He was unbelievable. Watched MOTD and I think the role of DM is absolutely, completely, utterly vital and having a strong player in there is something we've missed since his head went. The board, as usual, sat with inactivity when they should have been replacing or getting his head right - felt to me like the club just sat on the problem and tried to solve it with Anita/Colback, neither of whom are DM's. The main match in point for the case of a DM wasn't ours, but you could draw clear parallel's - the focus was Spurs, and Eric Dier. Traditionally something more of a CB, he's got strength, height and ability - but knows his role. So when Spurs bombed on with Davies and Trippier, Dier sat back essentially giving three at the back. Now go back to us WITHOUT TIote (or Saivet, to his credit) - Anita/Colback would often get caught chasing the ball or going too far up the pitch, so when our fullbacks go forward we're too exposed and too easy to counter against. Think of the West Ham, Palace and Leicester matches where we were absolute dogclarts. Once Tiote's in there it free us up to be more dynamic. Thankfully we have now him AND Saivet, both players who are happy to sit and do the dirty stuff. Subtle, but important.
I love Tiote when he's giving it his all but he's been "off" for more time than he's been in form for us. That video absolutely sums him up, caught in possession and then giving his all to fix his error!! Much happier with him in the team though, he was at his best alongside Cabaye and although Shelvey isn't as good as Cabs he's the closest thing we have to him and tries to play a similar game.
When he plays like this and actually tries, he is a great asset. He hasn't bothered that much over last few years.
