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One incident shows why Mason is preferred to Dembele

There was a moment that summed up how some Spurs players approach a game of football and why Pochettino has had to change their mental approach.


On 82 minutes Spurs broke and Harry Kane ran at the Manchester United defence. Ryan Mason sprinted forward, ran past the ball carrier and Kane played a superb ball between the defenders to create a glorious chance. Apart from the finishing nothing wrong there, that's exactly what Pochettino has had to change.

If you watch the replay again look to Kane's right and Mousa Dembele running forward. He is not sprinting, has no intention of running past the ball carrier and hangs back to give a safe backward pass. What Kane needed, if possible is a player running beyond him on his right, pulling a defender with him and giving him options.

That approach has been the problem with our midfield this season until the last month. We have not had off the ball movement but more importantly we have not had runners going beyond the ball carrier so there has been nobody in the box and no passes to create chances. It's why we have lost four home games this season.

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That one incident demonstrates the difference, do what the head coach wants or do what is in the players comfort zone. That one incident shows why Mason is in the side and Dembele isn't. He is great at what he does but he wants to be behind the ball all the time. If that had been Christian Eriksen he would have been sprinting forward to Kane's right wanting to create space to perhaps score himself.

It's an incident some of the players could learn from.


7 comments

  1. Utter rubbish.. masons finish was appalling and yet you writean article about a player who has never been played in his best position or given any confidence by dim shithead. Mason is a future hull player just like townsend rose and naughton
  2. Mason is a future star him and kane r more up for it just what we need the rest r lazy of the ball
  3. I think Poch's methods are bearing fruit now, and all that is missing is a bit more quality in the line up. If we buy wisely in January, the player's supreme fitness could see Spurs take everyone by surprise in the closing fixtures and nick a CL spot.
  4. The finish is irrelevant to the point. With Stambouli providing the cover Dembele didn't want to get into a scoring position, Mason did. Clearly shows two different mentalities, one has a winning mentality, one doesn't.
  5. But an intelligent one.
  6. I think you are masons agent CLIVE he is terrible
  7. Pochettino disagrees with you and I think his qualifications entitle him to say he knows more about a playes ability and whether he can play to the instructions he provides. The fact that he is continually picked and our performance level went sharply down when he was injured recently shows his value.