I think you're right about him being a player that suits specific systems. When he's playing behind a striker and there's significant service, then he's very dangerous. We basically lost all creativity and it bombed his game into oblivion. If you look at the time under Pochettino when he was a significant threat we were very attacking. All of our defenders were comfortable on the ball and either got down the wings or played long balls in behind. Dembele and Eriksen gave us midfield control and plenty of forward movement. That resulted in him scoring 18 Premier League goals in 16/17, which is good for a striker. We moved away from that style of play and his numbers got worse and worse. Our fullbacks became more defensive, our midfield lost it's creativity and it killed his game. Then we replaced Pochettino with various defensive-minded managers and his role disappeared. Everton aren't playing him often and they're not using his position, either. They've got no playmakers in the team anyway, so I can't see where he'd add anything. Constantly playing **** right-backs at left-back wouldn't have helped. I'm not sure where Lampard felt he would fit into their systems, which aren't working anyway. He needs to go somewhere abroad, in my opinion. A fresh start at a club that play attacking football and see him as a key part of how they play. People think that his head has gone. I'm not convinced that's true.
This is what I think is/ was the case. I think the performances of Dembele and Eriksen massively aided Dele’s attributes. It’s why Dele has never really impressed for England, never impressed for us once they left/ declined and has so far done nothing for Everton. Son and Kane adapted and even evolved without the midfield dominance of Dembele or the creativity Eriksen provided, Dele wasn’t able too and he’s massively suffered for it. I hope he can find a solution for himself but I fear he could be a player that quickly falls down the leagues and into obscurity.
I think I'd agree with most of what PNP and DH have said above. It looks like he is the quintessential 'system' player who can only flourish under a very specific set of circumstances. I actually think Poch himself already recognised this and was weaning the team off of Dele - which was probably part of the thinking in signing Lo Celso (which worked out beautifully of course). Ultimately the reality is it is rare beyond measure that a teenager jumps two divisions and is an actual success. There's no question he was far too good for League 1 but at the same time there is also no question he's not good enough for a top-half PL side, let alone one with top 6/4 aspirations. He happened to have the perfect set-up around him to allow him to flourish and in all honesty remains the best value-for-money signing in our history. David Pleat deserves a lot of credit for spotting him and pushing the deal before United stepped in with a bigger offer. Ironically I think Donny van de Beek suffers from exactly the same problem. He had the absolute perfect set-up around him at Ajax and flourished in it, but looks wholly unsuited to the pace of the PL. Like us under Poch, ten Hag's Ajax that season played with a back line incredibly comfortable on the ball. In the midfield, the experience and defensive prowess of Schone combined with the creativity of De Jong and pace and running of Ziyech meant van de Beek had everything he needed to excel. Moving to Everton was, like it was for Dele, a ridiculously stupid move for him as their squad is probably the least hard-working and most imbalanced in the entire division and they have a total buffoon as a manager. There is also a lot to be said in this regard about players making ill-advised moves either too early in their careers or in an attempt to reignite floundering careers. Van de Beek should never have gone to United in the state they were in and with the expectations that come with such a move. Dele should have gone to Newcastle where he could have worked with a proven PL manager with a team of players who despite a lack in quality do work hard and a fanbase that doesn't start booing at the first misplaced pass. He also would've had former teammate Trippier to help him along. I fear their moves to a sinking ship could well be the straw that breaks their careers.
The immensely reliable, Daily Star, are saying Winks isn’t in Conte’s long term plans (shocked me that ). 2 minutes off the bench in the last 4 league games after his Boro disasterclass does make it somewhat believable. Palace and Southampton said to be interested. Whilst Spanish journo, Gabriel Sans, reckons we’ve made an offer for Depay.
I'm not going to suggest that the Daily Wail are nicking things I post on here and are using them as transfer rumours, but... Argentina forward Paulo Dybala could move from Juventus to Serie A rivals Inter Milan, with Inter lining up the 28-year-old as a replacement for fellow Argentine Lautaro Martinez, 24 ...yeah, they're totally lurking on here to nick things that I post and use them as transfer rumours
Bild report that Monster Energy Dusseldorf don't want Ilaix Moriba back after his loan to Valencia expires, not least due to his habit of demanding physios bring him grapes to eat during recovery massages Looks like we dodged a bullet there, although based on his wage demands and being represented by pushy parents, it was pretty likely we should've been ducking for cover eighteen months ago
Yes it's hard to believe now that before Kane / Son "partnership" there was a time where people were talking about Kane / Ali. His knack of arriving unexpectedly in the box (though why it should be unexpected when he did it so often is another matter), was quite noticeable, and he really did link well with Kane. Didn't work later for the reasons already mentioned, but also it's more difficult with Son in the team as well. I suspect the great Ali times were mostly before Son.
Son and Alli started playing for Spurs in the same summer. I'd have said "joined in the same window", but we loaned Alli back to MK Dons after signing him in the winter. Alli's most prolific season was the following one, where he scored 18 league goals and 22 in all competitions.
The fact it's always the same three subs - Lucas, Bergwijn, whichever WB is on the bench - is what concerns me
We've played four Premier League games this month. Bergwijn was brought on in all of them, but played a total of about half an hour. Moura came on in three and played about 25 minutes. Emerson came on twice and Reguilon, Sanchez and Winks were the other subs. I think only the Emerson ones weren't forced, of those five appearances. The others were due to injuries to Sessegnon, Romero and Bentancur. It does seem like there are very few players outside of our starting XI that Conte trusts, if any.
think its the same as most clubs, conte likes to use a core team that he will use for the competitions he deems important and doesn't like to rotate
It’s not overly surprising though to be honest. Even the ones he semi-trusts are hardly pulling up trees in their chances. I think we’re getting quite close to having a very good first XI under Conte/ Paratici and hopefully the summer can help finish/ almost finish that but our squad beyond that XI severely lacks quality.
Kane went stellar that season too. Dembele and Wanyama together provided the CM choke that mean the Spurs attack spent most games camped in the opposition final third (hence the big improvement on GF and GA wrt the season before) .
It does have to be said that the squad can be broken down into some easily-spotted groups Trusted to start Kane, Son, Kulusevski, Dier, Romero, Bentancur, Hojbjerg, Reguilon, Davies, Lloris Trusted to rotate in Doherty, Sessegnon, Sanchez, Winks Trusted to come on as subs Lucas, Bergwijn, Emerson, Scarlett Va ffanculo Rodon, Gollini
And it showed too: Kane - 29 goals and 7 assists in 30 games Dele - 18 goals and 9 assists in 37 games Eriksen - 8 goals and 16 assists in 36 games Son - 14 goals and 8 assists in 34 games Extraordinary numbers.
Great to see a few of our fringe players doing well in the international break. Be interesting to see if Rodon, Bergwijn and Parrot have futures at Spurs after the summer transfer window. I'd be happy to keep Rodon and Bergwijn and sort another loan for Parrot.
