In terms of giving away possession due to being dispossessed or having unsuccessfull touches, he's not statistically worse than Kane, Son or Lucas. Haven't checked the passing stats though, but I imagine they'll be quite similar.
Good point, but there are many who watch him regularly who are less than impressed. Maybe he is failing to live up to the high standards he set during his 1st and 2nd season.So many finding fault with Dele yet two Top Managers, one arguably the most successful of the modern era, always select him when he is fit. I wonder what they see that the criticisers don't ?
There are many who watch him regularly that fall into confirmation bias. They’ve decided he’s not good enough and so they see the times he makes a mistake with far greater clarity than the times he doesn’t.Good point, but there are many who watch him regularly who are less than impressed. Maybe he is failing to live up to the high standards he set during his 1st and 2nd season.
For me the whole story is in what Jose's done with him in the past few months:
1.)1st few games he plays him as a second striker, almost as high as Kane. Alli flourishes and looks like he did under Poch in the same role. Everyone is happy.
2.) Jose realises playing 2 up top with our squad is unsustainable as we're conceding at least 2 goals per game. He realises he has to drop Dele deeper to compensate.
3.) Back in his deeper role Dele reverts to late-era Poch form, giving the ball away cheaply and not moving the ball quickly. He gets the odd goal/assist but at a lower rate and the team (arguably) looks better without him in it.
He's excellent as a second striker/9 1/2 but you have to basically build the whole team around him and is he good enough for that? Personally I don't think so. In that slightly deeper midfield role I think we'd be far better served playing the likes of Lo Celso and Ndombele or someone who adds to the cohesion of the team rather than taking away from it.
I don't think we should necessarily sell him but I no longer think he should be a guaranteed starter. Especially in games where we're struggling to retain the ball. He should be used based on the opposition and we should play to his strengths, not shoe horn him into a role where he's not as effective to the detriment of the team.
Dele bad the majority of times.. really?
Honestly I wonder if I’m watch the same football as other
Forget Kane as he right up top, battling against CB's for possession in duels, playing the furthest up the pitch in a completely different position.
For comparison with Son and Lucas in the PL as our main attacking threats, bearing in mind I don't think Lucas is good enough to start either, he's another squad player imo:
Pass Accuracy
Son 85.4%
Alli 76.6%
Lucas 74.4%
Dispossessed pg
Lucas 1.9
Son 1.9
Alli 1.8
Poor Touches pg
Son 2.3
Alli 2.2
Lucas 1.8
Dribbles pg
Son 2.4
Lucas 1.7
Alli 1.5
Key Passes pg
Son 1.4
Alli 1.1
Lucas 1
So Son has far superior passing accuracy but he also delivers more creative/key passes.
Son dribbles far more than Alli or Lucas yet has almost the same dispossessed rate and poor touches rate. This means that coming to the natural conclusion that as a wide player, Son is taking people on much more often, he will naturally lose the ball sometimes.
But for Lucas (who has played central quite a bit) and especially Alli, they are losing the ball at the same rate despite not taking people on as often, which means their general play (dallying on the ball, standing still with it, getting caught in possession, etc) and passing is giving the ball away instead.
So at least when Son does give it away, it's almost certainly because he is trying to take people on and get past players, which is one of the tasks of a wing forward.
Came on and looked a level above everyone.Can the ‘Dele isn’t good enough’ chat fuck off now?
I don’t get this...surely you are a fan of players that pull on the shirt and give it their all?I'm not a Dele fan but he played well today, I hope he plays like that more often.
I don’t get this...surely you are a fan of players that pull on the shirt and give it their all?
Can the ‘Dele isn’t good enough’ chat fuck off now?