Why is Dembele such a poor player?

by Gil Thu Apr 24, 2014 3:52 pm

One of the most ineffective players I've ever seen. Practically does nothing on the pitch apart from dribbling past players in his own half.

Great example of why technical ability is massively overrated.

by Mr Nick09 Thu Apr 24, 2014 3:54 pm

But but but he is better than modric Proud

by Gil Thu Apr 24, 2014 4:09 pm

Forget the Modric comparisons I'm waiting for his fanbase on here to explain in depth why he's so shit.

by Mr Nick09 Thu Apr 24, 2014 4:19 pm

There is no reason, he is just not good enough. He has fantastic technique, and he thrived on that alone in EPL, without ever doing it at a high level. There is so much space in between the lines in EPL that it's not surprising.

Whenever i have watched him, he looks like the guy who has no idea how to play in midfield, to this day i have no idea what his ideal position or role is. He can hold on to the ball but will hardly ever make dangerous passes because he is -2 in vision.

Basically the belgian Manuel Fernandes

by Motogp69 Thu Apr 24, 2014 4:20 pm

This is a joke right? I'm assuming since Gil started it that it is a joke or just plain trolling.

by chinomaster182 Thu Apr 24, 2014 4:51 pm

you trolling? He is one of Spurs best players

He can dribble, pass and tackle, the only player that i know that can kind of do all those things from midfield is Ricardo Montolivo.

He can play DM, CM, B2B, AM, and RW, who else is so versatile? He is a coaches wet dream.

You can say he maybe underperforming right now, but then again the whole Spurs team is underperforming.

http://www.whoscored.com/Players/12187

Good analysis of him:
http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/tacticsandanalysis/id/356?cc=5901

by Valkyrja Thu Apr 24, 2014 4:53 pm

chinomaster182 wrote:you trolling? He is one of Spurs best players

He can dribble, pass and tackle, the only player that i know that can kind of do all those things from midfield is Ricardo Montolivo.

He can play DM, CM, B2B, AM, and RW, who else is so versatile? He is a coaches wet dream.

You can say he maybe underperforming right now, but then again the whole Spurs team is underperforming.

http://www.whoscored.com/Players/12187

Good analysis of him:
http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/tacticsandanalysis/id/356?cc=5901

Angel Di Maria

by chinomaster182 Thu Apr 24, 2014 5:00 pm

Valkyrja wrote:
chinomaster182 wrote:you trolling? He is one of Spurs best players

He can dribble, pass and tackle, the only player that i know that can kind of do all those things from midfield is Ricardo Montolivo.

He can play DM, CM, B2B, AM, and RW, who else is so versatile? He is a coaches wet dream.

You can say he maybe underperforming right now, but then again the whole Spurs team is underperforming.

http://www.whoscored.com/Players/12187

Good analysis of him:
http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/tacticsandanalysis/id/356?cc=5901

Angel Di Maria

Midfielder? Plus Di Maria is not exactly fantastic defending

by Motogp69 Thu Apr 24, 2014 9:04 pm

chinomaster182 wrote:you trolling? He is one of Spurs best players

He can dribble, pass and tackle, the only player that i know that can kind of do all those things from midfield is Ricardo Montolivo.

He can play DM, CM, B2B, AM, and RW, who else is so versatile? He is a coaches wet dream.

You can say he maybe underperforming right now, but then again the whole Spurs team is underperforming.

http://www.whoscored.com/Players/12187

Good analysis of him:
http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/tacticsandanalysis/id/356?cc=5901

Why is Dembele such a poor player? Giphy

by I Have Mono Thu Apr 24, 2014 10:33 pm

Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal could all use him, he'd be an upgrade to Fletcher or whatever scrub they play next to carrick, Ramires because hes a better player and not prone to red cards, and he would definitely bench Arteta and Flamini.

He carries Spurs central midfield just like he carried fulham, where did they finish when they had him ? Where are they now lol.

by BarrileteCosmico Fri Apr 25, 2014 1:34 am

chinomaster182 wrote:you trolling? He is one of Spurs best players

He can dribble, pass and tackle, the only player that i know that can kind of do all those things from midfield is Ricardo Montolivo.

He can play DM, CM, B2B, AM, and RW, who else is so versatile? He is a coaches wet dream.

You can say he maybe underperforming right now, but then again the whole Spurs team is underperforming.

http://www.whoscored.com/Players/12187

Good analysis of him:
http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/tacticsandanalysis/id/356?cc=5901

Montolivo can tackle? scratch

by farfan Fri Apr 25, 2014 1:40 am

dat dembele-el hamdaoui link up in 2008-2009 AZ Razz

by chinomaster182 Fri Apr 25, 2014 1:58 am

BarrileteCosmico wrote:
chinomaster182 wrote:you trolling? He is one of Spurs best players

He can dribble, pass and tackle, the only player that i know that can kind of do all those things from midfield is Ricardo Montolivo.

He can play DM, CM, B2B, AM, and RW, who else is so versatile? He is a coaches wet dream.

You can say he maybe underperforming right now, but then again the whole Spurs team is underperforming.

http://www.whoscored.com/Players/12187

Good analysis of him:
http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/tacticsandanalysis/id/356?cc=5901
Montolivo can tackle?

Yes

http://www.espnfc.com/blog/_/name/tacticsandanalysis/id/458?cc=5901

http://www.whoscored.com/Players/9974/Show/Riccardo-Montolivo

farfan wrote:dat dembele-el hamdaoui link up in 2008-2009 AZ Razz

Van Gaal as coach, Moreno in defence, good times.

by BeautifulGame Fri Apr 25, 2014 2:53 am

Dembele isnt even good enough for Spurs and regularly benched but good enough for Arsenal and Chelsea Laughing

He is definitely one of the most ineffective players in the final third of the pitch.He often glides past players and then has absolutely no idea when he should release the ball.Often holds on to the ball way too long and loses it .

His distribution is pretty poor for a top quality CM as well .Huddlestone was a much better player for Spurs

Its as if people are fixated on his performance against United 2 years ago

by Motogp69 Fri Apr 25, 2014 3:41 am

BeautifulGame wrote:Dembele isnt even good enough for Spurs and regularly benched but good enough for Arsenal and Chelsea

He is definitely one of the most ineffective players in the final third of the pitch.He often glides past players and then has absolutely no idea when he should release the ball.Often holds on to the ball way too long and loses it .

His distribution is pretty poor for a top quality CM as well .Huddlestone was a much better player for Spurs

Its as if people are fixated on his performance against United 2 years ago

Now you are just trolling with reckless abandon.

Dembele was the best central midfielder in the EPL last season. The thing which has always hampered him, and continues to hurt his stock is that he too often picks up knocks which keep him out longer than they should (hence why someone who doesn't follow Spurs thinks that he was benched :facepalm:

). I know he has consistently had hip problems, which was part of the reason we brought in Paulinho, but I would take Dembele over Paulinho every single time if both were healthy and on form.

by BarrileteCosmico Fri Apr 25, 2014 3:56 am

chinomaster182 wrote:Yes

http://www.espnfc.com/blog/_/name/tacticsandanalysis/id/458?cc=5901

http://www.whoscored.com/Players/9974/Show/Riccardo-Montolivo

Whoscored also thinks Xabi has strong tackling skills, doesn't make it true.

by I Have Mono Fri Apr 25, 2014 4:07 am

Fulham were 8th and 9th with him in 2010-2011-2012
12 and 19th without him 2012-2013-2014
Who else did that fulham team lose ? Dempsey led the line and dembele ran the mid

He'd definitely take all of joe allen's and Lucas L minutes at liverpool. He doesnt get benched, hes just slighty injury prone.

He's belguims 3rd most important player as well behind Kompany and Hazard.

by RedOranje Fri Apr 25, 2014 4:28 am

Dembele would not have taken all of the minutes of Allen or Lucas for Liverpool. Not only do they tend to operate in deeper positions that Dembele's played in ages, but they also both bring very different skill sets that Rodgers has specifically called upon at certain times. Dembele may be more rounded or better in certain areas, but there's absolutely no reason to think or claim that Rodgers would not have called upon Lucas or Allen when he did because he did so to fill specific roles that are not what we've seen Dembele fill.

by CBarca Fri Apr 25, 2014 4:34 am

My opinion on Dembele has lowered as time has gone on. He's still a good player, he's just not as good as I once thought.

I do however still think that he was Spurs' best player for the first half of 2012-2013 and was one of the best Spurs player that season. When he wasn't injured, he was integral. That's because that team, missing Modric, couldn't bring the ball well enough out of the back, and Dembele did well to link the defense to the offense and transition because if there is one thing Dembele is good at, it's holding onto the ball and beating players on the dribble. This asset as well as his ability to be a physical presence and overall ability in both attack and defense made for a pretty strong duo with Sandro that had Spurs doing very well and going on their longest unbeaten streak before Sandro got injured (this is BEFORE Bale got red hot). He was pretty good, and he was praised for it. Him and Sandro did a fairly good job of controlling the midfield- and his ability as a player that can actually hold onto the ball, not lose it, and release it, and in some fashion dictate tempo in the midfield (Huddlestone, Scott Parker, Sandro are all not the best ball handlers) was integral to Spurs.

He has some great attributes- he's a physical presence and you won't knock him off the ball, he can win the ball back/tackle and he's a great dribbler. He doesn't actually have a bad shot but he doesn't use it, and his passing is decent. Any club from the bottom to about where Spurs are could use him. Arsenal, Chelsea? I personally don't think so.

Surprisingly you are correct when you say he does lack final product. He holds on to the ball far too long and fails to release at the appropriate times. He doesn't have very good vision nor the incisive passing to go with the vision. So...assists aren't his mainstay. Cliche as it might be- he's an assist to an assist guy. He can shoot- trust me, he can shoot. He chooses not to though (he has actually said this), so he doesn't score a whole lot either.

In addition to this, he's injury prone and has a recurring hip problem which I feel has hampered his game since he's come to Spurs. I feel this injury problem in addition to Spurs general offensive woes this season and having to adapt to different and new midfield partners all the time has progressively turned him into a worse player, or rather, he isn't playing up to his potential. He still has the same attributes and strengths, but he as well as whoever the hell he happens to partner with, no longer controls the game as well as he used to. You need to have this ability if you're not going to be a player who is putting in the end product.

Take that in consideration, and then you must acknowledge that part of it isn't his fault. Who are you going to assist from a CM position when the likes of Adebayor and Soldado are in the CF position, and out wide you have the likes of Townsend, Lennon, or (sigh) Eriksen? Lennon doesn't score many, Townsend doesn't either much as he thinks he can, and Eriksen isn't prolific either, though he has done well this season. Ade and Soldado both don't make runs off the ball you will find from a CM position to put them through on goal but strive off of crosses and balls coming into the box from wider positions.

Overall it's not easy being a CM in general in Sherwood's "system" (if you can call it that).

Overall, this season he hasn't been playing up to his potential, but at his best, he's easily a top 10 CM in the EPL, and closer to 5 than to 10. He's still a great player even now, he just isn't the force he was when he first came to Spurs. He's under performing in a team that's under performing as a whole bar a couple players.

I'm not sure who overrates him?

by I Have Mono Fri Apr 25, 2014 4:41 am

So your agreeing that he's a better player then them, but he just doesnt fit your sytem ? Would you take him at pool ?
I can get with that, my overall point is just that he is one of the best centermids in the premier and could get into basically everyside because there arnt alot of teams with 2 centermids better than him so that he wouldnt start.

by dostoevsky Fri Apr 25, 2014 4:48 am

BarrileteCosmico wrote:
chinomaster182 wrote:you trolling? He is one of Spurs best players

He can dribble, pass and tackle, the only player that i know that can kind of do all those things from midfield is Ricardo Montolivo.

He can play DM, CM, B2B, AM, and RW, who else is so versatile? He is a coaches wet dream.

You can say he maybe underperforming right now, but then again the whole Spurs team is underperforming.

http://www.whoscored.com/Players/12187

Good analysis of him:
http://espnfc.com/blog/_/name/tacticsandanalysis/id/356?cc=5901
Montolivo can tackle?

2010 called, they want their opinion back. Montolivo used to be meek in the challenge but he's developed into one of the most complete midfielders in Europe as far as his skill set goes. The topic is about Dembele though so I won't say any more.

by RedOranje Fri Apr 25, 2014 5:46 am

I Have Mono wrote:So your agreeing that he's a better player then them, but he just doesnt fit your sytem ? Would you take him at pool ?
I can get with that, my overall point is just that he is one of the best centermids in the premier and could get into basically everyside because there arnt alot of teams with 2 centermids better than him so that he wouldnt start.

I think you could argue that he's more well rounded but I think both Lucas and Allen have areas where they are superior to him in. That said, I refuse to be drawn into an asinine "player x is better than y" discussion (there's already a section for that).

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