Ousmane Dembélé

[JohnN]

Disclaimer: Dembele is better than all of our wingers.
He is insanely fast and a great dribbler. He creates many chances for others.

Having established that...

Can you see his weaknesses?

Let me explain:
The good:

The bad:

and the ugly:

These are not one offs that you could find for any player. He is consistently missing big chances, and also consistently doing stupid things.

As for his injury record:

Age 26, 22/23 89 days, 19 games missed
Age 25, 21/22 159 days, 29 games missed
Age 24, 20/21 24 days, 6 games missed
Age 23, 19/20 294 days, 40 games missed
Age 22, 18/19 86 days, 18 games missed
Age 21, 17/18 132 days, 31 games missed

Since we like statistics, that is an average of 130 days per season injured and 23 games missed per season. A season is about 62 games if a team plays in league, cup (all the way to the final) and CL (all the way to the final).

So in average, for the best case scenario, he participates in about 60% of games. He is closer to averaging lower than 50% of games in reality.

Let's consider some other factors too:

1. A fact that cannot be actually measured properly using stats, is that he is a big game flop, or a flat track bully. Having his worst games in the bigger occasion consistently.

2. Speed for men peaks about 24–26. Football peak for forwards is around early to mid, (perhaps even late) twenties. Not late twenties for footballers who rely mostly on speed.

Taking all that into consideration, when is Dembele gonna set the world on fire?

By the end of this season he will be 27.
If he manages to avoid injuries for the next 3 years and starts actually scoring his chances, he might be able to up his level to world class for that period of time.

Until then he will remain a prospect. A prospect of age 26.

 

[OVI9323]

Camavinga injured for 6 weeks by Dembele... Good now tchaouameni agent Dembouz

 

[Birdy]

Just trying to understand that list. https://football-observatory.com/WeeklyPost439

Dembele is the one who has the most key passes (2.45) per 90 (passes that lead to shots that don't go in). At the same time his expected assists is only 0.27.

Sané who is second has 1.62 key passes and his xA is 0.46. Doesn't that mean Sané creates better chances than Dembele?
Fewer passes and higher xA = quality>quantity?

Key passes is not quantity.
From the 2 CL games and few highlights I have watched this season, Dembele is crucial in how they attack.
He receives the ball out wide at RW, dribbles, attracts at least 2 players close to him, and then releases with precise key-passes Hakimi (most of the times) or a midfielder on an underlapping run close to the edge of the box, with time and space to assist the free man in the box to score.

 

[KingLeo10]

This lad really used the word precise and Dembele in the same sentence

He has the precision of a loose cannon

 

[Fati_Future_BallonDor]

This lad really used the word precise and Dembele in the same sentence

He has the precision of a loose cannon

to be fair in terms of passing he is precise, but his shots has to become more precise

 

[te amo barca]

This lad really used the word precise and Dembele in the same sentence

He has the precision of a loose cannon

Dembele’s passes to the wingback are really good I’ve only seen the same consistency to frequency ratio from Messi and De Bruyne

 

[Birdy]

Think of this:
Every top team has at least ONe transitional threat in attack that combines speed with dribbling

- Madrid has Vinicius and Rodrygo
- City have Doku and Haaland
- Arsenal have Saka and Martinelli
- Liverpool have Nunez, Salah and Diaz
- Spurs have Son and Kulusevski
- United have Rashford and Hojlund
- Chelsea have Jackson and Sterling
- Newcastle have Isak and Almiron
- Inter have Thuram and Lautaro
- Milan have Leao
- Bayern have Sane and Coman
- PSG have Dembele and Mbape, probably the most dangerous duo in transition

What do Barca have?
An granny Lewa that can't move, a Felix which is not quick and slows down play because that's his style,
a Raphdonkey that is not as fast as transition needs and can't dribble, a Lamine which is raw yet

Probably the closest we have to a transitional threat is Pedri... Which is depressing in itself

With Dembele the team was a different beast in transition. I miss him a lot already

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

to be fair in terms of passing he is precise, but his shots has to become more precise

How can someone pass accurately but never hit the net? It's pretty mind-blowing

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

Think of this:
Every top team has at least ONe transitional threat in attack that combines speed with dribbling

- Madrid has Vinicius and Rodrygo
- City have Doku and Haaland
- Arsenal have Saka and Martinelli
- Liverpool have Nunez, Salah and Diaz
- Spurs have Son and Kulusevski
- United have Rashford and Hojlund
- Chelsea have Jackson and Sterling
- Newcastle have Isak and Almiron
- Inter have Thuram and Lautaro
- Milan have Leao
- Bayern have Sane and Coman
- PSG have Dembele and Mbape, probably the most dangerous duo in transition

What do Barca have?
An granny Lewa that can't move, a Felix which is not quick and slows down play because that's his style,
a Raphdonkey that is not as fast as transition needs and can't dribble, a Lamine which is raw yet

Probably the closest we have to a transitional threat is Pedri... Which is depressing in itself

With Dembele the team was a different beast in transition. I miss him a lot already

Very good point. We completely lack this sort of presence.

 

[Fati_Future_BallonDor]

How can someone pass accurately but never hit the net? It's pretty mind-blowing

Thats pretty often dude otherwise we could use every midfield player also as striker

i think Xavi is a good example, he is one of the best passing players of all time but i remember during the Pep years and after that that most barca fans didnt want him to shoot from outside the box

 

[Laplacian]

Disclaimer: Dembele is better than all of our wingers.

This has always been the case, even during his stay here. It's a common point but I don't understand why people love to bring it out so much. Our wingers, have all essentially been shit since Neymar left. We've always had at least one world class forward in their prime, from Ronaldo Nazario to Kluivert to Luis Figo to Ronaldinho to Neymar and Messi. Now our best bet is a 36 year old Polish grandfather and after that a 16 year old prospect.

The current lack of talent in our front line is probably the worst since the 80s.

 

[malvolio]

This has always been the case, even during his stay here. It's a common point but I don't understand why people love to bring it out so much. Our wingers, have all essentially been shit since Neymar left. We've always had at least one world class forward in their prime, from Ronaldo Nazario to Kluivert to Luis Figo to Ronaldinho to Neymar and Messi. Now our best bet is a 36 year old Polish grandfather and after that a 16 year old prospect.

The current lack of talent in our front line is probably the worst since the 80s.

True! I've never seen a worse collection of bums in our attack since I've started following this team at the beginning of the 90s.

Barca always had at least one worldclass attacker in their prime.

 

[feggydinho]

Think of this:
Every top team has at least ONe transitional threat in attack that combines speed with dribbling

- Madrid has Vinicius and Rodrygo
- City have Doku and Haaland
- Arsenal have Saka and Martinelli
- Liverpool have Nunez, Salah and Diaz
- Spurs have Son and Kulusevski
- United have Rashford and Hojlund
- Chelsea have Jackson and Sterling
- Newcastle have Isak and Almiron
- Inter have Thuram and Lautaro
- Milan have Leao
- Bayern have Sane and Coman
- PSG have Dembele and Mbape, probably the most dangerous duo in transition

What do Barca have?
An granny Lewa that can't move, a Felix which is not quick and slows down play because that's his style,
a Raphdonkey that is not as fast as transition needs and can't dribble, a Lamine which is raw yet

Probably the closest we have to a transitional threat is Pedri... Which is depressing in itself

With Dembele the team was a different beast in transition. I miss him a lot already

Leao is something else in transition. He looks unstoppable sometimes

 

[Messigician]

Dembele is currently much better than Neymar

Psg couldn't wait to get rid of a 31 year old Neymar for Dembele

 

[serghei]

Leao could be like a superior Dembele. Like Lexus division of Toyota. Or a Toyota himself, jury's out on him, but he did show some clutch moments last season that are beyond Dembele's capabilities imo.