Player Watch: Dejan Kulusevski

[guy]

How many of those seasons was Richy playing consistently as a 9? And how many was he playing as a winger for really shit and defensive teams?

It's great waving stats about to try and make a point but it's never really that simple.

I'm relying on the old fashioned eye test. Deki is a better all-round footballer, anyone who disagrees with that is is clueless.

I never saw anything in Richi before spurs and my opinion hasn't changed.

 

[McFlash]

I'm relying on the old fashioned eye test. Deki is a better all-round footballer, anyone who disagrees with that is is clueless.

I never saw anything in Richi before spurs and my opinion hasn't changed.

The old fashioned eye test is great, unless your vision is skewed by preconceived bias.
Richy may not be a world beater but he's a pretty decent striker.
Deki is also a pretty decent player but also has flaws to his game that are pretty obvious.

Nobody who disagrees with your opinion is "clueless", that's just a ridiculous thing to say.

 

[Trix]

I'm relying on the old fashioned eye test. Deki is a better all-round footballer, anyone who disagrees with that is is clueless.

I never saw anything in Richi before spurs and my opinion hasn't changed.

Hmmm I'm a massive supporter of the eye test over stats, but I don't agree with you here. He's better at some things but not as good at others. Deki is better with the ball from a technical POV and I think that's what you mean, but there is a lot more to a footballer than just on the ball technical ability.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

I'm relying on the old fashioned eye test. Deki is a better all-round footballer, anyone who disagrees with that is is clueless.

I never saw anything in Richi before spurs and my opinion hasn't changed.

So wrong, Richy much better player than Deki.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Sell Deki if it means we can sign 2 top class well suited new wingers to play in Ange’s system.

 

[RuskyM]

I kind of feel like if we were linked to another 24-year-old player of Deki's quality and his stats then we'd all be excited.

 

[coy-spurs1882]

Sell Deki if it means we can sign 2 top class well suited new wingers to play in Ange’s system.

should do this regardless of selling Kulusevski or not...

 

[dontcallme]

I kind of feel like if we were linked to another 24-year-old player of Deki's quality and his stats then we'd all be excited.

We would, but that’s without the knowledge of how he’d fit into the team.

I dont think most question his ability, work rate or attitude. It’s whether a winger lacking pace can fit into how Ange wants us to play or if there’s a different role that would suit him and the team.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

Hmmm I'm a massive supporter of the eye test over stats, but I don't agree with you here. He's better at some things but not as good at others. Deki is better with the ball from a technical POV and I think that's what you mean, but there is a lot more to a footballer than just on the ball technical ability.

Especially for the striker role. The example I always go back to is Filippo Inzaghi, to quote Johan Cruyff "He can't play football at all. He's just always in the right position". His technique was dreadful, he was slow, he was often offside hence Sir Alex's joke about him being "born offside" and if you saw him with the ball anywhere other then the box during a game he would almost look like a fan had snuck onto the pitch in a kit. But when he was inside the box he was deadly. His positional awareness, tactical understanding and movement was absolutely world class. He was in equal measure baffling, infuriating and remarkable.

Point is that you can have all the technical ability in the world but that alone won't make you a good player.

 

[BorjeSpurs]

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

Sell Deki if it means we can sign 2 top class well suited new wingers to play in Ange’s system.

No way is he gonna be sold mate. For a start I can't see any team offering the fee that it would take to sign him. But most importantly he has got a really important role to play in the squad with his versatility, workrate, technical ability and tactical understanding. The fact he can play anywhere in the 5 attacking midfield and forward positions means he's invaluable. He'll get plenty of gametime next season even if we do sign two new wingers.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

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Glad my thoughts are clear I hope Ange agrees.

 

[felmani26]

No way is he gonna be sold mate. For a start I can't see any team offering the fee that it would take to sign him. But most importantly he has got a really important role to play in the squad with his versatility, workrate, technical ability and tactical understanding. The fact he can play anywhere in the 5 attacking midfield and forward positions means he's invaluable. He'll get plenty of gametime next season even if we do sign two new wingers.

This versatility is a bit overplayed.

He's been deployed in a few roles granted but hasn't excelled or had a meaningful sample size in any bar RW in which he was found largely wanting in Ange's system as opposed to on the counter under Conte.

I'm not oblivious to his attributes however and I do think his best role could be potentially be deputising as a false 9 or at least being able to hold up the ball and run the channels but this is based on assumption as quite patently he's not a great fit and by extension, he's an asset we'd be open to offers on.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

should do this regardless of selling Kulusevski or not...

V true

 

[DannyNZ]

This versatility is a bit overplayed.

He's been deployed in a few roles granted but hasn't excelled or had a meaningful sample size in any bar RW in which he was found largely wanting in Ange's system as opposed to on the counter under Conte.

I'm not oblivious to his attributes however and I do think his best role could be potentially be deputising as a false 9 or at least being able to hold up the ball and run the channels but this is based on assumption as quite patently he's not a great fit and by extension, he's an asset we'd be open to offers on.

I also think the tactical awareness is a bit of a myth as well. Playing off that RW Kulu just would not make the back post runs that Johnson does. That is a big part of the role of a wide attacker in the Ange system but for whatever reason a Kulu just wouldn’t make those runs, that’s not tactical awareness that’s frustrating.

 

[mil1lion]

I like our business of selling or releasing this summer so far. That gives me confidence we don't need to sell Kulusevski. I would rather see us sell or release/loan Gil, Soloman and GLC. That should free space for non homegrown incomings. Give him 1 more year to find himself and review again next summer. This window is more about clearing those who are definitely not a good fit or barely playing for Ange. Kulusevski is involved a lot, he doesn't get injured much either and clearly a player Ange likes which is all that matters. He will be helpful to Bergvall settling in I'm sure so thats a bonus.

 

[McFlash]

I like our business of selling or releasing this summer so far. That gives me confidence we don't need to sell Kulusevski. I would rather see us sell or release/loan Gil, Soloman and GLC. That should free space for non homegrown incomings. Give him 1 more year to find himself and review again next summer. This window is more about clearing those who are definitely not a good fit or barely playing for Ange. Kulusevski is involved a lot, he doesn't get injured much either and clearly a player Ange likes which is all that matters. He will be helpful to Bergvall settling in I'm sure so thats a bonus.

I think Solomon deserves another season, it'd be incredibly harsh to bin him off yet and at present, he's the only winger we've got who offers a different skillset.

 

[npearl4spurs]

He’s a good player with useful qualities who really enjoys it at Spurs. You don’t sell those players easily

 

[Enzo]

We are continuing to raise the squad bar, if we get to the point where Kulu is deemed dispensable (there always has to be a fall guy right?), then we are in a very good place.

I really like him, but he does need to up his game.

 

[mil1lion]

I think Solomon deserves another season, it'd be incredibly harsh to bin him off yet and at present, he's the only winger we've got who offers a different skillset.

Kulusevski also offers something different so if it came down to the 2 I'm keeping Kulusevski all day long. Soloman is non homegrown and a massive risk now. No issue keeping him but just in terms of priority I'm looking to offload him over Kulusevski.