Dembele Injured?

[Berserker]

Somebody on the Offal said Dembele has been injured, anybody know anything about it or were they doing a wind up?

[zzamora]

Its the offal.

'nuff said.

[Mr Fulham]

He was injured during the last month, this is why he played so poorly.

[Fernhurst]

He's not been the player we bought since that thug took him out at Stoke.

Good luck playing for that lot Wilson

[b+w geezer]

He's not been the player we bought since that thug took him out at Stoke.

He'd done nothing for the preceding 89 minutes though. Meeting two locals beforehand I'd built him up, but he was a woeful on the night as everyone else and they wondered afterwards what I'd been thinking of. It was the first sign he wasn't the messiah after all.

[Fernhurst]

But his confidence was high in the preceding games not to mention the goals he had scored.

[TonyGilroy]

He's not been the player we bought since that thug took him out at Stoke.

He'd done nothing for the preceding 89 minutes though. Meeting two locals beforehand I'd built him up, but he was a woeful on the night as everyone else and they wondered afterwards what I'd been thinking of. It was the first sign he wasn't the messiah after all.

I was telling people he was the next Thierri Henry.

His problem seems to be that he can't cope with being crowded out. An inability to make space. I'd play him on the wing.

[NorthernWhite]

There was an artie in the Dutch press this morning confirming in an interview with Dembele that he's only 70% fit but that he felt no after effects of the kneeminjury after Saturday.

Hopefully once he's fully fit we'll see the Dembele the began so well for us last season.

[rhyspabsolom]

His problem seems to be that he can't cope with being crowded out. An inability to make space. I'd play him on the wing.

I'm not so sure.
The way I've been seeing it is that he draws in 2/3/more players around him and rarely loses the ball (thanks to his lovely tekkers).
Once he learns when/which is the perfect pass then he can create space for Deuce/anyone else nearby which could prove invaluable to unlocking defences.

[TonyGilroy]

I think we're saying the same thing. Defenders get close and Dembele can't emerge with the ball to do anything useful with it. Getting rid quicker would be a solution but the end result is that too often when he gets the ball it leads nowhere.

On the wing he won't normally attract 2 or 3 opponents and if he does a simple ball inside should find teammates with room.

[richie17]

I think we're saying the same thing. Defenders get close and Dembele can't emerge with the ball to do anything useful with it. Getting rid quicker would be a solution but the end result is that too often when he gets the ball it leads nowhere.

On the wing he won't normally attract 2 or 3 opponents and if he does a simple ball inside should find teammates with room.

probably needs the duff role then, so he can cut inside and shoot.  He hasn't really seemed to take to being wide on the left so perhaps this is the solution.   We were talking about this the other day.  A friend of mine thinks he slows down play too much, I think he just doesn't have the options because the rest of the team a) don't have Zamora as a fulcrum and b) aren't moving very well off the ball.  Perhaps, like most things, both are true to an extent.

[b+w geezer]

probably needs the duff role then, so he can cut inside and shoot. 

What seemed so exciting initially was his potential -- as it seemed -- for beating defenders where it most mattered, in advanced central areas of the pitch. Instead it too often happens in no-man's land, with no onward connection to danger areas, but just a regroup. Starting out wide you'd have to hope there'd be more momentum and purpose to his forays: that he'd make more of a beeline and conclude with a shot or an interesting pass. And maybe he would -- I do agree there'd be a chance. However, if the rival to Duff (on current merit his reserve), then our central options are even less numerous.

[AlFayedsChequebook]

Dembele does a lot of running along the 18 yrd line, in front of the defence.

If we had a stiker who made runs into the box, rather than the more static Zamora, I reckon his assist count would sky-rocket as he slides balls into the box for the onrushing attacker (Cisse, hopefully)