POLL: Where does Mousa Dembele fit in at Spurs?

In the absence of suspended Eric Dier and injured Nabil Bentaleb for the visit of Liverpool, one Spurs player stepped up to fill the centre midfield void better than anyone could have imagined.

Jan Vertonghen this morning described international teammate Mousa Dembele as “one of the best midfielders in the league”, despite the Belgian fulfilling nothing more than a bit-part role under Mauricio Pochettino at White Hart Lane. But where should Dembele be fitting in for Spurs?

He’s already admitted that he’s willing to play any position as long that means a nailed down place in the starting eleven, which he has found frustratingly difficult ever since his move from Fulham in 2012. Despite surpassing 100 Spurs appearances, he has but a hatful of goals and assists to his name and has more recently lost his place in Pochettino’s favoured XI to a string of players; Ryan Mason, Nabil Bentaleb, Eric Dier and even Dele Alli in recent times.

Yet Dembele snatched himself a Man of the Match award at the weekend to throw his current status at Tottenham into disarray.

Hence the question: where does the man that former Belgian international Wesley Sonck described as “more talented than Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard” fit in at White Hart Lane?

Defensive Midfield

In our 0-0 draw with Liverpool Dembele was deployed as the more defensively minded man in the centre midfield duo in our 4-2-3-1 formation. It’s a role we have struggled to fill ever since the loss of Scott Parker and even Sandro, but Eric Dier’s unprecedented move from centre-half looked to have sealed that deal. However, Spurs’ midfield looked more than comfortable with Dembele at the base – giving Pochettino a selection headache for our away trip to Bournemouth, assuming he rests players in Anderlecht on Thursday. Dembele certainly has the physical attributes to play there - Sonck claimed he even bounced Vincent Kompany off the ball in Belgian training on occasion.

Part of the trio

The interchangeable trio of Christian Eriksen, Erik Lamela and Nacer Chadli are where we look to when we are in need of something creative. However, after Chadli hobbled off with what could turn out to be a long term ankle injury this weekend, the gap might just open up for Dembele. Clinton N’Jie made a good account of himself, but if Eric Dier is to move back to the base of midfield it could be perfect for Mousa to move forward with a bit more freedom. With this comes the danger that Dembele will drift out of the game or spend the 90 minutes ball watching out on the wing, but the freedom could see him flourish.

In the 10

With good feet and the eye for a pass, it’s a miracle that Dembele doesn’t get more assists when he plays. And with Christian Eriksen veering out to the left for large parts of games, a space does often emerge in the Dane’s favoured playmaker role. The Belgian has played all of these positions before, and this could be the move to get him registering more goals for the Tottenham cause.

On the bench

Alternatively, Dembele could see himself demoted to the bench as Eric Dier returns from his one match suspension, and Clinton N’Jie steps into Nacer Chadli’s wide role as he did on Saturday. After all it was only one impressive performance as opposed to Dier’s superb start to the season, so Mousa can't expect to oust him any time soon. Many still believe that his role in this Spurs team is not justified – he very nearly left in the summer – and a break back into the first team is far from likely.

I believe Dembele still has a part to play in this exciting Tottenham team, but as we have seen with the likes of Erik Lamela and Heung Min Son, it takes more than one impressive display to win us over. Consistency is key for Dembele – something that has let him down constantly since joining Spurs. But now he has the opportunity, he must kick on in order to assert himself under Pochettino.

 

Consistency comes with games and playing a person in the correct position - Dembele is class and is one of the only creative players we have in the centre of the park - For me he plays every week - I am more inclined to say how pleased I am that Chadli and Benteleb are not playing

 

As Dembele said to the media, against attacking teams he plays best from deep as he has a bit more time. and against teams that sit back he's best in the attacking trio.
He was absolutely awesome against Liverpool and should now finally nail down that starting spot. Surely he should take Lamela's place and N'Jie should start on the left in place of Chadli

 

Don't forget to vote, Chris!

 

I'm a believer of play well and keep your shirt so I'd start him next game def mid along with dier and Alli in front. Eriksen from the left and njie or son on the right..

 

I don't think Dembele has the mindset to impose himself on games. To take responsibility. It's what they used to say about Heskey - if only he believed in his undoubted abilities he'd be a world-beater.

 

Selling Dembele would rank up there with the other most stupidest decision this club has made such as buying Ade, getting rid of Ekotto, bringing in 7 new players to a team that just needed tweaking, playing Friedel over Lloris which cost us a CL place, hiring Baldini, believing Mason is the Messiah, hanging on to Jermaine Offside Defoe for far too long, not only replacing Dawson with Fazio but then playing him, spending £30 mill on a kid probably worth no more than 10 mill at a push.....
Dembele is the nearest thing to Modric we have and properly coached should have a team built around him but this is Spurs!

 

Well a good manager would never put the likes of Bentaleb ahead of Dembele but the P.E teacher just wants people to run all day.

Dembele is one of our best players if used/managed correctly, he is frustrating at times and his desire to influence the game isn't always there.

But it can't help not being given a clear role in the team and being sidelined by limited 'runners', and this is clearly down to poor management.

 

Well "running a lot” seem,s to be a good enough reason to justify a lot of short comings lately and not only by the “ P.E Teacher” .....

Decent start to the season tho in fairness , def seem to have more about them from general play then they did last year .. Still toothless at the end tho , unfortunately the most important part .. One goal from open play since the City game and would have lost the Swansea game if they had a half decent keeper , another game we could have won comfortably .. Even p1ss ant Merson says we could be close to the top if we were more ruthless ...

 

Ifs buts n maybes aren't good enough imo, once in a while ok but churned out season after season is just hiding.

5 draws in 9 is not the great start some would have us believe. We seem to constantly lack conviction in our play.

Without Son their is no pacey attacking threat from the supporting 3 as has been evident for 2 whole seasons and is prevelant this season aswell.

Kane is Struggling with the burden and there is no 1 to take up the slack.

Poch the PE Teacher insists on the system that doesnt suit the personel for all occaisions, it works once in blue moon but mainly produces gritty dull performances that we either edge or mainly draw. When watching a flat game or the persistently played out routine of 10 behind the ball 'difficult to break down' he has not a clue how to change or find a way and niether seems the speed or thought to react.

 

No your right it hasn't been great but i.m.o its been a decent , promising one but you have to keep it in perspective , I.m.o it's a shockingly average league at the moment and at some stage the money clubs will get their act together you'd imagine . We can all speculate what will become of this young side but ultimately only time will tell . As always we live in hope .. C.O.Y.S ....

 

Been a solid if unspectacular start. Tbf if we put our chances away v pool n Everton and keep concentration in stoke n Leicester game we are 8 points better off. Its small margins. What Poch MUST take massive credit for is stopping the hhammerings we had come accustomed to under previous regimes.. We don't look a soft touch anymore conceding in threes fours n fives.

 

Another example of the difficulty in trying to copy the Barcelona philosophy tonight .. Its just so risky defending like that .. What was it 65+% possession , 20 + shots , but Arseholes had the better chances and won 2 - o .. A lot of similarities there with our last 15 - 16 months .. Its a really difficult style even with the best of players .. Can be entertaining to watch tho ..

 

Anyone else notice that we play nothing like Pochetinos Saints team? The exact style he was supposed to be bringing to us.

There he had pacey and unit attacking forwards, when they attacked they swarmed (much like Leicester do at present) they often had willing runners wide and getting the ball in the danger areas regularly with bodies in the box.

The football he churns out with us is anything but. And I'm beginning to really dislike his non existent tactics, saturday was a typical Spurs under Poch performance 4231, sluggish start, no one ready to give Liverpool a nightmare afternoon, lamela reverting to type, who cannot play with eriksen and chadli at the same time because it doesn't work, sloppy passing and control reminiscent of Hackney Marshes, lacking width, lacking vision, lacking ruthlessness but worst of all lacking that desire to win and make it happen.

Same as the 4 other draws only a freak result v Citeh has been any sort of performance. And it's ok people saying we should've won, if this had happened we would've won, we had the better of possession, the facts are we don't win enough and too many think this is acceptable and are willing to make every excuse under the sun for it.

There is no winning mentality at Spurs at all. The board won't back it, the manager seems to have a free reign to not deliver anything, players are let off for coasting through seasons its utter dog sh;te. The league is so poor currently a club of our self proclaimed financial successes should be capitalising but instead we're talking up 5 draws from 9.

It's embarrassing

 

Dembele is the most talented player in our squad. Regarding consistency, he was consistently our best player in a double midfield pivot when he first signed and was playing under AVB. The argument about his lack of goals/assists could apply to pretty much our whole team. He dominated Liverpool, has dominated Toure and Man City in previous seasons, and don't forget who came on for the injured Mason in the 5-2 win against Chelsea and won the midfield battle which sparked our domination. If Poch keeps him motivated, he is an absolute machine.

 

I'm with you Felon. I reflected on my post match thoughts and you know what - we were poor. No energy apart from Dembele, no shape, no pace, no tactical nuance and as for Nice But Dim...is he for real.

 

When I think back to my local league laying days, there were always players of supreme natural skill. We had one. Never seemed to have any kit, hadn't washed or cleaned anything, looked like death until you put a football in front of him. Scored goals out of nothing, despite smoking like a chimney.
For me Dembele is our Spurs equivalent. So gifted, but so frustrating. I'd always pick him, then be frustrated by his contribution. Doesn't help that Nice But Dim doesn't seem to fancy him.
Where is his best role. Well based on Saturday left side defensive midfield, Dier right. He's strong and one of the few players in the side who can go past an opponent. We need to keep him, despite Nice But Dim.
COYS