Sandro-Dembele partnership

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Erik_Edman

Erik_Edman

I'm starting the official campaign to have the Dembro partnership revived here.

Statistically, Sandro and Dembele were one of the best League midfield pairings last season (if not the best) before Sandro went down with his unfortunate injury. I remember being staggered at the time by how good their understanding was, at how naturally one dropped back to cover as the other moved forward and vice versa through each match they played together. Their stats for our win at OT last year exemplify what a brilliant cross-section of traits their shared presence on the pitch brought to the side.

Dembele/Sandro
82% Pass Accuracy 86%
51 Touches 46
2 Fouls 1
3 Key Passes 1
4 Dribbles Won 1
5 Tackles 7

Positional awareness, hard tackling, positive forward movement and even a sprinkling of creativity- Dembro pretty much had it all.

Paulinho was a fantastic high-profile addition to the side in the summer, but I feel the fee he commanded and the hype which surrounded his signing he obscured the fact that this side was already built on extremely strong centre midfield foundations. It's become clear now that Paulinho and Dembele don't work as a pairing, never getting the balance of bombing forward and tracking back right when they are lined up together, and besides that it's more obvious now than ever after his appearance last week that Sandro should be the first name on the teamsheet after Lloris. It thus comes down to who out of Paulie and Moose gets dropped and of the two, and I genuinely believe that Dembele's grit, energy and involvement has a more positive impact on the team effort than Paulinho's movement around the box and goalscoring. Paulinho and Sandro might have the makings of a decent partnership- but we already know that Dembele and Sandro have the history of being a great one.

Calling it right here and now- Dembro needs to come back if we want a speedy return to form after the international break.
 
I agree, I remember when we faced up with Dembro against united at old trafford last year thinking our midfield is just immense, stature and ability, and we smothered them
 
More (and slightly more detailed) stats, from our 3-0 win at Craven Cottage last season:

Dembele/Sandro
93% Pass Accuracy 91%
81 Touches 79
0 Total Shots 1
0 Goals 1
1 Assists 0
1 Key Passes 0
3 Interceptions 4
1 Dribbles Won 0
3 Tackles 3
 
I do agree (to an extent), however Dembele needs to add some goals and assists to his game, something that Paulinho has. Paulinho is also always an extra body in the box. I felt;

Sandro
Paulinho Eriksen

worked well in the second half of the Newcastle game.
 
Dembele has been utter dog turd this season. I don't think I've ever seen anyone lose the ball more often. And I saw boatengs debut.

He is playing too deep. Ironically in the position that Sandro should be playing in. Centre mid should be Sandro and pauleen. If Dembele plays at all it should be in front of these 2 but I think he is in such a poor run of form he needs to take a blow.
 
TheCockerel1882 said:
I do agree (to an extent), however Dembele needs to add some goals and assists to his game, something that Paulinho has. Paulinho is also always an extra body in the box. I felt;

Sandro
Paulinho Eriksen

worked well in the second half of the Newcastle game.
Click to expand...

I think I'd rather see:

Sandro Dembele
Eriksen

Let Sandro and Dembele do all the ballwinning and movement of the ball into advanced positions in the middle of the park, freeing up Eriksen to do the proper chance creation.

Dembro are a total wall and any decent No.10 will thrive off of having them to win and turn over the ball for them.
 
Audere said:
Dembele has been utter dog turd this season. I don't think I've ever seen anyone lose the ball more often. And I saw boatengs debut.

He is playing too deep. Ironically in the position that Sandro should be playing in. Centre mid should be Sandro and pauleen. If Dembele plays at all it should be in front of these 2 but I think he is in such a poor run of form he needs to take a blow.
Click to expand...

The whole reason he's had a less successful season thusfar, as I said in the piece, is that he's been playing next to Paulinho, who he has no chemistry with, instead of Sandro, who we know from last season he has excellent chemistry with. If you put someone on the pitch right next to someone playing the exact same role, of course the results are going to be awkward.

Oh, and he hasn't even been as bad as you suggest playing in said dodgy pairing with Paulinho. An example would be against Cardiff, where he took many more touches than Paulinho, completed 92% of his passes completed succesfully, made three interceptions, was 7/7 on long balls, and completed an excellent (though by his own standards fairly ordinary) five dribbles.
 
Its all the same argument, basically Sandro plays, and its Dembele or Paulinho for the next spot, always has been.It's just AVB was probably thinking as we went on such a run of clean sheets he thought Dembele and Paulinho would be enough to remain tight but have a little more attacking, but they end up neutering eachother.

Basically both look better with Sandro on as they know their role

Who remembers that weird situation last year where Parker was in front of Dembele, that was bizarre
 
Mensa said:
Its all the same argument, basically Sandro plays, and its Dembele or Paulinho for the next spot, always has been.It's just AVB was probably thinking as we went on such a run of clean sheets he thought Dembele and Paulinho would be enough to remain tight but have a little more attacking, but they end up neutering eachother.

Basically both look better with Sandro on as they know their role

Who remembers that weird situation last year where Parker was in front of Dembele, that was bizarre
Click to expand...

Yep, this is it in one sentence. And of the two, it's Dembele for me. He gets stuck in more, takes more touches, recycles the ball better and is generally a better guy to have keeping it tidy behind your playmaker, alongside a true DM.
 
I'd like to see Sandro and Capoue at City if they're both fit and ready to play.

Nothing against the Dembro combo, or the Sandro Paulo combo.

Let's see which works best in the coming games.

I have a hankering for a front 6 of Sandro Paulo Capo Soldo Andro and Lamelo. Beside the all conquering 'O' formation, it's a combo of pace, power, strength, tackling and goals that I like the look of.
 
Really not into Dembele as a starter, and worry that the Dembele/Sandro (I refuse to write Dembro!) partnership is lacking something...

For me Dembele seems to *prefer* playing deeper, where he takes the ball and runs with it... all well and good until he ends up passing square to a player who he could have instantly passed the ball to when he received it. This happens too often IMO.

Can see Dembele leaving at the end of the season myself.

He's a good player, and so nearly a *very* good player, but he's lacking the passing ability to make him into a 10, the burst into the box to make him a box-to-box player, the range of passing to make him a regista, and the overall defensive nous to make him a DM.

That said, he has his uses - particularly in games where we're probably going to be playing mostly on the back foot, or coming off the bench to see out a match (and therefore retain possession).
 
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