Matchday discussion

Isn’t this what you thought of Dembele?

 

Obviously a player whose failings were all-too apparent when Spurs were trading punches with the best in the PL three or four years ago (brushed aside by Pogba in the 2018 FA Cup defeat to Mourinho's United, among a fair number of anonymous performances) is going to look better when compared to today's Tottenham, N'Dombele's occasional positive contributions are hailed as world-beating when they're merely better than the surrounding dross, and we're doing with him what Spurs' fans have been doing since we stopped winning things thirty or forty years ago, namely over-praising such above average players as we've got, to compensate for not having a successful team. Exaggerating the qualities of past players is another aspect of the syndrome, and Dembele does seem to get hyperbolic and undeserved credit for keeping the ball, his failure to do anything positive with it being overlooked (but not by Felon or me).

 

Must agree that Dembele was the most frustrating player I have seen for quite a while.Talented beyond most of the midfielders of his time but unable for some reason to produce what he should have done in terms of goals or assisting.I fear that we may have another in the same mould with Ndombele who produces about one in three

 

And tell me what part is wrong?

He is the most talented player I've seen to never do anything threatening with a football ever.

 

Not a single bit is wrong, I agreed when you said it and still do....doesn’t quite match what you said about him improving what we have now though and the inherited squads by each manager?

 

He would improve what we have now though because he held onto and carried the ball way better than any of our current midfielders who spend most of their minutes watching games completely pass them by.

Not sure how you come to your conclusions when I've said what his attributes were and then look at how poor we are at what he did well ?

 

Are you for real?

I get to that conclusion from “world class at doing nothing , achieved nothing” & “ could ghost past players but never did it anywhere that would ever cause any trouble, had a poor goal/assist ratio also”

It wasn’t me that said “Spurs fans make him out to be something special” then stated he would be an improvement on what we have, that was you?

I for one think he was a player that looked great, had immense strength but did bugger all...add that to how often he was injured, he isn’t an upgrade on Ndombele at all and therefore would add very little IMO.

 

Also how could he hold and carry a ball that is continually being punted over his head by our back line?

 

Midfield 5 tonight Bale Sissoko Winks Ali Moura hope the defence plays well.Is he trying to make the second leg interesting

 

Good first half don’t really need a defence as they are wide open to pace .I hold my hand up to Jose tonight he might just have got it right

 

How can you go to that in the second half after the first 45.Is Sissoko not the dumbest footballer ever at the lane .The penalty was a joke decision by him and then we are under pressure and the bar saves us from another nightmare last 15 minutes.No surprise when Sissoko goes off we get better.I know Vinicius scored but I don’t think he anticipates in open play enough and I certainly would not put him down as the answer when Kane and Son are out.Better from Deli and Bale for a short period but their defence made our look good

 

Good match, good to see rotation.
Doherty played well.
Sissoko played well until the penalty but after that it looked like his confidence was shot and his performance dropped. Hopefully he can recover, a penalty is annoying but forgiveable - his performance in the first half against Chelsea made me angry. Hopefully what will be seen is more like this and never again what was seen against Chelsea.
Bale and Alli performing again, happy days.
Would have preferred it if more youngsters could have been introduced but I think it was the right decision to put in the experienced people to minimise the risk of fear or even panic. Rather a calm win that builds confidence than a panicked win which might spread doubt.

 

Sorry Jesper but which match was you watching if you think Sissoko played well .The penalty was totally avoidable as was the free kick he gave away on half time which could have cost us .He is so awkward in and out of possession and just does not use his attributes to good effect.Why do we still totally switch off at half time Moura being a good example great goal then disappears .

 

As has been patently obvious from the beginning...

Bale... Dele... Lucas... all just need to play. The former two barely have... the latter has been riding the pine for much of the second half of this season so far

Push Ndombele back to the double six permanently... he serves us best there and as an extra incentive Winks gets nowhere near the pitch.

Sissoko is a good soldier and utility player... he's played four different positions this season... but he is not a natural number 6. He's a right sided central midfielder who needs the freedom to go box to box and drive into space. We don't play that way these days so Ndombele playing deeper can push Sissoko back in the rotation as well

It's only taken until February... but play our best side consistently and in their correct positions and results will pick up guaranteed

 

He played defensive midfield... a fact obviously overlooked by Felon82 and you. He was a very good player widely considered so by teammates and opponents alike. Yet you and your bedfellow somehow know better?

And what is this syndrome you speak of? The 14/15 squad was chum relatively speaking... over half of it shipped in 18 months. Not one of those players (if you exclude Paulinho's brief flirtation with Barcelona) went on to bigger and better things. Indeed if you look at the entire squad inherited by Pochettino only one player... Walker... has excelled from all those who've left Spurs.

Some are suggesting club legends like Holtby and Chadli would be an improvement on us now... last I checked Holtby's playing in the Championship and Chadli took the low road from WBA to Turkey.

Yet you remember it as the best squad since 85/86?

So again please explain this syndrome that is afflicting others but not yourself

 

Amazing considering he was available for about £10mil absolutely no big club showed any interest in him.......

Incredible that

 

It's really funny that the further into our past Dembele recedes, the better he plays! I don't recall us battling anyone to sign him back in 2012, and he never played as well for us as he'd done for Fulham, in fact he was injured so much that he and Lamela must have had permanent lockers in the treatment room. At one point he'd lost his place to Winks (!), and he was regularly criticised by Alan Hansen on MOTD for failing to live up to his potential - I reckon he deserves a place alongside Bentley and Taraabt in the Spurs Pantheon, not on the podium with Kane or VDV.

 

I’m pretty sure Alan Hansen had retired by the time Pochettino turned him into one of the best defensive midfielders in the EPL

He was a unique talent... easily one of the best players on the best Spurs side in close to 60 years.

That’s just the reality of it whether you accept it or not

 

What are you drinking Jose’s ghost because I want some .Your 60 years includes the double team .we had Dave McKay Toni marchi later we had Steve Perryman Alan mullery Gary mabbutt to name a few who Dembele was not fit to lace their boots


T

 

Sorry I’m as sober as a judge Preed

Some clubs are considered cup specialists... isn’t that what they used to say about us?

However league performance is generally considered the best indicator of a side’s quality

16/17 was the best league season since 1960/61