At 28 years old and comfortably one of the oldest players at the club, many fans might've thought that this year was the end of Mousa Dembele's Tottenham career. After surviving the summer cull and scoring three on the trot - made all the more impressive when you take into considering he had only managed five in over a hundred appearances - The Moose is ready to cement himself in Pochettino's plans.
The press were keen to report that Dembele required talks with his manager to clarify his best position. I mean, that's hardly news. We've spent the last three years wondering where Moussa fits best. His skill set is so unique that he can essentially perform anywhere in the midfield. Fulham fans will even remember he was initially signed as forward before moving to a number ten role in his final year at Craven Cottage. In short, it is no secret that Dembele is short of a proper role in this Tottenham side. But unlike his predecessors, Mauricio appears to have finally cracked the code with Moussa. Perhaps fans were questioning Pochettino's decision to use Dembele as a wide midfielder. Then again, we also questioning Dier at defensive midfield. It's all part of a plan.
Reasons to be cheerful for Mousa.
It is no secret that our Argentine boss is a huge fan of inverted wingers. While they aren't everyone's cup of tea, it certainly allows for a degree of flexibility in how the attack is built with overlapping fullbacks providing further crossing opportunities. Ideally, Pochettino desires a midfield three capable of interchanging; Eriksen frequently operates from the left, Lamela plays the number 10 role and Son is comfortable in all three positions. With the vision of the above three players, it is not beyond the realms of possibility to add a player with an entirely different skillset. Enter Dembele.
Absolutely buried it.
In possession, you'd almost trust him with your life. His incredible strength and unbelievable dribbling skills make him a very unique and useful weapon. However, he is also a more than able tackler, as shown by his man of the match display against Liverpool. That afternoon, Mousa was sat in front of the back four in a defensive midfield role. Despite this, his headline grabbing goals have all been delivered from a wide midfield position - his most devastating role, in my opinion.
Dembele has often found himself playing in front of the back four.
The enigma that is Mousa Dembele has been hard to crack at Tottenham. Used in several roles, he has never really set the world alight in his time here. He certainly didn't replace Modric and was further displaced by two academy products last season. We've already established that many fans expected Pochettino to cash in on an aging player who, despite his obvious natural ability, had never quite performed consistently enough at White Hart Lane. His vision isn't the greatest, and the general consensus is that he holds onto the ball far too long (most probably because he's so confident in possession). In truth, he needed to be coached better earlier in his career on when to release the ball. Or perhaps he was just being misused. If you need an example of mismanagement on Dembele's behalf, look no further than Sherwood and Ferdinand's motivational quote: 'you can be the next player to join Real Madrid!'. Thank God those two clowns aren't in charge of team moral anymore.
The Belgian was often used as a forward at Fulham.
Mousa Dembele is not an orthodox winger by any stretch of the imagination. He does not possess lightning pace or particularly outstanding crossing. But his knack of beating players at will and ability to hold onto the ball high up the pitch are very important weapons. And as we've seen from the past few games, he has a more than decent finish on him. At times in the past he had been deployed in the number ten role but his lack of vision means he is not particularly suited - in Eriksen's absence we sorely lack creativity - and so the role of wide midfielder seems perfect for an player of Mousa's talents. His tackling is not put to waste, either; Pochettino's notorious high pressing system means he is able to harry opponents into conceding possession further up the pitch, an important aspect of our newfound success.
Dembele sends the Spurs fans and Mike Dean wild.
While I'm skeptical as to whether his goalscoring form will continue, one thing is certain at this moment in time: Mousa Dembele is in Pochettino's plans. And I trust this manager's philosophy, regime and choice of personnel far more than I have any other manager in recent times. Mauricio knows what he is doing. It is entirely possible that once Chadli and Son are fully fit that Dembele will return to the bench but in his current form he has to be one of the first names on the team sheet for Sunday's crunch game at Ars*nal. COYS!
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