Moussa Dembélé

[Tricky 301]

Very impressive stats, he was outstanding today against United. Very confortable on the ball, great range of passing, combative and most importantly BELGIUM (we love those guys). Definitely one to keep our eyes on, going to keep a close eye on him this year.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Dont need any attacking player, if anyone, it should be Witsel.

[DYC. 7,542]

Indeed, the defensive side of his game has come along leaps and bounds since last season. Jol has done an excellent job with him. Few stats:

- Last season he made the 2nd most tackles in the league (112), only behind Cabaye with 117 tackles

- He averaged 3.1 tackles per game

- 79 total dribbles last season, the 3rd highest in the league behind Hoilett and Moses.

- He completed 1490/1681 passes, a pass success rate of 88.6% (Mikel's 982/1089, 90.2%)

- 51 key passes last season, averaging 1.4 per game

This is all from three quarters of a season when he was adapted to a deeper role, alongside Murphy and Diarra.

Comparing that to this season so far alongside Diarra:

- 121/126 passes completed with a success rate of 96%

- 9 tackles over the two games, 7 in todays game against United

- 3 key passes, all in todays game vs. United

- 12 successful dribbles over the two games

And to think he's just a rookie in midfield. He's only been playing in that role for a year. So there's definitely much more to come.

I agree with the guy that said he holds on the ball too long at times. He can be frustrating when he does that. Needs to improve on that and his end product and his movement in build-up play.

I just hope he doesn't join Utd. He wouldn't even have to move to join us .

[Beepu 1,714]

He definitely looks good, but if we are to buy him this window, we definitely have to do some moving first (malouda, benayoun)

[Jype 6,398]

Those stats from yesterday are very, very impressive. Dembele sure has improved over the last two seasons after starting to play at CM.

Can't see him leaving Fulham in this transfer window. Maybe we could go for him next year or in January, if we need him or if there's too big a risk of someone else snapping him up.

[Spike 12,049]

Dont need any attacking player, if anyone, it should be Witsel.

Dembélé is barely an attacking player anymore, I would class him as a Box-To-Box midfielder.

[YouNameIt 1,511]

Dembélé is barely an attacking player anymore, I would class him as a Box-To-Box midfielder.

Dont need that either really If there would be any space in our current team it would be a creative DM.

[The Skipper 20,609]

Dont need that either really If there would be any space in our current team it would be a creative DM.

Why suggest Witsel then?

Edit:

Sorry, thought it was you suggesting Witsel but it was BlueLyon.

Anyway, we don't necessarily need a creative DM, just someone who links up the attack and midfield. Dembele has the potential to be exactly that person IMO.

[Spike 12,049]

Dont need that either really If there would be any space in our current team it would be a creative DM.

Essien (ye olde)

Schweinsteiger

De Rossi

Witsel

People are always going on and on about how these players would be perfect in the 'double pivot' and to me they are all B2B midfielders. They can defend and they can create (whatever create means).

Seriously, creative is the most ambigous term in football. Everyone has different opinions about what 'creative' means and it starts arguements. The only term I hate more than 'creative' is 'free flowing'. What the fuck does 'free flowing' mean? I remember someone said that Chelsea played 'free flowing' football in 09-10, but all I saw was robotic and efficient football that ended in a lot of goals. There was nothing different between 09-10 and 11-12 except for goals scored. So Malouda, Lampard and Drogba hitting the form of their careers make the team play 'free flowing' even though they played the same the seasibs before and after but with less of an end product?

/rant

I'm taking this to the pub.

[YouNameIt 1,511]

Essien (ye olde)

Schweinsteiger

De Rossi

Witsel

People are always going on and on about how these players would be perfect in the 'double pivot' and to me they are all B2B midfielders. They can defend and they can create (whatever create means).

Seriously, creative is the most ambigous term in football. Everyone has different opinions about what 'creative' means and it starts arguements. The only term I hate more than 'creative' is 'free flowing'. What the fuck does 'free flowing' mean? I remember someone said that Chelsea played 'free flowing' football in 09-10, but all I saw was robotic and efficient football that ended in a lot of goals. There was nothing different between 09-10 and 11-12 except for goals scored. So Malouda, Lampard and Drogba hitting the form of their careers make the team play 'free flowing' even though they played the same the seasibs before and after but with less of an end product?

/rant

I'm taking this to the pub.

Regarding the creative part, I think it's quite simple and you dont really have to make it that difficult.

Lets take Mikel as an example. He's a good example of a DM, but he isnt creative at all. WIth that I mean that his passing is just average, he doesnt have pace, he doesnt link up well with the midfielders and attack. Someone like Modric is the perfect example of a creative DM.

And the reason I think we need one of those is simply because Mikel has his ups and downs and doesnt really perform on a high level constantly. Essien is on the down. Romeu, well i dont know what the hell is going on with that lad, and Meireles is just average. With a creative DM our counters will be alot faster and we wouldnt have to stop and pass the ball around a numerous and unneccessary times or take too many touches (like Mikel usually does).

[Spike 12,049]

Regarding the creative part, I think it's quite simple and you dont really have to make it that difficult.

Lets take Mikel as an example. He's a good example of a DM, but he isnt creative at all. WIth that I mean that his passing is just average, he doesnt have pace, he doesnt link up well with the midfielders and attack. Someone like Modric is the perfect example of a creative DM.

And the reason I think we need one of those is simply because Mikel has his ups and downs and doesnt really perform on a high level constantly. Essien is on the down. Romeu, well i dont know what the hell is going on with that lad, and Meireles is just average. With a creative DM our counters will be alot faster and we wouldnt have to stop and pass the ball around a numerous and unneccessary times or take too many touches (like Mikel usually does).

Mata and Modric are both labled are 'creative' yet they are completely different players. Modric sits deep, dictates the tempo while Mata looks for the killer pass.

DOWN WITH ARCHAIC TERMINOLOGY

[Spike 12,049]

Man, creative is not difficult to precise: a passing play is creative when it's through or over an adverse line, when you play into the intervals, through space... When there's a clear intent to put rythm into it

I kind of understand what you are saying but the term is still too ambiguous for me, as there are different styls of 'cretivity'.

Also some of the words you have used don't quite seem to fit into what you are trying to say. I believe you have used the words 'precise', 'adverse' and 'interval' in the wrong context. You've used 'precise' as a verb when it's actually an adjective. Adverse mean 'hostile/antagonistic' and I'm not sure how a line can antagonise someone . I'm not sure what you mean by 'intervals' either, are you referring to the space between players or the space between the defence/midfield/attack?

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

Not that I'm denying his abilities but (like Fellaini), my concerns are on an eventual role in midfield in a big club. He's a decent defender but hasn't the tactical part, the reading of the trajectories etc... he likes to go forward but he's not creative, I think his last choices aren't that good and he's suite in front of goal. I wonder how he managed to put that shot on target yesterday considering quite often when he's in a shooting position at the end of the box, he produces a poor 15 year old effort

I broadly agree. Dembele is a very good player in the right system, but he's really a central midfielder in a system that doesn't have central midfielders (and is crowded with attacking midfielders). He's a bit like Ramires in that way. It's a moot point, because Chelsea are not going to buy any more midfielders. I think people see a very good performance and just instinctively want to buy that player but Dembele doesn't make any sense for Chelsea.

[Jase 43,479]

Every time a player like Dembele performs well against a big club, their thread here 'explodes' with some jumping into the bandwagon again.

Don't need Dembele. We need another striker and a creative deep lying playmaker now more than anything else.

[Stats 7,142]

Every time a player like Dembele performs well against a big club, their thread here 'explodes' with some jumping into the bandwagon again.

Don't need Dembele. We need another striker and a creative deep lying playmaker now more than anything else.

Dembele is a creative deep lying playmaker. Just brilliant at dribbling with the ball as well