanyama, but his ball carrying skills are perfectly suited for the role of the player that takes the ball off the back 2 or 3. A DM in the offensive sense is everything Dembele is: comfortable under pressure, a good passer at short lengths to link play, and has the ability to beat a press from deep. The defensive part is where he lacks and thus isn't a true DM. Vic has him beat in every defensive category and is thus the better option.

Is he a B2B Mid?

This may be his most natural position as he again can beat people and break the lines with the ball at his feet. He can receive the ball under pressure. He is an outlet players are confident in finding when looking for pass in the middle third. His defensive contribution is pretty decent in this area as he uses his burst and strength to win balls against other B2B mids that are attempting to start their attacks. But where he falls short, and drastically short is with his ability to release the ball quickly. The great B2B mids move the ball by passing and cutting the lines. Moose just can't do this. Our best option as of now is Winks.

Is he an AM/Front 3?

When Dele first got on the pitch there were a couple games where Dembele played up the field and for me that is where most of his strengths shine. He is an incredible presser and when unleashed up field he is able to win the ball back closer to the goal and use his dribbling ability to get into the box. He started out as a striker and continued to move further back as time went on. But for me he is a quicker thinker when he is forced to stay up the pitch and purely look at the goal verse 3/4's of the pitch. With less space in front of him, he is forced to make quicker decisions. Is he the best option we have up front? No, but I think this is where his strengths are most utilized.

That is my armchair analysis. I have been saying for years that he gets lost in the midfield and hampers our ability to move the ball quickly. This is just my take as I know this isn't the popular opinion on these boards. He is one hell of a talent, but I feel he is best suited up the pitch where his mental checklist is shortened.

@dontsalebale why spam this out of curiosity? Is it clickbait? Is it sensationalized? If you disagree click the disagree rating, but I don't see how this is Spamming the thread when it is an opinion.

I agree with you summary and am surprised he has not been tried in the AM position and actually think in some games he could be swapped with Eriksen who would gain more space from playing deeper.

 

[lol]

Dembele is a puzzle that I have yet to solve as an armchair scout. He has all the ability in the world, but still leaves me scratching my head as to where he fits in the team.

Is he a DM?

He lacks the defensive abilities to be a complete DM like Wanyama, but his ball carrying skills are perfectly suited for the role of the player that takes the ball off the back 2 or 3. A DM in the offensive sense is everything Dembele is: comfortable under pressure, a good passer at short lengths to link play, and has the ability to beat a press from deep. The defensive part is where he lacks and thus isn't a true DM. Vic has him beat in every defensive category and is thus the better option.

Is he a B2B Mid?

This may be his most natural position as he again can beat people and break the lines with the ball at his feet. He can receive the ball under pressure. He is an outlet players are confident in finding when looking for pass in the middle third. His defensive contribution is pretty decent in this area as he uses his burst and strength to win balls against other B2B mids that are attempting to start their attacks. But where he falls short, and drastically short is with his ability to release the ball quickly. The great B2B mids move the ball by passing and cutting the lines. Moose just can't do this. Our best option as of now is Winks.

Is he an AM/Front 3?

When Dele first got on the pitch there were a couple games where Dembele played up the field and for me that is where most of his strengths shine. He is an incredible presser and when unleashed up field he is able to win the ball back closer to the goal and use his dribbling ability to get into the box. He started out as a striker and continued to move further back as time went on. But for me he is a quicker thinker when he is forced to stay up the pitch and purely look at the goal verse 3/4's of the pitch. With less space in front of him, he is forced to make quicker decisions. Is he the best option we have up front? No, but I think this is where his strengths are most utilized.

That is my armchair analysis. I have been saying for years that he gets lost in the midfield and hampers our ability to move the ball quickly. This is just my take as I know this isn't the popular opinion on these boards. He is one hell of a talent, but I feel he is best suited up the pitch where his mental checklist is shortened.

@dontsalebale why spam this out of curiosity? Is it clickbait? Is it sensationalized? If you disagree click the disagree rating, but I don't see how this is Spamming the thread when it is an opinion.

Great post. The truth is he will never be a top class midfielder because he lacks the most crucial aspect in every cm role. He will always be a jack of all trades, a star in a mid table team but will never make it as a bonafide starter in a top team

 

[zoneD]

...love Dembele - he's a warrior, but his quality and consistency are flagging as he ages...his "move" of shielding the ball by turning his back to the opponent and throwing his arms out becomes a foul when his feet don't get him into position quickly enough...

...none of Dembele, Dier, Sissoko, or Wanyama provide enough offensive threat from our midfield, and IMO Winks just isn't a good enough option to work alongside a more defensive midfielder - especially against top 6 teams...Eriksen or Alli can drop back into a MF 3, but that leaves us weaker up front...we desperately need a complementary play-making MF who can create from deep...remember Modric?

COYS

 

[dagraham]

Not often you can glean anything interesting from a quote from the official site, but Dembele has said this :

“Obviously we have more players doing well so we are rotating more but, for me, if I play a few games I always feel better and this is the case now.

Now of course he could just be talking about general conditioning, but I'd always assumed with his injuries that we'd have to just bring him out in for the big games to see him still have an impact. Seems that maybe wrong and he's better for a run of consecutive games.

Good news as when he's on it he makes such a massive difference to our team.

 

[dontsalebale]

Great post. The truth is he will never be a top class midfielder because he lacks the most crucial aspect in every cm role. He will always be a jack of all trades, a star in a mid table team but will never make it as a bonafide starter in a top team

What absolute tosh.

 

[Typical Spurs]

Great post. The truth is he will never be a top class midfielder because he lacks the most crucial aspect in every cm role. He will always be a jack of all trades, a star in a mid table team but will never make it as a bonafide starter in a top team

Maybe other than man city, He would get in the first 11 of every other premier league side.
If we put him up for sale now said top teams other than city (though they might do) would bid for him

 

[Tucker]

Not often you can glean anything interesting from a quote from the official site, but Dembele has said this :

“Obviously we have more players doing well so we are rotating more but, for me, if I play a few games I always feel better and this is the case now.

Now of course he could just be talking about general conditioning, but I'd always assumed with his injuries that we'd have to just bring him out in for the big games to see him still have an impact. Seems that maybe wrong and he's better for a run of consecutive games.

Good news as when he's on it he makes such a massive difference to our team.

Wednesday was the best game I’ve seen Mousa have for a while, he was imperious. It’s a shame that his injuries keep interrupting his flow.

 

[Francis Gibbs]

Back to near his very best on Wed, love watching him in this form

 

[walworthyid]

Great post. The truth is he will never be a top class midfielder because he lacks the most crucial aspect in every cm role. He will always be a jack of all trades, a star in a mid table team but will never make it as a bonafide starter in a top team

What nonsense! Well we are a top team and he is a bona fide starter for us! On Wednesday he took £100 odd million worth of midfielders to skool! Out ran, out fought, out worked, outskilled pogba and matic! At times it was embarrassing just how much better mousa was.

 

[glospur]

Great post. The truth is he will never be a top class midfielder because he lacks the most crucial aspect in every cm role. He will always be a jack of all trades, a star in a mid table team but will never make it as a bonafide starter in a top team

That's strange considering he's been a 'bonafide starter' in a team that finished 3rd then 2nd two years running. That's the definition of a top team to me.

 

[lol]

What absolute tosh.

Maybe other than man city, He would get in the first 11 of every other premier league side.
If we put him up for sale now said top teams other than city (though they might do) would bid for him

What nonsense! Well we are a top team and he is a bona fide starter for us! On Wednesday he took £100 odd million worth of midfielders to skool! Out ran, out fought, out worked, outskilled pogba and matic! At times it was embarrassing just how much better mousa was.

That's strange considering he's been a 'bonafide starter' in a team that finished 3rd then 2nd two years running. That's the definition of a top team to me.

1. i think he would start for most if not all of epl teams, but thats because the level of cm in epl is low compared to other leagues
2. i think every team will definitely bid for him
3. we are not a top team yet.
4. yes he outplayed the 100m pogba, but pogba is not world class. he a good midfielder but not even close to prime yaya toure/modric for example
5. hes a starter but not a bonafide starter. hes not kane, alli, eriksen, toby, jan, lloris level. hes a good player, but its also because we are weak in the CM department. dier and wanyama takes up the defensive CM role so the only competitor for his role is winks. not a fair comparison. kinda like just because sissoko is a starter for us, doesnt mean hes of that level.


a top centre mid is modric, kante, gerrard etc

a top team is barca, real, bayern, etc. (not us yet)

i dont see how dembele would be a bonafide starter in those teams.

 

[fortworthspur]

is Paulinho a top class midfielder?

 

[Snarfalicious]

An in-form Dembele is simply one of the top 4/5 Midfielders in the league. He's amazing when on top of his game.

 

[lol]

is Paulinho a top class midfielder?

Spurs paulinho is terrible, but is it ours or his fault, we dont know. Barcelona paulinho > current dembele, but at the same time its the barca attack that makes the CM's life easier. So i would say paulinho is a good cm, probably slightly worse than dembele but is in a system that suits his style better because his role is more attack oriented. He's basically AM placed at the CM position . But no, not a top class midfielder, just like how rakitic isnt but starts for barca.


They are still damn good simply because of their firepower. Just like how manc is. Incredible fire power, average cm that suits the system, but not top class

 

[dontsalebale]

1. i think he would start for most if not all of epl teams, but thats because the level of cm in epl is low compared to other leagues
2. i think every team will definitely bid for him
3. we are not a top team yet.
4. yes he outplayed the 100m pogba, but pogba is not world class. he a good midfielder but not even close to prime yaya toure/modric for example
5. hes a starter but not a bonafide starter. hes not kane, alli, eriksen, toby, jan, lloris level. hes a good player, but its also because we are weak in the CM department. dier and wanyama takes up the defensive CM role so the only competitor for his role is winks. not a fair comparison. kinda like just because sissoko is a starter for us, doesnt mean hes of that level.


a top centre mid is modric, kante, gerrard etc

a top team is barca, real, bayern, etc. (not us yet)

i dont see how dembele would be a bonafide starter in those teams.

Just stop digging

 

[BringBack_leGin]

The only real issue with Dembele is keeping him out of the treatment room. When full fit he's a brilliant player. Yes, a bit more on the goals/ assists side would be nice but we have so many other options that it doesn't overly hinder us. Dembele would walk into Man Utd's, Liverpool's, Arsenal's and Chelsea's midfield.

 

[tiger666]

The only real issue with Dembele is keeping him out of the treatment room. When full fit he's a brilliant player. Yes, a bit more on the goals/ assists side would be nice but we have so many other options that it doesn't overly hinder us. Dembele would walk into Man Utd's, Liverpool's, Arsenal's and Chelsea's midfield.

A bit? He has 10 goals 11 assists in 222 games.

 

[lol]

Just stop digging

Hmm im honestly enjoying this discussion lol. Disagreement is a part of discussion and im totally cool with people negging and disagreeing with me.

Dont get me wrong i like dembele, i just dont think hes top class and i feel we need someone better to carry our attack from our half to theirs.

Hes good at dribblig but hes too slow to recognise the open play. He makes it look graceful so we fall in love with watching him glide past player, but hes slowing down our momentum at the same time.

The reason why manc attack is so incredible is because they play on the half turn. When they recieve the ball they can immediately shift it forward without needing the extra touch.

A pass always moves faster than a dribble. A top passer would flourish in dembele's role, making our attack far swifter and direct.

Dembele would be the perfect sub to come in after 70minutes, slowing down play while winning possessions in our midfield.

 

[onlyonekeano]

Great post. The truth is he will never be a top class midfielder because he lacks the most crucial aspect in every cm role. He will always be a jack of all trades, a star in a mid table team but will never make it as a bonafide starter in a top team

The current set of “mid-table teams” is Burnley, Leicester, Bournemouth, Everton, Watford and Brighton. Are you suggesting that this is Dembele’s level? Have you seen any of these teams play this season?

 

[dontsalebale]

Hmm im honestly enjoying this discussion lol. Disagreement is a part of discussion and im totally cool with people negging and disagreeing with me.

Dont get me wrong i like dembele, i just dont think hes top class and i feel we need someone better to carry our attack from our half to theirs.

Hes good at dribblig but hes too slow to recognise the open play. He makes it look graceful so we fall in love with watching him glide past player, but hes slowing down our momentum at the same time.

The reason why manc attack is so incredible is because they play on the half turn. When they recieve the ball they can immediately shift it forward without needing the extra touch.

A pass always moves faster than a dribble. A top passer would flourish in dembele's role, making our attack far swifter and direct.

Dembele would be the perfect sub to come in after 70minutes, slowing down play while winning possessions in our midfield.

I'm all for a healthy debate. The starting point is all important as to whether it possible to have a sensible one. You have started off with an extreme view that he is not a top class midfielder. That is simply not true as you acknowledged in your later posts. You need to accept that when old Dembers is on it he influences our play and makes us a better team.