Yves Bissouma

[Richard Arlison]

Don’t undersell yourself Richy, you’ve been defending Kulusevski for 18 months of dogshit performances, you’ve definitely got a few months of Bissouma left in you.

Bissouma was 10x worse than Kulusevski. one of them got yanked by the manager, the other played 90mins and covered 2 positions... again. Because other people weren't doing their jobs.

Kulusevski won the ball back more times pressing on the RW than our bloody defensive mid.

 

[bus-conductor]

Bissouma was 10x worse than Kulusevski. one of them got yanked by the manager, the other played 90mins and covered 2 positions... again. Because other people weren't doing their jobs.

Kulusevski won the ball back more times pressing on the RW than our bloody defensive mid.

 

[Kaz Hirai]

So lazy with his tracking of players, really left massive gaps . Rather hojbjerg for the rest of the season, as I don't think bentancur is right for that role either .
Being press resistant is nice but if you can't track runners, anticipate danger, or make good tackles then you're too much of a luxury in that role

 

[SpaggyBoy]

He's shit and needs to be sold. Sorry, but four good games a season isn't good enough.

 

[TheSpurEst]

Well, I think he will get a clean start for the next season too. In his first one with us, he was not trusted by Conte and almost did not play. 2nd season he started almost perfectly. First 7 rounds he might have been best midfielder in the league.

What has followed though, has been nothing short of a trainwreck.
Against Fulham, we did not have any midfield whatsoever. League One side would have found way through there, basically an open door. Absolute fuckup to the extent, he should not start the following game.

OK, he had some factors influencing him - this stupid red card against Luton and even more stupid one against Forest. Then he had AFCON and repordedly... malaria (?). So hopefully he gets recovered and also a mental reset in the summer.

But if we see more of the same in first half of next season, then it is bye-bye time in January. His contract is until July 2026, so in Jan25 it is last chance to earn back majority of what we paid for him.

In that season context though, it feel like such of a letdown. I have to admit, I was also in the squad who thought that we brought a "100-mil-midfielder" for 25 mil, while Arsescum did the opposite. By now, it is the other way around. They brought a 100-mil-midfielder for 100 mil, and we brought 25-mil player for 25 mil...

 

[bus-conductor]

Well, I think he will get a clean start for the next season too. In his first one with us, he was not trusted by Conte and almost did not play. 2nd season he started almost perfectly. First 7 rounds he might have been best midfielder in the league.

What has followed though, has been nothing short of a trainwreck.
Against Fulham, we did not have any midfield whatsoever. League One side would have found way through there, basically an open door. Absolute fuckup to the extent, he should not start the following game.

OK, he had some factors influencing him - this stupid red card against Luton and even more stupid one against Forest. Then he had AFCON and repordedly... malaria (?). So hopefully he gets recovered and also a mental reset in the summer.

But if we see more of the same in first half of next season, then it is bye-bye time in January. His contract is until July 2026, so in Jan25 it is last chance to earn back majority of what we paid for him.

In that season context though, it feel like such of a letdown. I have to admit, I was also in the squad who thought that we brought a "100-mil-midfielder" for 25 mil, while Arsescum did the opposite. By now, it is the other way around. They brought a 100-mil-midfielder for 100 mil, and we brought 25-mil player for 25 mil...

Rice isn’t even trusted most weeks to play the role he was bought for, the exact same role Bissouma plays for us.

Rice is now playing the Sarr 8 remit most weeks. So he’s gone from 190m/25m swap ti 100m/15m swap.

This notion that Bissouma is suddenly rubbish is ridiculous. The metrics don’t support it either.

Fulham had two forwards pinned to Bissouma and trigger pressed the ball into all our other midfielders. The week before against Villa he was one of our best players, but he didn’t score or put in an amazing cross so of course nobody noticed him just having the ball more than anyone else and constantly moving us around or making the break away tackles.

He’s not flawless but is along way from bad. Ange’s system asks an awful lot of the single pivot. He’s not just a DM.

 

[TheSpurEst]

Rice isn’t even trusted most weeks to play the role he was bought for, the exact same role Bissouma plays for us.

Rice is now playing the Sarr 8 remit most weeks. So he’s gone from 190m/25m swap ti 100m/15m swap.

This notion that Bissouma is suddenly rubbish is ridiculous. The metrics don’t support it either.

Fulham had two forwards pinned to Bissouma and trigger pressed the ball into all our other midfielders. The week before against Villa he was one of our best players, but he didn’t score or put in an amazing cross so of course nobody noticed him just having the ball more than anyone else and constantly moving us around or making the break away tackles.

He’s not flawless but is along way from bad. Ange’s system asks an awful lot of the single pivot. He’s not just a DM.

Well, that is the thing.

Let stats be stats.
Let's face it - midfielder is a position where stats are least trustworthy.
But in first 7 rounds he WAS a DM and while system asked awful lot from him, he had answers to those questions. Right now, though, he IS NOT a DM nor does he have answers to the questions anymore.

He is not able to keep transition from defense smooth but what is even worse, he does not shield the midfield.

It is such an easy excuse to say "oh he is more marked now". Duh, he does not play with donkey's, does he? If he is marked by 2 opposition players, then it means much more room to his teammates; unless, again you suggest players like Udogie, Romero, Porro, Madders etc are clueless in position and in space?

Anyone who watches the games have seen Bissouma performances become less and less impactful and commanding.

 

[Matt1882]

Bissouma was 10x worse than Kulusevski. one of them got yanked by the manager, the other played 90mins and covered 2 positions... again. Because other people weren't doing their jobs.

Kulusevski won the ball back more times pressing on the RW than our bloody defensive mid.

Thing is, I don't want Kulu doing that.
Maybe him not doing it, and focusing on attack will a) give us more attacking threat and b) expose others who should be doing it but aren't

 

[Richard Arlison]

Thing is, I don't want Kulu doing that.
Maybe him not doing it, and focusing on attack will a) give us more attacking threat and b) expose others who should be doing it but aren't

I’m thinking that we see Kulu as a winger when his role is more like a wide #10.

 

[Matt1882]

I’m thinking that we see Kulu as a winger when his role is more like a wide #10.

I think he's wasted on the wing, and I think he's hindering us on the wing.
The quandary then is whether he or Maddison is the starting 10?

 

[Guido 🇺🇦]

Rice isn’t even trusted most weeks to play the role he was bought for, the exact same role Bissouma plays for us.

Rice is now playing the Sarr 8 remit most weeks. So he’s gone from 190m/25m swap ti 100m/15m swap.

This notion that Bissouma is suddenly rubbish is ridiculous. The metrics don’t support it either.

Fulham had two forwards pinned to Bissouma and trigger pressed the ball into all our other midfielders. The week before against Villa he was one of our best players, but he didn’t score or put in an amazing cross so of course nobody noticed him just having the ball more than anyone else and constantly moving us around or making the break away tackles.

He’s not flawless but is along way from bad. Ange’s system asks an awful lot of the single pivot. He’s not just a DM.

The best we've seen of Biss was early in the season (pre-Chav game), what stood out for me was his ability to take the ball in a deep position (as pivot's do) but on the half turn and then beat the oppo press and get a head up looking for one of the inverted FB's or Sarr. This was as key to our build-up as our Keeper and 2 CB's (with FB's pushed a good 15-20 yards ahead).

The above doesn't really happen any more, I specifically refer to taking the ball on the half turn and I think this is us (or him) being less risk-averse, I think it's deliberate. If the oppo wants to disrupt our build-up then the pattern of him dropping deep is well known, oppo teams are expecting this, in fact for high-pressing oppo he's the trigger for their aggressive counter-press.

We've seen Madders also taking turns dropping deep and collecting the ball on the half turn in an attempt to a) add variety with Biss almost as a decoy and oppo not expecting Madders to do this or b) Madders is doing it to draw out a low block and therefore is followed by an oppo CB (where there should be a hole now in their defence).

But I agree with you, he's good.

I think possibly he might be down on confidence, which you absolutely need to play in this role and be the trigger for the opponent press when receiving the ball and we need perhaps more variation of another player forming this pivot whilst we are building up that disrupts the oppo in their ability to counter-press us (not just have Madders collect in the pivot).

Without the ball, he's very, very good. What he and both our CB's are asked to do is not for the faint-hearted and will at some point, mean we concede a goal whilst defending with only two players (with Biss ahead of them).

 

[Richard Arlison]

I think he's wasted on the wing, and I think he's hindering us on the wing.
The quandary then is whether he or Maddison is the starting 10?

On form Maddison all day. But Kulusevski is a very handy player that covers a bunch of roles and is a great pro that stays fit.

I’d start him over Maddison v Luton I’ve Maddison just to give him a boot up the arse

 

[TheSpurEst]

The best we've seen of Biss was early in the season (pre-Chav game), what stood out for me was his ability to take the ball in a deep position (as pivot's do) but on the half turn and then beat the oppo press and get a head up looking for one of the inverted FB's or Sarr. This was as key to our build-up as our Keeper and 2 CB's (with FB's pushed a good 15-20 yards ahead).

The above doesn't really happen any more, I specifically refer to taking the ball on the half turn and I think this is us (or him) being less risk-averse, I think it's deliberate. If the oppo wants to disrupt our build-up then the pattern of him dropping deep is well known, oppo teams are expecting this, in fact for high-pressing oppo he's the trigger for their aggressive counter-press.

We've seen Madders also taking turns dropping deep and collecting the ball on the half turn in an attempt to a) add variety with Biss almost as a decoy and oppo not expecting Madders to do this or b) Madders is doing it to draw out a low block and therefore is followed by an oppo CB (where there should be a hole now in their defence).

If that is true, then there should be more room for other players on the pitch.
Think of our starting XI and point out a single player who is NOT able to capitalize on that additional room.

I personally cannot name even one.

More press and targeting of one player = more room to others. But that has not been visible in any of the recent games, at least to me.

 

[Shadydan]

If that is true, then there should be more room for other players on the pitch.
Think of our starting XI and point out a single player who is NOT able to capitalize on that additional room.

I personally cannot name even one.

More press and targeting of one player = more room to others. But that has not been visible in any of the recent games, at least to me.

In the Brighton match Madders was being tightly marked by Van Hecke so much so that the CB was leaving his post and Brighton were going 3 at the back and Dunk was going 1v1 with Richarlison.

We had plenty of opportunities to get in behind them because of the amount of space they were giving up but our execution and decision making was poor.

 

[BernardMatthews]

We've seen Madders also taking turns dropping deep and collecting the ball on the half turn in an attempt to a) add variety with Biss almost as a decoy and oppo not expecting Madders to do this or b) Madders is doing it to draw out a low block and therefore is followed by an oppo CB (where there should be a hole now in their defence).

Just made a note in another thread about start of season to now and our FBs.

Obviously other managers have spent a lot of time trying to figure out a way to nullify us overloading the midfield area.

Someone put up a post the other day showing Sarr getting into a high wide right position on a couple of occasions.
On one of them Maddison has dropped into CM and PEH had moved to right back. Meaning Sarr had the freedom to take up a position Kulu vacated. And at no point in this phase of play does Maddison touch the ball he’s just making palace make a decision on who follows him.

And the other one v Villa Maddison doesn’t drop but instead ends up as our CF. Touching the ball once and scoring a great goal.

It’s why it always makes me smile a bit when people moan about players like Maddison coming deep.
He’s literally just trying to disrupt the other teams shape. When he doesn’t even touch the ball (as per the palace phase of play) he’s asking them a question and creating problems.

 

[docomospur]

View: https://x.com/AlasdairGold/status/1771142173527867769?s=20

It's not clear what the issues are, but not a great set of circumstances for a player who's trying to find his form, confidence and consistency again.

 

[Spursidol]

View: https://x.com/AlasdairGold/status/1771142173527867769?s=20

It's not clear what the issues are, but not a great set of circumstances for a player who's trying to find his form, confidence and consistency again.

Hopefully he can spend the 2 weeks international break to get back to the form he was for the first half dozen games this season.

I worry though that this is the effect of malaria which makes people more lethargic etc. Its said that people can get over malaria within 2 weeks - but those born in areas where malaria is endemic may never fully recover between bouts of the sickness. So I think if he doesn't improve over the rest of the season he needs moving on as he might never improve.

 

[Zomb]

Hopefully he can spend the 2 weeks international break to get back to the form he was for the first half dozen games this season.

I worry though that this is the effect of malaria which makes people more lethargic etc. Its said that people can get over malaria within 2 weeks - but those born in areas where malaria is endemic may never fully recover between bouts of the sickness. So I think if he doesn't improve over the rest of the season he needs moving on as he might never improve.

He was completely inconsistent at BHA too. It could be malaria, but it just be he’s inconsistent in general

 

[Spursidol]

He was completely inconsistent at BHA too. It could be malaria, but it just be he’s inconsistent in general

I was not a fan of buying him from Brighton, but so far this season the number of times he's played well is about 25% of the 28 PL games he's played so far - and I wasn't impressed with him picking up the 2nd of his 2 red cards which has also limited his game time. We won't even go into last season which might well have been affected by Conte

But overall I think he's one of the few poor purchases in last couple of years as in too many games he's been one of our worst performers.

 

[Zomb]

I was not a fan of buying him from Brighton, but so far this season the number of times he's played well is about 25% of the 28 PL games he's played so far - and I wasn't impressed with him picking up the 2nd of his 2 red cards which has also limited his game time. We won't even go into last season which might well have been affected by Conte

But overall I think he's one of the few poor purchases in last couple of years as in too many games he's been one of our worst performers.

He was a nominally priced purchase. Can easily recoup what we paid