If we signed him for 10M instead of 30M I’m sure that we would left at the end of last season. Just like a nkoudou or a stsmbouli. It’s the price tag that he’s making live in our team.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 context 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.
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If we signed him for 10M instead of 30M I’m sure that we would left at the end of last season. Just like a nkoudou or a stsmbouli. It’s the price tag that he’s making live in our team.
This may very well be true some of the time, but don’t you agree this destroys the pace and timing of the attack, allow the defense to reset?
I've no idea really mate. The price of the player is a highly subjective thing and shouldn't dictate if a player is sold or played (or I don't see a convincing argument for it) the driving force behind most decisions on if a player is sold or stays "should" first and foremost be if he contributes to the team, if this is the case then the manager will happily utilise him, training him to be better etc. Some of these things may be highly invisible to us, for all we know Sissoko could be a very useful person to have in the camp to help the french speaking players assimilate into the team(???).
Recently if we have bought a player that doesn't "fit" which might be describing his quality as a player, or a man, or just as a vibe within the team is wrong because of them, we have been quick to move them on, regardless if they were recent singings or not, big named players on big wages, they've been ruthlessly cut from the squad and ended up being sold. All we get to judge is the minutes they play on the pitch.
Either way, we've bitten the bullet on a number of players and sold them at a paper loss from what we have bought them for. Sissoko doesn't fit into this bracket, in fact the manager has made a specific point to mention him in positive terms, not something he did with Jansen for example. Poch doesn't publicly throw players under the bus but if needed he will say publicly if a player isn't doing what is asked of him (think he did this to Sissoko in his first season).
Sure it can, I'm certain there are many cases for this, I'm talking broad strokes, there could be a case put forward that the best part of his game is when he's running fast on the counter-attack, but 90% of the games we have possession of the ball, we've played on the counter what 4 or 5 times this season? Also can point to every player who is actually brilliant in our squad who losses possession or doesn't pick the right pass, or plays a poor pass, or if we are playing a slow tempo against a low block so many times this season we haven't moved it quick enough or backwards sideways.
Again, he's not a quality footballer, not even close. There are many aspects to his game that are wrong and ill suited to how we play, just not yesterday and not on a number of performances this season. He's a mediocre player that for whatever reason attracts the most over the top criticism I've ever seen, to the point of blind obsession. This thread is living proof. If he plays shit then I'll be in the queue with my rotten tomatoes in my hand slinging as many as I can in his direction, as I will do other players who play shit. (Thankfully we have a quality group of players and these occurrences are rare, or they are measured because someone could have one off game against a multiple good games).
Well, I think one of the reasons he get so much stick is that when he makes mistake, those are so utterly amateurish (those 2 situations within 4 minutes where he could have ran with the ball on right flank, but his bad awareness and bad touch let him down miserably) and so people turn more attention to those moments.
Also to me jury is still out there. Can you say that player is decent enough or if the "critizism is over the top" - I mean those mistakes are at times so essential that if he would play in CB position 70% of those would end up in goals. Would anyone come to rescue a CB who would cost us 2 goals per game? I have my doubts...
Sissoko is capable of playing well. He can be a destroyer battering ram, with surprising speed, and every now and then some genuinely great pieces of skill. We all saw his best qualities at the Euros.
He’s also inconsistent (something the Newcastle fans criticised him for), and can be incredibly sloppy. More than any of our other players he’s the one that seems most likely to botch a simple pass. Not every time, obviously, but he does rack up the unforced errors.
I’ve no evidence at all for the following, but I suspect his off the ball work is one of the things Pochettino sees in him. If he’s good at blocking potential pass avenues, and / or otherwise disrupting the shape of the opposition, that’s something we wouldn’t necessarily pick up on.
Personally I’ve not seen anything to suggest he’s worth anywhere near what we paid for him, but as long as he’s Spurs I’ll support him and wish him well.
He’s also inconsistent (something the Newcastle fans criticised him for), and can be incredibly sloppy. More than any of our other players he’s the one that seems most likely to botch a simple pass. Not every time, obviously, but he does rack up the unforced errors.
I’ve no evidence at all for the following, but I suspect his off the ball work is one of the things Pochettino sees in him. If he’s good at blocking potential pass avenues, and / or otherwise disrupting the shape of the opposition, that’s something we wouldn’t necessarily pick up on.
Personally I’ve not seen anything to suggest he’s worth anywhere near what we paid for him, but as long as he’s Spurs I’ll support him and wish him well.
He, along with the rest of our midfield, were all over the place n the first half. Yes he looked ok but that's like saying the slightly less mouldy food in the fridge is like French cuisine compared to the more mouldy food ie he looked good when everyone else was awful.
He simply lacks the basics and I find it hard to see what Poch values in him.
I don’t disagree. Had a few nice touches, but I thought he was awful against Newport.
As for what Pochettino values in him, well he’s a bit of a brute. I could see the value as an understudy to Wanyama. Pochettino probably felt he could get the best out of him more regularly.
Of course your opinion is as valid as everyone's ... but when it's challenged you resorting to name calling, hyperbole, and unsupported rhetoric? well that's hardly holding a reasoned debate ....
Poch gets an 'opinion' because he's a top six manager, if you want to be taken seriously you need to support your 'opinion' with evidence ....
Is your argument is "I don't need to provide evidence you need to challenge my imagination with facts" ... if you're that lazy that you can't support your own opinion that's just sad, at least put in a bit of effort ....
Don't be so soft
Only Spurs fans can see any good in him. Everyone else is pissing themselves laughing, and that’s a fact. You can’t build title winning teams having to rely so heavily on players as ordinary as him. Poch has a blind spot. Imagine if we had a proper footballer in his position*
*not sure what that is. Is anyone?
*not sure what that is. Is anyone?
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Perhaps Poch is too proud to admit he spunked 30m on a hopeless dud or is hoping by playing him more often can raise his stock slightly for the summer. Either way - someone from scouting should have been long fired for his abomination. Embarrassing scenes. Shocking shit.
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Maybe he is, but we’re a long way from the silky machine we were last season. Someone should be accountable.
We're just 5 points worse off than last year and that's after playing 24 'away' games .... and in case you missed it we're in the last 16 of the CL .... so 'long way from the silky machine we were last season' is somewhat disingenuous ... or just blatant trolling .....
Trolling? If you can’t see we played better football last season you’re an idiot.
And fuck off with the ‘somewhat disingenuous’ stuff. Say what you’ve got to say, don’t quote Latin, and sit down again. I know where we are in the league and the CL Mr ‘Spud’.
You strike me as ‘somewhat’ half-hearted.
He can't cross the ball though.
Neither can Aurier, unless he’s shooting.
And in truth neither could Walker more often than not.
I think it does legitimately beg the question why is it that players who command huge fees cannot under pressure do basic deeds.
I just think collectively we have slipped off our perfornances of the last 2 seasons, not so much in terms of points as such as opposed to looking convincing and dominant.
A really strange season that can only in part be justified by playing at Wembley and more so because we have not acquired the requisite quality.
No surprise for example that Vertonghen has got even better since Davinson-Sanchez has arrived. Other parts of the pitch?