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Player Watch: Moussa Sissoko

TheHood

.................................
Jan 17, 2006
1,671
2,104
Two things.... he has hardly kicked a ball for us and when he has he has been good and bad, couple of assists along the way, hardly lost games for us, the outright criticism of him has been spectacularly over the top and many follow like sheep to sound cool and just join in.

Secondly, hindsight is a beautiful thing. He just come off the back of being one of the outstanding players at the Euro's (many people who berate him on here will disagree blindly with this statement) and we were lacking someone older and of more experience in the team. Was he my first choice, no, but i'm pretty sure when this was going through there were a hell of a lot more people wanting it to happen then it not happen, because so many keep moaning about the net spend and not spending money. So you're dammed if you do and dammed if you don't.

But what is the end result of all this?? Aren't we second in the league, in the semi final of the FA Cup. So you could say we are in a better position than we were last year in a much stronger league than last year. Sissoko has been a part of that squad even if you and many others don't like that. So he's hardly ruined our team and ok he hasn't set the world alight, but look up North at the ridiculous waste of money that is Pogba. Sissoko was never purchased to be our star man he was added to strengthen the squad and we really won't lose much money on him in the summer. Maybe he might be adding extra motivation to some of our other players like Alli, Son, Eriksen, and Winks breaking through. Without him being in the squad, would they be performing at the level that they are? I don't know, i can't predict the future like you.

But come on. This whole thread is one of the most ridiculous ones on here. With little evidence backing up the shocking treatment this player gets.


He has hardly kicked a ball for us? Well that is sort of the problem here. He is a our record signing, he wasn't signed to be a fringe player, he wasn't brought in to occasionally provide support. We could have signed any number of players to do that for considerably less money as well. If you wish to have little to no expectations of such signings then good for you but it is simply naive to think others will follow suit or should be even expected to. And judging by your Progba comment it is clear threat you are being highly selective here, its perfectly within reason to do this to opposing teams players but wholly unacceptable with ours? Somewhat hypocritical wouldn't you say?

As hindsight, well hardly given that many stated their concerns over the player and signing at the time. Nothing we have seen so far should come as a surprise, this is exactly the player we saw for 3 seasons at Newcastle. I really couldn't care less what he did for France in a international tournament, it is a completely different format. Joe Allen was absolutely brilliant in the Euros, hr made the team of tournament but that doesn't result in him suddenly being good enough for us. There is a reason why he is at Stoke.

The end result of this is you like many others seemingly cannot accept any criticism of a player associated to this club. Praise? No issue, criticism of other clubs players, perfectly fine but dare to have a negative opinion of a Spurs player and the toys come straight out of the pram. If this thread causes such consternation then there is quite a simple solution to that, you avoid it.
 

olliec

Well-Known Member
Jun 20, 2012
3,574
11,763
It's now or never for Sissoko's career, if he wants to make it to the top he won't have a better shot. Time to do the business or get rid!
 

Vincent30

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
900
3,694
He has hardly kicked a ball for us? Well that is sort of the problem here. He is a our record signing, he wasn't signed to be a fringe player, he wasn't brought in to occasionally provide support. We could have signed any number of players to do that for considerably less money as well. If you wish to have little to no expectations of such signings then good for you but it is simply naive to think others will follow suit or should be even expected to. And judging by your Progba comment it is clear threat you are being highly selective here, its perfectly within reason to do this to opposing teams players but wholly unacceptable with ours? Somewhat hypocritical wouldn't you say?

As hindsight, well hardly given that many stated their concerns over the player and signing at the time. Nothing we have seen so far should come as a surprise, this is exactly the player we saw for 3 seasons at Newcastle. I really couldn't care less what he did for France in a international tournament, it is a completely different format. Joe Allen was absolutely brilliant in the Euros, hr made the team of tournament but that doesn't result in him suddenly being good enough for us. There is a reason why he is at Stoke.

The end result of this is you like many others seemingly cannot accept any criticism of a player associated to this club. Praise? No issue, criticism of other clubs players, perfectly fine but dare to have a negative opinion of a Spurs player and the toys come straight out of the pram. If this thread causes such consternation then there is quite a simple solution to that, you avoid it.


Record signing doesn't mean anything going by the last transfer window, prices were inflated by nearly 50%, due to the huge influx of money into the league from TV deals. That's fact.

What are you actually talking about. It seems from the dialogue that the only person here throwing their toys out of said pram is you.

How do you know he wasn't brought in to be a squad player, you clearly have inside knowledge into our transfer plays / strategy. For us to bring in a 'star player' we would have had to pay wages that we weren't willing to pay and a fee over 50m plus to potentially get someone in who would strengthen our starting 11, but of course, regardless of who you buy it is never a guarantee that they will improve the team.

Why are you so aggressive with your posts. I've been critical of our players in the past, but in a constructive way. I haven't turned around saying Sissoko has been amazing, far from it, i have said he has been good, there have been a couple of performances where he has played well and bad, where he has been way off. My whole point which massively seems to be going over your head is that he is getting stick for being awful for us when he has hardly played. Ok that's a problem in its self, but the only way he can prove us wrong is on the pitch surely.

Like i said, we are doing better than last year (in a more competitive league), he is in our squad. So all can't be as shit / terrible as you say it is?

Think you should try some camomile tea before bed.
 

rambu

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
529
890
The worst part about this transfer is that he was not a panic buy. He might not have been on the top of the list but he was certainly on it, and when others failed Poch pushed for him.

As plan B for Zaha?
 

nuttynoah

Arbiter elegantiae
Jul 21, 2004
8,175
7,432
It's now or never for Sissoko's career, if he wants to make it to the top he won't have a better shot. Time to do the business or get rid!
Now! or never? really?
For himself I think he's done exceptionally well. Considering his talents.
Was one of a few stars for France at Euro2016. A player can't hope for more internationally.
He is unsuited to our systems' requried work ethic. He is technically deficient and has the footballing brain of a dormouse.
If he goes to China (or palace/spam/toffess) for a profit then its a win win.
 

Eric_s

Well-Known Member
Aug 30, 2004
1,561
1,924
It's now or never for Sissoko's career, if he wants to make it to the top he won't have a better shot. Time to do the business or get rid!

For your information, he is a French national team starter. That is already some achievements.
 

olliec

Well-Known Member
Jun 20, 2012
3,574
11,763
For your information, he is a French national team starter. That is already some achievements.
I'm talking at club level. What has he accheived? To be honest he looks well out of his depth in our team and not playing with confidence at all when he comes on the pitch.
 

slartibartfast

Grunge baby forever
Oct 21, 2012
18,320
33,955
Don't know that there's a debate to be had here really. If you've §en him play for us its clear he's not good enough. Whether thats down to lack of effort, ability or fitting our system is irrelevant. He's simply not contributing enough to the squad.
On another note can people stop saying the cost of a player is irrelevant. Utter bollox. Do you fkers go buy a car for 50k and when it breaks down after a week and the garage tells you 'well what it cost is irrelevant, thats just what you were willing to pay for it' do you say fair enough? Thought not.
 

TheHood

.................................
Jan 17, 2006
1,671
2,104
Record signing doesn't mean anything going by the last transfer window, prices were inflated by nearly 50%, due to the huge influx of money into the league from TV deals. That's fact.

What are you actually talking about. It seems from the dialogue that the only person here throwing their toys out of said pram is you.

How do you know he wasn't brought in to be a squad player, you clearly have inside knowledge into our transfer plays / strategy. For us to bring in a 'star player' we would have had to pay wages that we weren't willing to pay and a fee over 50m plus to potentially get someone in who would strengthen our starting 11, but of course, regardless of who you buy it is never a guarantee that they will improve the team.

Why are you so aggressive with your posts. I've been critical of our players in the past, but in a constructive way. I haven't turned around saying Sissoko has been amazing, far from it, i have said he has been good, there have been a couple of performances where he has played well and bad, where he has been way off. My whole point which massively seems to be going over your head is that he is getting stick for being awful for us when he has hardly played. Ok that's a problem in its self, but the only way he can prove us wrong is on the pitch surely.

Like i said, we are doing better than last year (in a more competitive league), he is in our squad. So all can't be as shit / terrible as you say it is?

Think you should try some camomile tea before bed.

Record singings don't mean anything in the context of the new deal? What an absurd statement to make. The increased television revenues isn't anything new, there has been successive increases with every new deal that has been agreed. The notion that a club whose resources are signifcantly less than the clubs it currently challenges and whose capacity has been diminished due to its capital commitments should be so blasé about the failure of such signings is quite frankly laughable.

How do I know he wasn't brought in as squad player ? Well you only need a semblance of knowledge of the game to know that signings of that scale do not constitute such a thing( more so of a club of our standing). Manchester United didn't sign Paul Pogba to sit on the bench, no club spending such sums does that. High fees will envitabily bring high expectations and rightly so, the premium demands it. You clearly take no issue with such a notion with other clubs judging by your comments about Pogba so why should an exception made when it comes to our players?

As for missing your point, well no I quite clearly understand this, you say that criticism is unwarranted because of his limited playing time, my point is that the fact that he cannot secure playing time ( more so when we have a long standing injury to Lamela) is absolutely the grounds for criticism. Again if you wish to have to little to no expectations on a player good for you, others cearly and rightly will however.

The suggestion that our summer transfer business should be excused simply because we still occupy the same position is shortsighted as it is dangerous for the club. The quality of the side has not improved, it is the very the side we saw last season despite the sums spent. That shouldn't be the case and lessons need to be learnt. As for being aggressive with posts, well when you make such asisine statements about supporters and question their motives simply because they have a different viewpoint to you then what do you expect? Even more so when such comments are then followed up by selective and contradictory statements.
 

Charly***

no idea
Aug 20, 2008
4,209
7,052
I'm not sure that anyone thought/thinks he's a good enough player for our level. Just some people, once we signed him and he put the shirt on gave the club the benefit of the doubt and kept their powder dry with regard criticism. Whereas others want to go on about it ad nauseam.
 

simyid

Active Member
Jul 31, 2006
767
158
Record singings don't mean anything in the context of the new deal? What an absurd statement to make. The increased television revenues isn't anything new, there has been successive increases with every new deal that has been agreed. The notion that a club whose resources are signifcantly less than the clubs it currently challenges and whose capacity has been diminished due to its capital commitments should be so blasé about the failure of such signings is quite frankly laughable. The market went crazy last summer, if you can't see that then i dont know what you are looking at. Jordon Ibe went for £15m, John Stones for £48m, Batshuayi (a squad player) went for £33m. Mason went for £13m, we even got £8m for a player who has played 1 game for us. £30m for a French international who starred in the euros and could potentially cover right-wing and CM was over-priced but given the climate it wasn't totally ridiculous.

How do I know he wasn't brought in as squad player ? Well you only need a semblance of knowledge of the game to know that signings of that scale do not constitute such a thing( more so of a club of our standing). Manchester United didn't sign Paul Pogba to sit on the bench, no club spending such sums does that. High fees will envitabily bring high expectations and rightly so, the premium demands it. You clearly take no issue with such a notion with other clubs judging by your comments about Pogba so why should an exception made when it comes to our players? I could have told you as soon as we signed him that he was gna be a squad player. we shouldn't have spent £30m on him but he was never gna get in at Cm and was never gna be good enough to be our RW. it was a poor signing but i could see the logic at the time. a player who could cover a few position, has strength, pace and could be a tactical weapon. it was clearly a panic buy as he bought him in the last seconds of the window but given the how much money every premier league team has it clearly seen as money we can afford to spend, especially as we had only spent £30m in the summer up until then.

As for missing your point, well no I quite clearly understand this, you say that criticism is unwarranted because of his limited playing time, my point is that the fact that he cannot secure playing time ( more so when we have a long standing injury to Lamela) is absolutely the grounds for criticism. Again if you wish to have to little to no expectations on a player good for you, others cearly and rightly will however. i think this is fair, the fact we have seen so little from him and that he has been criticised by Poch points to a problem. what i would say is that i think since we played United away (when he came on and changed the game) i have definitely seen a difference in Sissoko when he has gotten an opportunity (southampton away and Burnley at home he provided good contributions) but our record since the united game reads P:13 W:10 D:2 L:1 so its no wonder he can't get a look in when we are playing so well.

The suggestion that our summer transfer business should be excused simply because we still occupy the same position is shortsighted as it is dangerous for the club. The quality of the side has not improved, it is the very the side we saw last season despite the sums spent. That shouldn't be the case and lessons need to be learnt. As for being aggressive with posts, well when you make such asisine statements about supporters and question their motives simply because they have a different viewpoint to you then what do you expect? Even more so when such comments are then followed up by selective and contradictory statements. you may think we are the same side but we have 5 more points have conceded less goals and have scored more than at this stage last season, we upgraded Dier to Wanyama, but apart from that there it is extremely to bring players in who would improve our 1st team. who can we bring in to improve our back 4? what striker would be better than Kane? who is better than Eriksen and Alli who is realistically attainable? couple that with the fact that last season our biggest problems were not with our 1st team but with our players coming of the bench. that is where we dropped most our points last season, in games that we had to use squad players like Carroll and Mason. the fact that we got rid of them and looked to replace them with better players and signed a back-up striker says to me that our management are trying to learn from their mistakes even if some signings don't work out, you can' tell me they haven't identified the problems of last season and looked to rectify them.
 

Eric_s

Well-Known Member
Aug 30, 2004
1,561
1,924
I'm talking at club level. What has he accheived? To be honest he looks well out of his depth in our team and not playing with confidence at all when he comes on the pitch.

Well he has a few bad games and a few good games. I dont think he looks out of his depth. I think some people simply do not like him. Its too early to say for sure how his Spurs career will pend out unless idiotic fans start to boo him,and get on his back and force the club to sell him like a few ex-Spurs players were treated. Fans who abuse players they dont like are idiots in my book.
Unless a player did what Sol campbell did, they do not deserve to be abuse regardless how much money was spent on them. Sissoko do not deserve the abuse he is receiving ftom the childish attention seekers.
 

olliec

Well-Known Member
Jun 20, 2012
3,574
11,763
I actually do like him. I have no reason not to like him, and he is by far not the worse signing we've had over the years. I actually really want him to succeed - just like all our players. I am just saying the stage is set for him. It's now or never!
 

archiewasking

Waiting for silverware..........
Jul 5, 2004
7,848
11,668
If he gets played in the middle so he can rampage forward like a bull in a china shop, he might be effective. But we've got Dembele and Wanyama in there who can provide a lot of that. Can't seem him getting a game in what would be his better position barring a few injuries.
 

midoNdefoe

the member formerly and technically still known as
Mar 9, 2005
3,107
3,166
I actually do like him. I have no reason not to like him, and he is by far not the worse signing we've had over the years. I actually really want him to succeed - just like all our players. I am just saying the stage is set for him. It's now or never!

I disagree, it certainly shouldn't be now or never!
Given the apparent investment, it is in our interest to give him time and support. Once he has a pre-season under his belt and plays a part in next seasons silverware gathering :cool: his value will be no worse than now...
 
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mano-obe

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2005
4,238
7,518
On his day he's a decent player. We see it in spells at Newcastle and the French loved him at the Euro's

Consistency has never been his strong point, but if he can come off the bench and cause the opposition problems that would be great
 

allpaths

Well-Known Member
Oct 31, 2014
3,174
8,381
Why don't people aim their dissatisfaction at Poch?
People did, they told him to take a good hard look at himself, and Poch did by testing his strength of character by backpacking across the unforgiving Siberian landscape, while fighting a grizzly and taming one of Siberia's many wild stallions and in this state of inebriated clarity he realized that Sissoko is shit, was always in fact shit and is just a giant turd of a signing.
 

allpaths

Well-Known Member
Oct 31, 2014
3,174
8,381
Two things.... he has hardly kicked a ball for us and when he has he has been good and bad, couple of assists along the way, hardly lost games for us, the outright criticism of him has been spectacularly over the top and many follow like sheep to sound cool and just join in.

Secondly, hindsight is a beautiful thing. He just come off the back of being one of the outstanding players at the Euro's (many people who berate him on here will disagree blindly with this statement) and we were lacking someone older and of more experience in the team. Was he my first choice, no, but i'm pretty sure when this was going through there were a hell of a lot more people wanting it to happen then it not happen, because so many keep moaning about the net spend and not spending money. So you're dammed if you do and dammed if you don't.

But what is the end result of all this?? Aren't we second in the league, in the semi final of the FA Cup. So you could say we are in a better position than we were last year in a much stronger league than last year. Sissoko has been a part of that squad even if you and many others don't like that. So he's hardly ruined our team and ok he hasn't set the world alight, but look up North at the ridiculous waste of money that is Pogba. Sissoko was never purchased to be our star man he was added to strengthen the squad and we really won't lose much money on him in the summer. Maybe he might be adding extra motivation to some of our other players like Alli, Son, Eriksen, and Winks breaking through. Without him being in the squad, would they be performing at the level that they are? I don't know, i can't predict the future like you.

But come on. This whole thread is one of the most ridiculous ones on here. With little evidence backing up the shocking treatment this player gets.
First thing, he had a pretty good run for us just right before we switched to the 3-5-2 system, according to transfermarket he's played 1029 minutes of football for us which is approximately eleven and a half matches, that is plenty of time to see if a player is a good for spurs and if it's worth investing time in a player. I do believe you're right that players need a proper run out to grow and acclimate to our style and the league. Like GKN has had a raw treatment, but it is pretty pathetic to suggest this is the case for Sissoko.

Their is no use of hindsight in this case because their was a lot of posters who were against his signing from the moment that spurs were linked to Sissoko. If you thought Sissoko was going to be a poor signing even before he signed for the club, how can you not be anything but upset, when a whole bunch of amateur football opinionists knew straight away that Sissoko was going to be a donkey signing.

While he is playing for the club and showing a good attitude as he has, I'll always hope he does his best for the club, but it won't stop me from thinking that the club made a mistake signing him and that we can and should improve on him in the summer.
 

dondo

Well-Known Member
Jan 4, 2006
8,603
14,091
Hate to be overly critical of any Spurs player but that was probably the worst 45 minutes I've ever seen from any of our players.
He can't control the ball it bounced off him almost every time , he looked like a Sunday league player
 
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