Why Mousa Dembele Was Tottenham's Most Surprising Player in 2015/16

Despite a calamitous final-day defeat at the hands of Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur enjoyed a great season in 2015/16. 

Hugely exceeding pre-season expectations, Spurs had more or less secured a return to the UEFA Champions League by March. 

While Mauricio Pochettino deserves a significant share of the credit for their success, many of his players also played far beyond the level that might reasonably have been predicted. 

Toby Alderweireld, Danny Rose, Eric Dier and Dele Alli all somewhat surprisingly won places in the Professional Footballers' Association Premier League Team of the Year, but none outperformed their predicted level like Mousa Dembele. 

By the end of last season, Dembele had largely been exiled from the first team and started just one game after February. 

Having shone in his debut Tottenham season in 2012-13, the Belgium international had suffered through debilitating injury and progressively performed worse until reaching his his nadir on December 11, 2014. On that day, Dembele gave an abysmal performance in a UEFA Europa League defeat at the hands of Besiktas.

Keen observers of Tottenham's fortunes would have noted a correlation between his removal from the first team in the months after that defeat and a general uptick in the team's form. 

In this latest season, that correlation was totally inverted. Tottenham didn't lose a game in which the 28-year-old started in his preferred central-midfield role in 2015-16. 

In a season in which Harry Kane score 28 goals in all competitions, Dembele was his team's most important player. Without Dembele, or with him playing in an unfamiliar wide role, Spurs lost six times and drew two. They didn't win a single game. 

Tottenham's midfield evolved over the season to become the three-headed monster that almost dragged them to the summit of the Premier League. Alli, Dier and Dembele combine to form a perfectly balanced trio that no other team in England can match. 

Dier is a powerful tackler with reliably intelligent positioning. Alli's flair and energy give his team the appearance of playing with 12 men. 

Their emergence as England regulars this season could not have been predicted, and both are in Roy Hodgson's team on their own merits. But Dembele has been hugely influential in their rapid development. 

Similarly, the energy of this Tottenham team makes the most of his capacity to retain possession and conjure space. As he turns away from defenders, or just bounces off them, his team-mates move into more dangerous positions. 

In previous seasons, he seemed to be simply marking time with the ball at his feet. Now he's making it out of thin air. 

It is Dembele that knits the pair together, forming the keystone for Tottenham's whole team. Always available as an outlet ball, he helps Spurs suffocate opposition sides. 

Possessing immense physical strength and a level of technical quality that enables him to glide past his markers, he constantly changes the equation for the opposition defence. 

Among the outfield players at the club, only international team-mate Jan Vertonghen is older. In a team famously stacked with youngsters, Dembele provides crucial experience and on-field leadership. He is able to make a positive contribution in every phase and every match situation. 

When Spurs are on top, his ice-cool demeanour helps his young team-mates retain their calm. If they're chasing the game, he carries the ball past defenders effortlessly and allows the likes of Alli and Kane to drive into space. 

While Tottenham's late-season collapse was surprising, there was no shock in seeing their performances drop once Dembele was suspended for violent conduct on Chelsea's Diego Costa. 

The defeats against Southampton and Newcastle were notable examples of a previously regimented Spurs side descending into a rabble. 

With that ban ending his season in May, this season saw Dembele finish with just 37 appearances, his fewest in four campaigns with the club. 

Dembele's progress from unwanted squad member to hugely influential starter was more surprising than Alli's explosion from talented youngster to England star, Dier's rapid adaptation to a midfield role and Kane's avoidance of second-season syndrome. 

In a season of shocks, Dembele's awakening from a two-year slumber simply must top the list.