Tottenham repair guide: How Pochettino can fix each Spurs star

Mousa Dembele

With the Belgian midfielder, it’s a question of whether or not you can really teach an old dog new tricks. If Pochettino can, it could yield huge dividends for the club.

The new tricks that Dembele needs to learn all would occur in the opposition half. He consistently flashes the ability to glide past defenders with ease, but it seldom pays off in anything tangible for his club.

Pochettino and the rest of the staff need to teach Dembele how to pierce the defense and create chances for his teammates. Right now, he’s capable of an occasional strike from distance, but that’s about it. Just think about it, can you ever remember Dembele taking a ball all the way to a one v one with the keeper? I think not.

He could also stand to work harder to play further up the pitch with his back to goal. There’s no reason his holdup play couldn’t work to unlock some additional opportunities for his attacking teammates.

Tottenham fans may have to accept that Dembele is just the player now that he’s always going to be. It’s still fun to dream that he can improve though.