Mousa Dembele shows it's not all about Gareth Bale at Spurs

 
P66 Daniel Sturridge
Tom Collomosse11 March 2013

Liverpool 3-2 Tottenham

The recent performances of Gareth Bale have overshadowed the importance of some of his team-mates, yet Mousa Dembele is just as vital to this Tottenham side as the Welshman.

While Bale is peerless in the squad for the goals he scores and creates, Dembele is also unique at the club. No other midfielder is able to unite strength, technique and vision like the 25-year-old, which is why his fitness must be managed with the utmost care.

Since returning from a month-long absence with a hip injury to come on as a substitute against Lazio in Rome last November, Dembele has started 19 of the 23 matches Spurs have played. He was left out of two FA Cup games, one Europa League encounter and a single Premier League fixture.

All of those appearances have been in central midfield, until yesterday’s defeat at Liverpool, when Dembele started on the right because Aaron Lennon was out through injury. Deploying Dembele in this role is not the best way to unleash his potential and yet, drifting inside, he was at the heart of Spurs’ best attacking work.

At Anfield, Dembele showed again he can tackle as well as Scott Parker and also offered far more menace when possession was regained. Although Gylfi Sigurdsson is improving, he does not quite have Dembele’s explosive ability to burst past opponents. Lewis Holtby has fine control and uses the ball wisely, yet lacks Dembele’s strength when challenged.

It seemed strange that Holtby, who has started his Spurs career with promise, was left on the bench, while the limited Jake Livermore made his first start since last October. With Holtby on either the left or the right, Dembele could have started in his usual position alongside Parker.

To lose Dembele for any significant period could do serious damage to Spurs’ hopes of finishing in the top four to secure Champions League football. It is why the Belgian should be left out of the starting XI when Spurs, protecting a 3-0 advantage from the first leg at White Hart Lane, try to reach the last eight of the Europa League at the expense of Inter Milan on Thursday.

By all means have him on the bench but this is surely a game where Dembele can be given a breather, perhaps allowing Holtby to play as one of the deep central midfielders in a 4-2-3-1 – a job the German has done for his former clubs, Schalke and Mainz.

Dembele’s first season at Spurs has not always been rosy. He has scored only twice in 31 matches and his form dipped slightly in mid-season. His qualities suggest, though, that Tottenham would struggle without him. The club sold both Luka Modric and Rafael van der Vaart last summer. Not only has Dembele taken over their playmaking role, he has done plenty of defensive work, too, especially since a knee injury ruled out Sandro for the rest of the season in January.

Apart from his failure to track the run of Jose Enrique which was partly to blame for Liverpool’s first goal yesterday, Dembele’s performance at Anfield was classy and assertive. His only other significant mistake came after the final whistle, when he clashed with Liverpool players and was grateful for referee Michael Oliver’s lenience.

Andre Villas-Boas is likely to be harsher with his players for the defensive mistakes that cost them the game. Spurs led 2-1 after Jan Vertonghen scored twice to cancel out Luis Suarez’s opener but Kyle Walker and Hugo Lloris contrived to gift Stewart Downing the equaliser. Then, after Jermain Defoe’s poor attempted clearance, Benoit Assou-Ekotto brought down Suarez for a penalty that Steven Gerrard converted.

“We lost control of the game when things looked to be going our way,” said Villas-Boas. “It was more due to our mistakes than Liverpool’s merit. Hopefully, it can serve as an example to move forward.”

During the first seven months of the season, Tottenham have shown they have the skill and stamina to match their rivals. For the remaining two, they need to show the strength of mind required to get over the finishing line.

Villas-Boas’s side have passed nearly all the tests handed to them in 2013, establishing a seven-point gap over fifth-placed Arsenal in the process. The first defeat after a long unbeaten run always presents a challenge and Villas-Boas’s principal task is to ensure any self-doubt is quickly banished.

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