The Dembélé Dilemma

Mousa Dembélé is a classic footballer. When he picks up the ball in the centre of the pitch and gracefully pushes it forward – gliding past defenders with ease – he looks like a player from a bygone era. He brings his classy brand of calm to any midfield he plays in. The Belgian is the kind of player that most Premier League teams would love to have in their side.

The only problem with Dembélé is that there is rarely an end product to his moves up the pitch. In his first season at Spurs he created some great memories – the last minute strike at Lyon being chief among them. But all too often he has been unable to step up a gear, to make that incisive pass, to bring the kind of dynamic play to his game that the Premier League demands. It’s hard to name games where Dembélé has performed poorly, but there have been plenty of matches in which the Belgian hasn’t had a noticeable impact on the outcome.

The arrival of Paulinho at the Lane this season has only highlighted that lack of dynamism to the Belgian’s game. Both players are top quality, but Paulinho has already shown that he plays a very different style of football, one that is more suited to the English game and to Spurs. He has quickly become one of Tottenham’s key players, playing the full 90 minutes in all of the opening 8 games of the season.

Both players are remarkably even statistically, but Paulinho has had 22 shots in 8 Premier League appearances (10 on target, 12 off). Dembélé has only had three. Paulinho also has two assists to his name, Dembélé has none. Essentially, Dembélé is excellent at forcing players off the ball and carrying it into the final third, but provides little firepower or creativity once he’s there, Paulinho is much more useful in attacking and counter-attacking situations. If nothing else, Paulinho’s higher shot tally proves he gets into the box much more often, which is exactly the kind of centre midfielder that a one striker system demands.

[linequote]Dembélé and Paulinho can play together, but it’s already clear that the partnership doesn’t work in the bigger games when Tottenham need a bit more steel in the centre of the pitch.[/linequote]

Dembélé took control of the midfield battle in the second half against Chelsea, and one of the only players to shine in the poor performance against West Ham. So it might have surprised some that he wasn’t a part of the starting team against Aston Villa, but this is something Spurs fans are going to have to get used to. Sandro reminded everyone of just what he can do, breaking up attacking play and bullying the Villa midfield, working well with Paulinho to give the Spurs midfield the strength that it has lacked recently.

Dembélé and Paulinho can play together, but it’s already clear that the partnership doesn’t work in the bigger games when Tottenham need a bit more steel in the centre of the pitch. Spurs need Sandro or Capoué away from home, leaving only one more central position in the 4-2-3-1 formation that AVB prefers. The decision of who to play comes down to the fact that Dembélé has proved useful, Paulinho has proved essential.

It’s a shame that a classy player like Dembélé will be in and out of the Spurs starting eleven this season. There has been a lot of talk about Spurs lacking a definite starting eleven, but rotation is likely to play a key role in this season’s campaign. It’s a good problem for the manager to have, but some quality players are going to lose out on regular starting places and that will be a shame.

Stats taken from Squawka.

Article written before Everton game

[author name=”Saul Holmes” avatar=”https://www.thefightingcock.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/cee406b8e5e3a7dd4097938e1565459e.jpeg” twitter=”SaulHolmes93″ website=”http://domainnamealreadyexists.blogspot.co.uk/” tag=”saulholmes[/linequote]