Player Watch Player Watch: Dejan Kulusevski

[djhotspur]

Its funny against United he cut In and slowed down the play over and over.
the one time he didn’t we scored.

let’s hope he realises this!

Yeah. He looks shot of confidence though I think,
There were 2-3 moments he had martinez 1 on 1 and didn’t even try to do anything sort of just ran at him

 

[Gilzeanking]

Yeah. He looks shot of confidence though I think,
There were 2-3 moments he had martinez 1 on 1 and didn’t even try to do anything sort of just ran at him

Yep and this has been the case for a year now . Yes he contributed to Sarr's goal, but Utd left the entire wing free for him to run into the box.
What makes him look worse is that suddenly we have a supreme midfield with players in complete command of the ball, going past defenders etc....and Deki can't it seems.

Hope baldy get's someone in.

 

[theShiznit]

I feel that although he has great close control and can go inside and out, players know that due to his lack of speed and high propensity to cut inside, as long as they don't dive in and show him down the line he isn't really going to beat them even when isolated.

Still think he's a valuable player and could easily play inside IMO but it's a shame as if he had a yard more pace he could be better than Saka.

 

[southlondonyiddo]

I feel that although he has great close control and can go inside and out, players know that due to his lack of speed and high propensity to cut inside, as long as they don't dive in and show him down the line he isn't really going to beat them even when isolated.

Still think he's a valuable player and could easily play inside IMO but it's a shame as if he had a yard more pace he could be better than Saka.

His limitations now can only be due to past injuries

When he arrived he was fantastic and maybe a lot of it is down to his loss of gear change, currently

Never had any great pace to speak about but that mattered not, created space, got you off your seat, made things happen and created chance after chance

A shell of that player since his return

 

[bubble07]

He is just not as quick as when he first joined

 

[Timberwolf]

His limitations now can only be due to past injuries

When he arrived he was fantastic and maybe a lot of it is down to his loss of gear change, currently

Never had any great pace to speak about but that mattered not, created space, got you off your seat, made things happen and created chance after chance

A shell of that player since his return

Don't think it's an injury thing tbh.

When he arrived he was an unknown quantity, his confidence was at a peak and we were playing on the break so he had tons of space to work with.

Since then he's lost some confidence, teams know how to deal with him (or last season figured out Conte's predictable tactics) and now we're playing a more possession based system.

Reckon he needs to adjust his game to suit our new style and, hopefully, get his confidence up. Physically he looks the same as he ever did to me (and he looked great vs Shakhtar - like the Deki of old).

 

[theShiznit]

His limitations now can only be due to past injuries

When he arrived he was fantastic and maybe a lot of it is down to his loss of gear change, currently

Never had any great pace to speak about but that mattered not, created space, got you off your seat, made things happen and created chance after chance

A shell of that player since his return

Yeah he can seemingly no longer lure a defender into trying to get a foot in it seems, which is/was his main way of beating his opponents.

Hopefully with a bit more sharpness he can regain some form and confidence.

 

[easley91]

9 times out of 10 he will look to cut inside and cross or shoot. As much as I love Deki and I think he's great, he has become predictable in his attacking decisions.

 

[SCUMmucs]

If he goes on the outside more often he will eventually be able to bring the cut back and shoot to his game.

 

[Gilzeanking]

Reckon he needs to adjust his game to suit our new style and, hopefully, get his confidence up. Physically he looks the same as he ever did to me (and he looked great vs Shakhtar - like the Deki of old).

Yes, he did have a magic 20 mins, but not since. An inability to recover from an injury would rather fit with what we are seeing, but no mention of it and he keeps getting picked, so mebbe he's great in training, cos in matches you get the feeling we could do better imo.

 

[SCUMmucs]

I also wonder if actually Son Richy and Kulu just need time to adapt to the new system.

essentially everything they used to do is no longer wanted by Ange. Think a few more games should show if there is any signs of them finding their feet.

listening to the a podcast there was a coach saying it’s harder to get attackers to adapt than defenders and maybe that’s what we are already seeing.

 

[Timberwolf]

Yes, he did have a magic 20 mins, but not since. An inability to recover from an injury would rather fit with what we are seeing, but no mention of it and he keeps getting picked, so mebbe he's great in training, cos in matches you get the feeling we could do better imo.

I think that could be the case, but reckon it's also partly because we don't have too many options on the right side. Solomon, Son and Perisic are all better off the left and Kulu's the only specialist left-footer of the bunch.

I'm surprised Solomon hasn't come on for him more in the first 2 games as he looked good on the right in pre-season, but playing him on that side really diminishes his goal-threat as he's so great at curling in shots with his right foot.

 

[Whazam]

He also cut in several times and got into good shooting positions. And he definitely went on the outside more times than the time we scored. I also don't think his work rate and positional discipline should be underrated, especially not when playing with Porro.

I think his biggest problem right now is his final ball. All his crosses seem to be slightly, slightly over hit (they always dive just when they have passed the attacker), his shooting lacks conviction, and he doesn't seem to trust that his teammates will show up in the box when he is about to pass it in on the ground.

With all that said, I'd be happy to see Solomon get more minutes in the coming games.

 

[BorjeSpurs]

Really value this guy's opinion, has good knowledge of the game in general.

Kulu loves to have no one behind him and really take his time dribbling without any pressure from behind, which makes me somewhat sceptical but I wouldn’t mind us trying it out.

 

[jonnyp]

Really value this guy's opinion, y good knowledge of the game in general.

Kulu loves to have no one behind him and really take his time dribbling without any pressure from behind, which makes me somewhat sceptical but I wouldn’t mind us trying it out.

Except his passing has been subpar for a year and his shooting is usually a pass back to the keeper.

 

[BorjeSpurs]

Except his passing has been subpar for a year and his shooting is usually a pass back to the keeper.

Thanks for your input jonnyp.

 

[Hotspur88]

Really value this guy's opinion, has good knowledge of the game in general.

Kulu loves to have no one behind him and really take his time dribbling without any pressure from behind, which makes me somewhat sceptical but I wouldn’t mind us trying it out.

Yeah the guy is very knowledgeable, has hit the nail on the head several times previously with players who have exploded onto the scene. I think most on here would like to see Kulusevski in the #8 role, he seems to have all the attributes needed.

 

[jonnyp]

Thanks for your input jonnyp.

You think his passing and shooting for the past year has been good? I would agree if Kulu was playing like he did during his first half season but he hasn't been good for a long time IMO.

 

[djhotspur]

Yeah the guy is very knowledgeable, has hit the nail on the head several times previously with players who have exploded onto the scene. I think most on here would like to see Kulusevski in the #8 role, he seems to have all the attributes needed.

Yeah I agree but issue is lo celso is quality back up already.

 

[WiganSpur]

The most important thing about Kulu is that he's got a good brain on him. I have no doubt he will be fine, I honestly think he just needs to adapt to the tactics and find the right position and role in the team.