Dele’s apparently not even in the squad for tonight. If he can’t make the squad for a game it looks like we’ll be “throwing” then I reckon the PSG rumours have more substance than we realise and we’re ensuring he doesn’t get injured in order to complete the move.
I'd like to see him go on a season long loan (I believe that is the rumour?) as he could do with some time away to get his game sorted. I hope it is in the deal that he is free to come back - no buy commitment etc. A year older, with a new perspective, we may get the player we remember back.
Spurs manager putting profits before glory Right, I'll be on Twitter waiting to see the usual suspects try and untangle themselves from those knots...
Hard to say, if Ndombele and Lo Celso really get settled into the XI then I don’t see a way back for Dele as a first team starter. We can’t fit all three into an XI in my opinion as a DM like Hojbjerg is needed for balance. I think the best hope is we loan without an obligation to buy, hope he does brilliant and then wait for the biggest offer next summer to then sell at a price that would be nearer to what he was worth 3 years ago rather than what he’s worth around now. I think 3 years ago we could’ve got £100m for that Dele. Right now we’d be lucky to get £30m-£40m. A good season away could bump his value to around £60m-£70m.
I agree. I think he’s gone. he’s not performed for months and months though. I also don’t know where he fits into Mourinho’s style either, to be honest. Loaning to hopefully increase his value, or selling now to free up funds is a good move IMO. who knows what business might pop up in the last few days? But Dele hasn’t been the same player for some time and we can’t carry passengers.
The Alli of 2015-16/2016-17 would be nigh impossible to drop. The facts are simple : He raised his performance levels, but unlike Kane and Son he has not maintained a high "baseline" nor does he have significant injury sagas to use as a potential excuse for the slump. The club cannot afford to carry attacking players performing so.
The main issue is that Poch's system used Dembele, Walker and Rose to create space that allowed Dele to break into the box just as it created gaps for Eriksen to play somebody in. What that system had components falter and/or leave, be it Dembele's injuries blunting him, Rose losing a yard of pace while gaining a few inches around the midriff or Walker leaving for whichever excuse he's using this week to justify lining his pockets, we stopped creating space for Dele or Eriksen to exploit And this is the problem with playing as a counter attacking team: it doesn't create the same pockets of space that Poch's system did, especially as we only seem interested attacking down one flank, so instead of pulling a CB out wide so Dele could ghost in instead it creates space on the edge of the area that would be great if we had someone who could make a late break and wallop it in from the edge of the area as Lampard did - but while Lo Celso can do that, Dele can't
Dele not in squad ... from undroppable to don't let the door hit your arse on the way out injust 10 months is pretty impressive tbf
Dele really can't play as a No10 in the ubermensch's system, as he's not got the passing to unlock defences - and redeploying him as a No8 nerfs his ability to make late runs into the box If he tweaked his game so beefed up the defensive side of his game while also working on power and placement for his shots he could be a useful box-to-box
Two and a half years of inconsistency says more about Jose than Dele? This has been long overdue to be honest and I’m fully with the manager on this. I think Jose tried giving him the first game of the season as a fresh start but it was another lacklustre performance, though it was from most of the team. We can only persist with the guy for so long until it becomes apparent he just hasn’t got that “it factor” anymore like he used too. We’ve probably had more poor years from Dele now than good ones. The only thing I somewhat feel bad on Dele for is that there are others who’ve been performing poorer over similar/ longer periods (Sissoko, Toby, Dier, Winks to name a few) and so you could say why is he getting the cold shoulder more so than others (albeit Sissoko and Toby seem out of favour too now). But in general I definitely back the manager on this, I just hope more get similar treatment so we can begin replenishing the ranks with players more consistent and useful.
The issue has always been how to fit him into the team, even more so when Eriksen was on top form. Poch managed to shoehorn them both in for a while and though it worked it never looked fully cohesive. Dele is at his best playing effectively as a second striker with a player like Kane ahead of him and a solid yet creative base behind him. You have to build a team around him for him to be at his best. It’s clear that he can’t maintain the levels required to make that sacrifice and that we’re better off building the team to enable Kane, Son and the other forwards.
Jose agenda will always blind some people Dele has lost the eye of the tiger...wish Spurs fans would stop being romantics ahead of success all the time. Dele is getting the treatment more than others who have been just as **** because he has the potential to be better plus maybe the others are not lazy trainers...how can that trait be under estimated? Only way it can be ignored is if he turns up to games regardless but he doesn’t so being lazy and quite frankly a massive baby it seems isn’t conducive to success on the pitch. I called it years ago...he’s distracted...he’s had the hugs...he needs to grow up and take the kick up the backside...if he can’t then selll ASAP and get someone else in. Lost his focus...I don’t want the club to suffer because of that
Poch's system was based on Dembele, Walker and Rose creating space that Dele and Eriksen could exploit - that's why it turned into a slow motion car crash when each of those three stopped being able to do that due to injury, laziness, or lining their pockets with Middle Eastern coin Our current system is based on hitting opponents on the break (the few times we're not offside within two seconds of starting a break...) which removes Dele from the equation as when we break we're looking to get the ball to Kane or Son quickly, rather than looking to have Kane or Son pull players out of position so Dele can sneak in The pass maps for the last few games make this more obvious, because if we're building up we're looking to get the ball to Lo Celso or Lucas, while if we're breaking we're looking to get it to Kane or Son - so either way Dele is a fifth wheel
We`ll regret letting Dele go in my opinion, it also removes a large proportion of creativity from the squad, he has that ability to unlock a stubborn defence and after Eriksen also left our squad is severely lacking players of that ilk. We`ll come up against some very good defences and have nobody to provide the key to unlock them. I won`t be surprised if this is another De Bruyne, Salah etc situation.
