Surprise surprise, motivated Dembele produces MOTM performance

Surprise surprise, a motivated Dembele produces a Man of the Match performance. The question has to be asked of him why can you produce that type of performance one week and the mediocrity we see in other weeks?

The key to getting the best out of any player is in their heads, if you know what motivates them you can press that button, if you don't you leave it to luck and chance. Mousa Dembele gave the game away against Leeds United in the FA Cup of 2013 I think it was when he said he wasn't motivated.

He has had a lack of game time because he has not been effective. He was moved to the right to see if he could do a job, he could, but it would never be a job to the level that would make a difference for us. He is a central midfielder, but because he won't go past Harry Kane he and Eriksen together are a big problem, they stop us creating chances.

His best position in our system is as the holding defensive midfielder, the Eric Dier role, as opposed to the link player, the Ryan Mason role. The Dier, Dembele, Eriksen trio are not going to work either, at least not to the level that makes us a serious threat to teams, Dembele and Eriksen will both stay behind the ball, we'll have no midfield runners at all and be easier to defend against, we won't create many chances.

“For me, it was very frustrating to have an injury and last season I did not have a lot of games, to be honest. The position I play in is something between me and the gaffer that we need to sort out. 

“In the beginning of the season I was on the right and I feel I had some good games. But after that I had my injury and I was very happy in this central midfield position – but it depends on what tactics we play and on the opponents. 

“I knew the Liverpool game was a big opportunity for me but I did not lose sleep over it as I have confidence in myself. 

“We still think we can finish in the top four, otherwise we wouldn’t bother to play. Of course we have a good chance to do it.”

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