Sorry YV but can't bring myself to agree with the first part of this at all. I thought Dembélé was his usual nonchalant self where he'd casually flick little passes sideways here or there with little thought or vision as to how they affect the build up play or put his teammates under pressure and for most of the game, I'd have my head in my hands after he's touched the ball!
Going sideways he's fine (for the most part) but when he decides to do his usual by going forward with the ball to walk into a wall, he tends to lose possession in crucial areas of the field and have us racing back to defend whilst he continues to jog!
In the several years he's been at Spurs, he's the one that's frustrated me most. Silky skills and strong in one-to-one situations yet never seems to learn to look up or improve his understanding of the game. If he had a better footballing brain, I'd think he'd be a hugely impressive player but I think he's a classic case of someone who's comfortable at a decent club and has no burning desire to really push on and improve. Take the paycheque and be happy!
I've been pretty harsh to Lamela in the past. In fact, I think it was probably myself that gave the poor guy the "show pony" label within days of him joining us but at least Coco's now putting in a shift and you can see his work ethic in every game. He's trying his heart out to win the fans over and that hasn't gone unnoticed. Mousa on the other hand is the exact same player we signed 3 years ago and I don't see that ever changing.
I would have seen this as a positive last season, but it is rapidly running out of credit this year. The bottom line is that we currently have too many regulars who by all means 'put in a good performance' without actually contributing anything from their actual job description.
I said this after the Liverpool game - the only reason we were all salivating over his performance at the weekend was because he was brought in for Dier. And, as we've seen time and again, Dembele's strength, balance and poise on the ball mean that he can and does break up opposition attacks and possession with ease. i.e. he looks great as DM. But the thing is...
he wasn't signed to be a DM. When we bought him, we had Parker, Sandro and Livermore on our books. Demebele was signed to be the midfield
catalyst, not the fire brigade. So when, as in yesterday's case, he replaces someone like Alli or Mason, he does sweet FA. Why? Because he isn't contributing what he was singed to contribute.
Same goes for Lamela. He wasn't signed to be a James Milner. He was signed
to be a show pony! Of all those signings, he was the one hailed as 'Bale's successor'. Bale did absolutely nothing defensively because we didn't want him to. The fact that Lamela's 'work ethic' is touted as his most positive quality is a tragedy as far as I'm concerned, and an excuse that - since the City game - no longer washes with me, as we saw the tenacity, drive, creativity and threat that Bale brought to the table years ago in a superb all-round performance from our Argentine pony. Since the City game, he's been back to square one.
And the same, very sadly, goes for Kane. The fact that he has no back up is inexcusable, but the reality is that he does look fully fit, is certainly putting in big 'shifts' every game and showing tremendous 'work ethic', but that ain't what we pay him to do.
I hate to use them as a point of reference but they are sadly the most in-form team in the league at the minute. Sanchez, Giroud, Ozil, and Walcott hardly put in 'shifts' defensively, nor do they have anywhere close to the best 'work ethic' in the league. But that doesn't matter, because they do what they're paid to do, and they often do it well.
This is the prevailing lunacy at Chelsea. Why sell Mata and insist that Hazard constantly tracks back when you have two of the best deep lying midfielders in the world on your books? Just give them licence to attack at will and you'll be slaughtering teams! Mourinho's stubbornness will be his ultimate undoing.
I'm willing to cut these players some slack because below them is another sub-category of players who don't do their job
and don't really put in a shift, namely: Fazio, Townsend and Trippier. But things do need to change.
