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Player Watch: Moussa Sissoko

jamesc0le

SISS:LOKO:plays/thinks/eats chicken like sissoko!
Jun 17, 2008
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944
Tottenham's Moussa Sissoko says a 'focused and strong' mind is behind his revival



Tottenham midfielder Moussa Sissoko says a "focused and strong" mind is behind his revival this season after a slow start to life in north London.

The France international has been criticised by boss Maurico Pochettino and Spurs fans and since his £30m arrival from Newcastle in August 2016.

But his role in Wednesday's 1-0 win against Inter Milan - keeping Spurs' Champions League hopes alive - was the high point in an ever-improving season.

"I am doing well this season," he said.

"But I think this is because of my work at training.

"I know since I came here everything wasn't easy for me, but I never give up and I was always focused and strong in my mind and said I need to keep working."

The 29-year-old only made eight Premier League starts for Tottenham in his first season at the club, with Pochettino saying the midfielder was falling short of expectations.

He featured more regularly last term, but only this season has Sissoko started to convince Tottenham fans of his ability and it was his powerful run that created Christian Eriksen's winner against Inter.

"You want to do more, to have more success, but even when you do everything sometimes it is difficult and you can not get what you want," Sissoko told BBC Radio 5 live.

"But you have to stay strong in your mind and keep believing, and one day you might have your chance - this is what happened for me.

"I had the chance to never give up and believe and everyone was behind me, supporting me - that is why I am here right now.

"When you give up you can fall down and never come back, this wasn't me. I still believe and I was strong in my mind."

Tottenham travel to Arsenal in the north London derby on Sunday (kick-off 14:05 GMT) with Sissoko's form meaning he could be in line for a seventh successive Premier League start.

The Frenchman says he has always backed manager Pochettino and wants to keep on getting "better and better".

"I am very happy with him, maybe in the past some people say a few things, but even when I wasn't playing a lot I always said he was a great manager," he said.

"We need to accept his choice, he's the boss on the pitch and everything he says we have to accept and do it.

"Now I am playing and he says some good things about me, so I am very happy."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/46406215
 

rossdapep

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2011
21,906
78,643
This highlights one of the reasons why Pochettino kept putting him on the pitch, often as a late substitute, but I'd phrase it slightly differently.

Sissoko's work off the ball is consistently good. He has a very solid positional sense. It's one of the semi-invisible traits to a footballer that the "individual errors" school of football fans tend to miss, because they're ball-watching all the time. We'll be attacking and there will be a transition and the opposition's break will be just that bit less threatening because there's Sissoko, in the right place, steering the counter-attack away from the danger zone just by being there.

All he had to do was to return his ball control and passing to a decent standard of competence, because bloody hell, it wasn't anywhere near that until recently, for his other assets to become valuable. And to stop shooting. Please. ;)
Exactly and that's what I was aiming at. I don't think a lot of people see that but it's true that you can be watching the opposition form an attack and Sissoko will never be out of position. He's very competent at holding his position/repositioning and I don't think we've been on the receiving end of a hiding with him on the pitch.

I guess most just focus on what he does when he receives the ball and it's fair to say that we had been much more toothless with him on the pitch. But now we seem to have found the right role for him, which has lifted his confidence and form.
 

Matecheck

Free pawn
Sep 25, 2016
307
967
OK fine, i couldn't find a horse with a water cannon so everything went off the rails, this is the best i could do. Now let's get this thread back on track.

w0HJ3YN.jpg


What a....bad-ass.....
 

Japhet

Well-Known Member
Aug 30, 2010
19,232
57,391
He's had a lot of praise lately for his attacking play, and rightly so, but he's also done some fantastic defensive covering. When you have FBs pushing up it's a great security blanket to have a player with Sissoko's pace and power ready to cover any counters. Good to have him sitting back when we have corners to cover any breakouts.
 

SpursD22

Well-Known Member
Aug 3, 2017
4,682
8,929
I’m sorry if I burst any Spurs fans bubble but Sissoko is fucking shit

He had a couple of good games and everyone is going crazy but he’s soooooo bad with the ball it’s unbelievable

If he plays he needs to have touch the ball as little as possible
 

dtxspurs

Welcome to the Good Life
Dec 28, 2017
11,234
46,574
I’m sorry if I burst any Spurs fans bubble but Sissoko is fucking shit

He had a couple of good games and everyone is going crazy but he’s soooooo bad with the ball it’s unbelievable

If he plays he needs to have touch the ball as little as possible
I stand by what I said, if we can get a decent fee we should move him in January. A good month doesn't surpass what he's done on the pitch for 2 years.
 

SpursD22

Well-Known Member
Aug 3, 2017
4,682
8,929
I stand by what I said, if we can get a decent fee we should move him in January. A good month doesn't surpass what he's done on the pitch for 2 years.

He’s awful I’ve always said it and I will always say it
Technically he’s Championship level

And even tho Aurier was shit today Sissoko barely gave him any support
 

LukaKranjcar

Well-Known Member
May 8, 2010
913
5,415
He's absolutely woeful. Good player to have in and around the squad who has his uses sure, but starting CM for a team with aspirations of winning things and reaching the very top? Not even close. I've been as delighted as any with his recent renaissance but its doesn't come close to making up for the last two years.
 

TheVoiceofReason

Well-Known Member
Feb 5, 2005
6,320
15,685
He's absolutely woeful. Good player to have in and around the squad who has his uses sure, but starting CM for a team with aspirations of winning things and reaching the very top? Not even close. I've been as delighted as any with his recent renaissance but its doesn't come close to making up for the last two years.

Agree, I’ve been extremely happy with him this season, but a few times today he was in space in scoring positions and his own players ignored him. That kind of player should not be anywhere near our starting 11, despite his redeeming qualities.
 

TheRevolution

Well-Known Member
Nov 25, 2018
873
2,304
He's a useful asset when he's giving 110% but offers nothing when he drops anything below that. For a game like today we needed better technical players in midfield to play through their press.
 

dtxspurs

Welcome to the Good Life
Dec 28, 2017
11,234
46,574
Agree, I’ve been extremely happy with him this season, but a few times today he was in space in scoring positions and his own players ignored him. That kind of player should not be anywhere near our starting 11, despite his redeeming qualities.
The 1vs 1 on Leno where he was offsides... Hit it straight at Leno.
 

EQP

EQP
Sep 1, 2013
7,958
29,657
I blame Poch for not taking him off in the 2nd half, when it was evident that we needed a CM to control the tempo and help keep possession ala Winks. I still expect that he'll start against Southampton and will probably have a better showing than today.
 

Spurrific

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2011
13,501
57,356
He's absolutely woeful. Good player to have in and around the squad who has his uses sure, but starting CM for a team with aspirations of winning things and reaching the very top? Not even close. I've been as delighted as any with his recent renaissance but its doesn't come close to making up for the last two years.

Lucky he doesn’t play for one of those then, isn’t it?
 

dtxspurs

Welcome to the Good Life
Dec 28, 2017
11,234
46,574
Pathetic in here. First game we lose and its blame Sisokko.

Fucking incredible.
I'm not blaming him solely but think he was a reason for a lot of our issues today along with a few others.

On top form he can have those games where he can win a ball and burst into space to create a counter attacking opportunity. But when you need someone to get into a position to receive the ball & alleviate pressure, get others involved, spray the ball across field, etc. he's just not able to do that.

We needed a midfielder to step up, go get the ball from teammates and get the ball into our attackers and we just couldn't do that today. Goes for him and Dier.
 
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