Dembele's chance
Mousa Dembele has been a frustration to managers, a player who should be world class but isn't, a player who Spurs coaches though could be good enough to play for Real Madrid if he wanted, trouble is he doesn't want to be that good.
Les Ferdinand revealed on ITV the view I've expressed on many an occasion, he doesn't want to improve, he should be so much better than he is. That is all down to not having a winning mentality but an 'I'm alright as I am Jack' mentality.
Under Mauricio Pochettino that attitude is no longer good enough, you want to improve you can stay, you don't want to you can leave. At what he does Dembele is excellent, he stops, stands still, feints and goes by his opponent as if he isn't there, trouble is he negates it all with a pass that allows the player back behind the ball.
Pochettino wants the ball moved from the back quickly, Capoue is too slow so Bentaleb has been given the role. Mason moves the ball quickly so is preferred to Dembele, who until November, didn't look as if he wanted to adapt his game at all which would mean no future at Spurs.
Back in early \November he was calling for player meeting to discuss why things were not going right even though it was obvious the wrong mentality was causing it. Those meetings resulted in a split in the ranks between the youngsters who follow Pochettino and the senior players who suggested his tactics don't work. The players were once again reminded that Pochettino is here to stay so they had better do as he wants or leave.
I suggested at the time that we might see Dembele change his mental approach and accept that just doing what he had always done wasn't good enough. He has been getting cameos in the Premier League while being a starter in the UEFA Europa League. Thanks to a muscle injury to Mason he got 76 minutes against Chelsea and there is an FA Cup tie on Monday.
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Will Pochettino play Capoue and Paulinho or will Dembele be given another chance to show he wants to stay. Against Premier League opposition it would seem an ideal chance to give him some more game time and a further chance to show he is taking on board Pochettino's requirements.
The Chelsea game will have given him a tantalising glimpse of what the future could hold so his career is at a crossroads, stick or twist. We'll soon know if he wants to be a part of the future or not, I would hope he does because a Dembele with the right mentality could be one of the best central midfielders in the Premier League.
He hasn't wanted it before, will he want it now?
Les Ferdinand revealed on ITV the view I've expressed on many an occasion, he doesn't want to improve, he should be so much better than he is. That is all down to not having a winning mentality but an 'I'm alright as I am Jack' mentality.
Under Mauricio Pochettino that attitude is no longer good enough, you want to improve you can stay, you don't want to you can leave. At what he does Dembele is excellent, he stops, stands still, feints and goes by his opponent as if he isn't there, trouble is he negates it all with a pass that allows the player back behind the ball.
Pochettino wants the ball moved from the back quickly, Capoue is too slow so Bentaleb has been given the role. Mason moves the ball quickly so is preferred to Dembele, who until November, didn't look as if he wanted to adapt his game at all which would mean no future at Spurs.
Back in early \November he was calling for player meeting to discuss why things were not going right even though it was obvious the wrong mentality was causing it. Those meetings resulted in a split in the ranks between the youngsters who follow Pochettino and the senior players who suggested his tactics don't work. The players were once again reminded that Pochettino is here to stay so they had better do as he wants or leave.
I suggested at the time that we might see Dembele change his mental approach and accept that just doing what he had always done wasn't good enough. He has been getting cameos in the Premier League while being a starter in the UEFA Europa League. Thanks to a muscle injury to Mason he got 76 minutes against Chelsea and there is an FA Cup tie on Monday.
Recent Articles
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Kane is an example to all
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Kane is an example to all
The win that is more than just three points
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Mourinho bizarrely criticizes referee for applying the rules correctly
Will Pochettino play Capoue and Paulinho or will Dembele be given another chance to show he wants to stay. Against Premier League opposition it would seem an ideal chance to give him some more game time and a further chance to show he is taking on board Pochettino's requirements.
The Chelsea game will have given him a tantalising glimpse of what the future could hold so his career is at a crossroads, stick or twist. We'll soon know if he wants to be a part of the future or not, I would hope he does because a Dembele with the right mentality could be one of the best central midfielders in the Premier League.
He hasn't wanted it before, will he want it now?
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