Paulinho was lost to me when he turned his back while in the wall against a free kick from which we conceded together with Adebayor
I think it was against Spam but not sure
Fuming at the time
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I think it was against Spam but not sure
Fuming at the time
I agree with your assessment, but I don't think Jose is going for a possession-based style which is part of the reason he keeps picking Sissoko, because -as you note- he's awkward, plus he disrupts the opposition from playing their own game. Historically Jose teams have been more about reading and exploiting weaknesses in the opposition rather than trusting in their own style.
Still a ways to go I agree but we’re heading in the right direction
He wins the ball a lot and has 80% tackling success rate. That is much much higher than any of our midfield players.
I haven't read through all the back and forth Sissoko talk, but to say he wasn't a huge and indispensable part of our CL run is utter nonsense. Son/Lucas heroics aside, he was our most important player. And we clearly saw that first 30 min against Ajax when he wasn't on the pitch and they ran riot on us. And how about his performance against Inter at Wembley? And how about his assist for Harry against Dortmund? I can go on and on.
There is a reason the legends picked him player of the season that year.
There is a reason the legends picked him player of the season that year.
That I think will become clear over the next 6 or so PL games. In isolation, I think we look a bit crap, especially given the games we've played, which I think we were the favourites to win everyone before the season kicked off (Everton, Southampton, Newcastle, Man U, West Ham, Burnley, Brighton & WBA).
I think our results were great during the time we were also looking to qualify for EL, such an insane congestion of games well navigated.
But, this season has already shown some very strange results/performances from other teams, so when viewed more expansively we've been more than OK I think.
But despite PEH's solid performances as an individual, we've still really struggled in the middle of the park.
I thought Yes was Nigeria
Yes in several games we’ve looked, in parts, like world beaters playing the game as I like it to be played
One touch football with plenty of running off the ball players looking to pass and to be passed to with strikes on goal imminent
A simple game really but brilliant to watch when played like that
And then we fall back and sink into mediocrity as though ‘that’s it we’ve done enough’ when in reality we should be grinding teams like Spam and Newcastle into the turf when we’re in the obvious ascendency
Jose has to address this but I’m confident that he will
Moussa gets 2/10 so he should get a good rest period now !
Need new players in Jan.
So much for evolution rather than evolution !
We do but every aspiring team could say the same
But I’d sooner replace Sanchez Aurier and Davies before Sissoko
Funny you say that (and you know I'm a staunch defender of Sissoko in these situations), but I'd much rather improve the starting XI in Jan than fiddle about tweaking the bench..... So unless that means we transition to playing GIO / PEH / TN in MF then to me that means improving the birth that MS occupies currently.....
That is not to say sell him... That would be a separate debate.
Big fan of Moussa, apart from him starting against those deep block teams like Burnley and West Brom. I don't see much use for him in those games, too one-dimensional in his creativity.
Other than that, I would always put him in the starting eleven. Yes, he is shit in front of goal, but so are seemingly all our other midfielders. Sissoko - Höjbjerg is a great midfield against more attacking teams, all of our other midfielders are more suited to create chances and progressive players.
Other than that, I would always put him in the starting eleven. Yes, he is shit in front of goal, but so are seemingly all our other midfielders. Sissoko - Höjbjerg is a great midfield against more attacking teams, all of our other midfielders are more suited to create chances and progressive players.
We didn't retain "form" in either, but thanks to a combination of a whole squad which includes some very good players, a coach, and some major luck we managed to finish 4th (continuing the downward trajectory of our league performances and results) and reach a cup final. None of which validates or proves your opinion that Sissoko is a good footballer or was good in those competitions, he wasn't.
And one of the reasons they overtook us was because they recruited well and didn't buy bad footballers like Sissoko that were counterintuitive to their ethos and to any kind of good brand of football.
See, this is the kind of nonsense that totally undermines your rhetoric. Even Sissoko himself acknowledges his technical deficiencies, and not one of the managers, players or paid experts ever claims Sissoko is a technically proficient footballer, even Deschamps inn that article I Posted - in which the French football media (you know part of those people you talk about being paid to work in the football in dusty) question his selection of Sissoko he describes his mentality and physicality not his technical ability.
I've continually posted the data that supports my opinion and contradicts yours, I've also posted plenty of video and anecdotal evidence - it's all available in this thread. Sissoko hides from the ball, I'm not the only one stating it, Jenas (you know, one of those former professional footballers who is now a professional football pundit) - did a piece demonstrating it on MOTD. He sees less of the ball than all our other midfielders, he passes it forwards less, he takes less risks because he can't trust his technical ability to do anything other than the mind numbingly simple - he passes backwards a higher percentage than all our other midfielders, even Ndombele and Lo Celso who generally play further up than him.
And you are backing your opinion up with what exactly? I've backed mine up with an absolute plethora of evidence, data, metrics, video and anecdotal. Just search my posts in this thread and you'll find them. Like examples of him costing us goals with his inability to track players (last season against teams like Villa and Newcastle at home, Sheff Utd away - posted a video - there were loads of others just I actually provided anecdotal or video evidence of those), this season already he cost us the first goal directly and contributed to the second goal against West Ham.
A couple of days ago I posted all our midfielders metrics, showing Sissoko's comparing badly to all of them:
Just look through this thread I've posted shitloads of dats to back up my opinion. All I've seen you put up is some laughable tackle and pass percentage stats? Utterly meaningless unless put in context. And that context is Sissoko makes less passes than all our other midfielders and only averages a pass forwards once every ten minutes, no wonder his completion rate is good. Last season he averaged 1.3 tackles a game, the 12th best at the club, again, no wonder that percentage was OK when he's only making just over one a game.
And I've posted his pressing metrics before, they were worse than Eriksen's - worse than most our midfielders last season and this.
Here's a comparison over the last three seasons with Winks, who is regarded as defensively weak and not good enough for this team by most:
As you can see, Winks pressure metrics are better and gets dribbled past less, intercepts more, whilst at the same time progresses the ball better. Sissoko also has a higher dribbled past metric.
No we didn't.
Outplayed City ? You're delusional. We outscored them, that's not the same. There is a reason we had to valiantly come back - by means of humping up and under's into Ajax's box, was because we'd been outplayed by them for 3/4's of two games and found ourselves 3-0 down in the tie, and part of the reason was we could no longer play football through midfield. And we then played shit again in the final, no one shitter than Sissoko.
Here you go, more evidence to back up opinions:
How is that bias. I watched him repeatedly stand in our box with his stupid pointy arm out and predicted sooner or later it would cost us a pen. It did. It's using the repeated occurrence of an event to correctly predict a future outcome.
Please find me some data that backs up your opinion - and I don't mean meaningless,. contextless pass or tackle "percentages" which prove absolutely nothing, and while your at it, find me one of his managers talking about the technical excellence you claim he possesses.
Just for dessert, here's a piece from Newcastle fanzine calling for Sissoko to be dropped. All sounds very familiar doesn't it.
What to do with a problem like Moussa Sissoko?
Contributor John Moodie asks the question; What to do with a problem like Moussa Sissoko?
www.themag.co.uk
In my opinion, Sissoko’s time in the first team should be brought to a long overdue end. He has had more than enough opportunities, but has failed to deliver consistently; for this reason, his automatic starting right should be revoked.
Pardew’s persistence with Sissoko is not unsurprising given his workrate and teamwork, but he is attempting to accommodate a player who appears to have no natural position and this is now to the detriment of the playing style of a team, that desperately needs more width and creativity.
A player of Sissoko’s size should be dominating the midfield area, but he is both poor in the air and comes across as weak and afraid in the tackle, so much so, he makes Luuk de Jong’s efforts appear lionhearted.
Added to this, he is often ponderous on the ball, and does not contribute enough goals or assists overall. Most supporters believe that his best position lies in the centre of midfield, but he lacks the tenacity of Tiote and the accurate, high tempo passing of Colback, so does not justify his place in the team ahead of these two players.
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I'm glad you accept I'm right Baz, just wish you'd do it without all the Trumpesque fakenewsery is all.
Except he doesn't. Last season averaged 1.3 tackles a game and 0.9 interceptions. 12th and 10th best in our team. His pressure metrics were even shitter. And his dribbled past is nothing special either, especially considering the rest of his offensive and defensive metrics are so shit.
Thanks for that, I was waiting to say he just runs around doing nothing but lacked statistics. HE JUST RUNS AROUND DOING NOTHING!We didn't retain "form" in either, but thanks to a combination of a whole squad which includes some very good players, a coach, and some major luck we managed to finish 4th (continuing the downward trajectory of our league performances and results) and reach a cup final. None of which validates or proves your opinion that Sissoko is a good footballer or was good in those competitions, he wasn't.
And one of the reasons they overtook us was because they recruited well and didn't buy bad footballers like Sissoko that were counterintuitive to their ethos and to any kind of good brand of football.
See, this is the kind of nonsense that totally undermines your rhetoric. Even Sissoko himself acknowledges his technical deficiencies, and not one of the managers, players or paid experts ever claims Sissoko is a technically proficient footballer, even Deschamps inn that article I Posted - in which the French football media (you know part of those people you talk about being paid to work in the football in dusty) question his selection of Sissoko he describes his mentality and physicality not his technical ability.
I've continually posted the data that supports my opinion and contradicts yours, I've also posted plenty of video and anecdotal evidence - it's all available in this thread. Sissoko hides from the ball, I'm not the only one stating it, Jenas (you know, one of those former professional footballers who is now a professional football pundit) - did a piece demonstrating it on MOTD. He sees less of the ball than all our other midfielders, he passes it forwards less, he takes less risks because he can't trust his technical ability to do anything other than the mind numbingly simple - he passes backwards a higher percentage than all our other midfielders, even Ndombele and Lo Celso who generally play further up than him.
And you are backing your opinion up with what exactly? I've backed mine up with an absolute plethora of evidence, data, metrics, video and anecdotal. Just search my posts in this thread and you'll find them. Like examples of him costing us goals with his inability to track players (last season against teams like Villa and Newcastle at home, Sheff Utd away - posted a video - there were loads of others just I actually provided anecdotal or video evidence of those), this season already he cost us the first goal directly and contributed to the second goal against West Ham.
A couple of days ago I posted all our midfielders metrics, showing Sissoko's comparing badly to all of them:
Just look through this thread I've posted shitloads of dats to back up my opinion. All I've seen you put up is some laughable tackle and pass percentage stats? Utterly meaningless unless put in context. And that context is Sissoko makes less passes than all our other midfielders and only averages a pass forwards once every ten minutes, no wonder his completion rate is good. Last season he averaged 1.3 tackles a game, the 12th best at the club, again, no wonder that percentage was OK when he's only making just over one a game.
And I've posted his pressing metrics before, they were worse than Eriksen's - worse than most our midfielders last season and this.
Here's a comparison over the last three seasons with Winks, who is regarded as defensively weak and not good enough for this team by most:
As you can see, even Winks pressure metrics are better and gets dribbled past less, wins more tackles, his average tackle per game last season was the same inept 1.3 per game as Sissoko, whilst at the same time progresses the ball better.
No we didn't.
Outplayed City ? You're delusional. We outscored them, that's not the same. There is a reason we had to valiantly come back - by means of humping up and under's into Ajax's box, was because we'd been outplayed by them for 3/4's of two games and found ourselves 3-0 down in the tie, and part of the reason was we could no longer play football through midfield. And we then played shit again in the final, no one shitter than Sissoko.
Here you go, more evidence to back up opinions:
How is that bias. I watched him repeatedly stand in our box with his stupid pointy arm out and predicted sooner or later it would cost us a pen. It did. It's using the repeated occurrence of an event to correctly predict a future outcome.
Please find me some data that backs up your opinion - and I don't mean meaningless,. contextless pass or tackle "percentages" which prove absolutely nothing, and while your at it, find me one of his managers talking about the technical excellence you claim he possesses.
Just for dessert, here's a piece from Newcastle fanzine calling for Sissoko to be dropped. All sounds very familiar doesn't it.
What to do with a problem like Moussa Sissoko?
Contributor John Moodie asks the question; What to do with a problem like Moussa Sissoko?www.themag.co.uk
In my opinion, Sissoko’s time in the first team should be brought to a long overdue end. He has had more than enough opportunities, but has failed to deliver consistently; for this reason, his automatic starting right should be revoked.
Pardew’s persistence with Sissoko is not unsurprising given his workrate and teamwork, but he is attempting to accommodate a player who appears to have no natural position and this is now to the detriment of the playing style of a team, that desperately needs more width and creativity.
A player of Sissoko’s size should be dominating the midfield area, but he is both poor in the air and comes across as weak and afraid in the tackle, so much so, he makes Luuk de Jong’s efforts appear lionhearted.
Added to this, he is often ponderous on the ball, and does not contribute enough goals or assists overall. Most supporters believe that his best position lies in the centre of midfield, but he lacks the tenacity of Tiote and the accurate, high tempo passing of Colback, so does not justify his place in the team ahead of these two players.
Moussa Sissoko shines as Kyle Walker struggles... as Spurs claimed a 1-0 advantage to take north in a week's time
Moussa Sissoko 8/10
This is the Sissoko Spurs spent £30million on. Brought power and presence to midfield as well as discipline, giving Spurs a foothold in the game, stopping City’s attempts to play through the middle. One of his best performances for the club.
Player ratings from Tottenham's win over Manchester City
Son Heung-min's second-half goal was the difference as Spurs claimed a 1-0 advantage to take north in a week's time
www.independent.co.uk
Man City 4-3 Tottenham (4-4 agg)... as Spurs sneak into last four
Moussa Sissoko 6/10
Played with diligence and composure until injury forced him off just before the break, following a clash with De Bruyne.
Player ratings as Tottenham sneak into Champions League semi-finals at Man City
Kevin De Bruyne starred for Manchester City but Pep Guardiola's side were sent crashing out in dramatic fashion
www.mirror.co.uk
"Doing nothing"
One for the Winks haters whilst I'm there....
Harry Winks 8/10 (Also Spurs 1 - Man City 0)
This was his first start in a month but you would not know it. He slotted in perfectly and his industry and intelligence were integral to how Spurs played, always on the front foot, putting the pressure back on City.Why are we quoting games from two years ago where players didn’t suck?
Moussa Sissoko shines as Kyle Walker struggles... as Spurs claimed a 1-0 advantage to take north in a week's time
Moussa Sissoko 8/10
This is the Sissoko Spurs spent £30million on. Brought power and presence to midfield as well as discipline, giving Spurs a foothold in the game, stopping City’s attempts to play through the middle. One of his best performances for the club.
Player ratings from Tottenham's win over Manchester City
Son Heung-min's second-half goal was the difference as Spurs claimed a 1-0 advantage to take north in a week's time
Man City 4-3 Tottenham (4-4 agg)... as Spurs sneak into last four
Moussa Sissoko 6/10
Played with diligence and composure until injury forced him off just before the break, following a clash with De Bruyne.
Player ratings as Tottenham sneak into Champions League semi-finals at Man City
Kevin De Bruyne starred for Manchester City but Pep Guardiola's side were sent crashing out in dramatic fashion
"Doing nothing"
One for the Winks haters whilst I'm there....
Harry Winks 8/10 (Also Spurs 1 - Man City 0)
This was his first start in a month but you would not know it. He slotted in perfectly and his industry and intelligence were integral to how Spurs played, always on the front foot, putting the pressure back on City.
Defence rests!!
As for the Trumpesque fake news accusation I really think you should consider your position