Player Watch: Dejan Kulusevski

[fishhhandaricecake]

He looked shattered tonight and wasn't his usual self.

True. He’s been phenomenal lately but looked tired today.

Do wish he’d put a few early cross / first time balls in now and again though he’s becoming quite predictable cutting back everytime slowing it down until 3-4 men around him.

 

[only1waddle]

True. He’s been phenomenal lately but looked tired today.

Do wish he’d put a few early cross / first time balls in now and again though he’s becoming quite predictable cutting back everytime slowing it down until 3-4 men around him.

If it's not his game then when does it stop becoming his fault and start becoming tactically stubborn not to switch Kulu onto his favoured foot vs a low block.
Granted our options are limited at this moment with next to no other wide options, I'm guessing Ange will be making one a priority in Jan.

 

[dannythomas]

Much better in midfield I think. Porro crosses the ball way better than Kulu.

 

[bubble07]

I wonder if he played on the left would he actually cross the ball.

My thoughts exactly. An issue I have with ange is he isn't trying it

 

[chas vs dave]

I wonder if he played on the left would he actually cross the ball.

I've been saying it for a while, I'd like to see him play on the left a bit more. Maybe move porro to rw.

 

[djhotspur]

He was poor but that's unfair on him. He has been excellent up until tonight.

Probably exhausted from doing the most leg work in the team.

But he hasn’t. He barely scores, he barely assists, he constantly ruins attacks in great positions. He’s so predictable,
If other top wingers constantly got the ball in the space he gets they would have a field day.
If we want to just challenge for some element of Europe then he’s fine but we’ll never be a top side with wingers like deki.

 

[Nick-TopSpursMan]

But he hasn’t. He barely scores, he barely assists, he constantly ruins attacks in great positions. He’s so predictable,
If other top wingers constantly got the ball in the space he gets they would have a field day.
If we want to just challenge for some element of Europe then he’s fine but we’ll never be a top side with wingers like deki.

He can’t be considered a winger. If we play him wide right then Porro has to rotate more with him on that side and we HAVE to deploy an explosive 1v1 dribbler on the opposite flank. It’s the only way it can work.

Deki should be used more like Bernardo Silva.

 

[Yantino]

My thoughts exactly. An issue I have with ange is he isn't trying it

Last night was screaming out to switch the two wide men, just to give it a try. neither Johnson nor Kulu were having any success where they were.

 

[muppetman]

He seems to be a little lacking in confidence, which is weird. Sort of feel that if he had the mentality to assume he's the best, he could just bully his way through. He's physically strong, able to twist and turn and shoot well. But, he doesn't seem to have the confidence to just go for it!

Not sure if it's instructional from Ange, but the constant slowing down, looking at all options, before passing it backwards is really not what we need.

I wish he's stop hesitating, trust himself and make it happen, because he has all the ability in the world to do so.

 

[djhotspur]

He seems to be a little lacking in confidence, which is weird. Sort of feel that if he had the mentality to assume he's the best, he could just bully his way through. He's physically strong, able to twist and turn and shoot well. But, he doesn't seem to have the confidence to just go for it!

Not sure if it's instructional from Ange, but the constant slowing down, looking at all options, before passing it backwards is really not what we need.

I wish he's stop hesitating, trust himself and make it happen, because he has all the ability in the world to do so.

Him cutting back onto his left is fine but his quality of ball is awful, he used to be so dangerous with that cut back cross.
Saka uses that as a weapon constantly and puts it in such dangerous areas and it’s lead to so many goals. Kulu doesn’t seem to do that any more

 

[thebenjamin]

He seems to be a little lacking in confidence, which is weird. Sort of feel that if he had the mentality to assume he's the best, he could just bully his way through. He's physically strong, able to twist and turn and shoot well. But, he doesn't seem to have the confidence to just go for it!

Not sure if it's instructional from Ange, but the constant slowing down, looking at all options, before passing it backwards is really not what we need.

I wish he's stop hesitating, trust himself and make it happen, because he has all the ability in the world to do so.

He doesn't strike a great ball. That's the confidence issue I think and why he turns down so many shooting opportunities. He doesn't have much power in his ball striking, nor can he really whip a ball. His best crosses are generally flat and off the laces rather than whipped round like Porro can do. This is why I can't understand the calls to play him on the left, he's not suddenly going to be curling sweet crosses round the back of defences like David Beckham, he doesn't have that ability.

 

[whenstevewentup]

He slowed down every attack we had , allowed West Ham to regroup and end any hope of creating a chance , i much prefer him as a 10 .

 

[spurs mental]

Him cutting back onto his left is fine but his quality of ball is awful, he used to be so dangerous with that cut back cross.
Saka uses that as a weapon constantly and puts it in such dangerous areas and it’s lead to so many goals. Kulu doesn’t seem to do that any more

Can't exactly cross it to Son to header though.

Agree he needs to do more when cutting back to he's far from our biggest issue currently in my opinion.

 

[thebenjamin]

I think the inverted full back system doesn't necessarily help him. He really needs Porro outside him rather than inside.

 

[13VanDerBale13]

I think the inverted full back system doesn't necessarily help him. He really needs Porro outside him rather than inside.

he doesn’t help himself, porro has been excellent

 

[thebenjamin]

he doesn’t help himself, porro has been excellent

I agree. Porro's the best crosser of a ball at the club. So it would make sense sometimes to have him in the widest position with the space to cross.

 

[13VanDerBale13]

I agree. Porro's the best crosser of a ball at the club. So it would make sense sometimes to have him in the widest position with the space to cross.

I honestly wouldn’t mind playing him RW & Kulu dropping to CAM

 

[McFlash]

Trouble was yesterday, West Ham were deep and whenever he got the ball, the box was pretty crowded and let's face it, Sonny is shit with his head.
He was superb against Man City and went outside much more but I'm not sure the chances were there to do so yesterday.

It was a tad disappointing yesterday but I think it's a bit harsh to blame that all on him, the opposition and the options he was given didn't help him at all.
When he does cut back into his left and his out ball is to PEH, that's pretty much the end of that move.

We need to get out of this habit of knee-jerk scapegoating single players after one performance because Deki seems to have gone from "amazing" to "not good enough" in less than a week.

 

[ultimateloner]

Him cutting back onto his left is fine but his quality of ball is awful, he used to be so dangerous with that cut back cross.
Saka uses that as a weapon constantly and puts it in such dangerous areas and it’s lead to so many goals. Kulu doesn’t seem to do that any more

Don't compare him to Saka. It's unfair. Saka has the potential to be worldclass.

 

[ultimateloner]

Deki is better off-the-ball than he is on-the-ball. His work rate, desire to attack the ball from deep and strength are all elite. His crossing/finishing/dribbling/speed are not.

He is better on the transition than he is against a low-block, and it's obvious that he is bought for Conte's system.

There's no point blaming him for what he is not good at. He may improve in those areas but who knows.

What is more meaningful is whether Ange can move provide some help from the midfield in light of our scoring problems up front. Give Bissouma more play-making responsibilities and make PEH a pure anchor? Or let Bissouma play DM alone and get PEH into the box to get more men forward?