You see anything negative against him as an attack that must be defended. While Ill admit there are a few posts taking the Michael, most are fair criticism if you take off your public defender glasses. They dont need to be jumped on so enthusiastically.
Genuinely - I suspect its the price tag keeping him here. If he was a £15m punt he would have been long gone IMO. That we cant get any sort of value back is most likely why we havent sold him. As you said (and as Ive said) he does his best and seems to be a decent pro.
That we havent tried to tie him down longer does say something though, considering its our MO to do so to key players.
And thats it really, he isnt key, is he? He is the first to be dropped as soon as key players are fit.
Honestly I though that was just a peach of a cross that took our defenders out of it, not sure what he should have done otherwise?
I seriously think Poch picks him because he see's no alternative, not because Sissoko does a specific job. As above, I expect him to be on the bench as soon as better options are available. Hopefully Dembele proving his fitness will be the case.
I think the team is worse for him in it, and the players are worse around him (see Dier trying to cover him all game) but the team is such that it manages to work anyway. Albeit not as well.
The alternative today was Amos, a kid yet to even taste mens football - who looked as such for the few minutes he had when he came on.
Just on your point to me - I’ve got no real issue with people saying they’d rather have someone better with the ball at their feet in the 11. Not jumping at those folks. I am jumping at the ‘Sunday League, can’t pass a ball’ rubbish that always gets spouted, and the under-rating of his performances every single game compared to everyone else. Holding him to much higher standards. Holding up every small thing as an example of how bad he is, but not holding those same standards to every other player.
And it comes back to, if he was *that* bad, as is being made out, if he was of so little value, we would bomb him out ala Janssen even if its on loan. Because otherwise there is no logical consistency between the belief that he is terrible and the fact that our fantastic manager thinks he is worth keeping in the squad. We’d just loan him if we wouldn’t find a buyer, and would hope he played first 11 football somewhere and impressed enough that we could get something back, but wouldn’t risk putting him anywhere near our team because of how negatively he would affect our results. I’m not saying you think he is *that* bad, but many others on here and elsewhere in the Spurs fandom do. It doesn’t make sense.
When he plays, he has a role, and as the man himself said, Poch is happy with him. Now when Dembele plays next to Dier, I’m sure they expect more from Dembele in certain ways than they do Sissoko. So the expectation would be slightly different. And maybe they expect more defensively / covering wise from Sissoko than they do Dembele. But either way, when he plays, he is carrying out his instructions well enough to impress his coach. And there’s a reason Dembele will start ahead of Sissoko all other things being equal, because they can probably expect more from him overall, but Sissoko wouldn’t be anywhere near the side if he wasn’t doing what was asked.
You must have played some team sport and would know what it’s like. I played basketball, and every time I moved up a level I was almost surprised at how high the standards were, and how difficult it was to impress, and how set the expectations were. And that was pretty much county and university level...in the UK...so not great. But still, there were standards, it was hugely competitive, and you had to be adding value otherwise you’d be nowhere near the side. I ascribe 100x more importance on standards of contribution in elite Premier League football, and as such I have to conclude Sissoko is adding value and seen as someone who can maintain our consistency and results. He’s be nowhere near otherwise.
