The downfall of Dembélé

In his press conference yesterday, Mauricio Pochettino was asked for updates on the condition of Mousa Dembélé’s ankle. Would he, on the off chance, be available for Tottenham’s weekend jaunt up to West Yorkshire, they enquired.

It’s impossible for him to play, was the Argentine’s unequivocal verdict.

For a man who was once recognised by his manager as the lifeblood of modern Spurs— ‘one of my genius players’, he said back in March—this is a troubling development.

Dembélé has started just three games for the North London club this season. He was last spotted leaving the field against Barnsley last Wednesday, after 79 minutes of reserved enterprise.

Even against a mediocre Championship side, the Belgian looked physically encumbered. He made simple work of pirouetting and ghosting through his markers, but not quite with the same speed and effortlessness as we’re used to.

If we’re to take Pochettino’s optimistic view that this latest issue wouldn’t be a serious one, there still remains the lingering sense that we might have seen the last of Dembélé at the peak of his powers.

King comparisons

Indeed, this summer, the former-Fulham midfielder admitted that he’d never play at 100% fitness again. Not an entirely controversial statement for a man in his 30s. But the idea that he would forever be burdened by the pain his foot, was a familiar, worrying tale. Far too reminiscent of another elite performer, slowed down by the weight of a long-term injury. Ledley King.

‘It is so important to manage him properly’, said Pochettino this week. Words that could easily have been Harry Redknapp’s, circa. 2010. Memories of the former captain, never training, swimming alone in Daniel Levy’s private pool.

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Sissoko surge

As if aware that one star could be on the fade; there, tumbling through the cosmos, emerges another. Moussa Sissoko. It’s perhaps too soon to be talking about paying back transfer fees; the three steady performances he’s managed so far in lilywhite, weren’t so good that you’d value them at £10m a pop.

But it’s a start. My word it’s a start.

Sissoko always talked of his dreams of playing in the Champions League. You imagine he told his Newcastle teammates every week that his talents were far too extraordinary to be slumming it in a relegation dogfight. He needed to be among Europe’s elite.

Finally, on Tuesday night, the Frenchman showed the competition what it was missing. Yes, he was only faced by the might of the Cypriot First Division and surely tougher tests will come than APOEL. But did you see his efforts against Bayer Leverkusen last season?

In Nicosia, Sissoko looked leaner, stronger and more dynamic than he ever has in a Spurs shirt. A glimpse of the player Pochettino thought he had purchased last summer. With Victor Wanyama and Dembélé both sidelined at least until next month, this dramatic spike in form couldn’t have been better timed.

Can he keep it up?