Go back and watch the game again (and others this season), despite his clumsy awkwardness and poor touch, he still comes away with the fucking ball, almost always this is the case. I don't know quite how he does this but he does, time and time again. His first touch will get away from him, it invites the oppo player to go for the ball, the two tussle, Sissoko comes away with the ball. So you slate him for this!?!? Absolutely understand you slating him if the oppo comes away with the ball, but they very rarely do. It's this I find odd and unwarranted.
He's a water carrier for us, this is his role. He is heavily involved in build up always plays an easy ball, he has kept his passing simple and normally always finds his man (because it's simple), that man might be Dele, Eriksen, Son, Dembele all players that are capable of doing damage with their skill-set, he allows them to do what they do higher up the pitch in more dangerous areas.
Without the ball he is also dependable, yesterday he was the only player pressing and putting them under pressure, in the first half especially he was our only player that caused them to rush a clearance/pass and concede possession, he was responsible for most of our turnovers won (he did this on his fucking own). When deeper, helping out defence, he often is the outlet to carry the ball up the field, this is so much better than hoofing it up the pitch only for it to come back, 20 seconds latter. He's linked up particularly well with Aurier. Anyone trying to link up with Trippier gets my sympathy, Trippier is so fucking shit it's like playing with team of 10 men, he makes it so much harder for anyone near him. Poch has also deployed him in 6 or 7 different positions this year, he's asked to do the water carrying to enable our better players to play. This is his function.
Do not confuse my words for me thinking he is a good player, he's not. His touch shows he isn't a great player, there is nothing attractive about how he plays football, he's not a special footballer. I've seen no technical ability. I don't know why we bought him. He's no better than Onomah and because of this, I'd much rather see Onomah out on the pitch in stead of him. Onomah struggled to settle because I think he was trying too hard but offensively he's the better player, he is technically a better footballer but without the ball Sissoko has been the safer of the two, maybe this is why his out on loan, understandable if so.
Just reign it in on the slating it's way, way, way over the top. Made all the worst by the fact no other player gets called out for their performance, highlighted yesterday as his 90 min performance made him arguably one of our best players, in contact of the game, it's not much but it shows their is an enjoyment and delight in slating him, or maybe even worse than that. This conclusion can be made because there were at least 8 other candidates that should be slated for yesterday, but hey not a peep.
