In those vanishingly few matches per season where we have that space and if he's at the top of his game, then he doesn't stand out like the sore thumb he usually does.No one had a problem with criticising him when he was playing poorly. It was calling him out as a 3/10 performer when he really wasn't, and people could see objectively that he wasn't as bad as the mob were making out.
No doubt when he started last year with us he was utterly terrible. But he then got a few good games in around Christmas (I'm thinking Burnley, Hull at home, Swansea when he came on) but then he couldn't get back in the side as the team hit ridiculous form in the new year.
This year, he's been pretty damn good. Culminating in last night. It is incredibly harsh to say he isn't Spurs standard after a result like last night when he fully played his part. Yes, he is a physical player. Yes, we played deeper last night. But part of our evolution, and why we've been able to get better results against teams we would usually struggle against is because we've decided to sit deeper and in Toby's words 'play like adults, not children', and when we do this, Sissoko is very well placed to play a seriously important role. That zone, a bit deeper, just right of centre that he was in last night was perfect for him. It's much better than expecting him to be Aaron Lennon pinned to the right wing, and it completely gets the best out of him.
On his really good days he's a "meh" performance in modern Spurs terms. Just look at the competition for his place. If he's playing in the middle then there's Dembele, Dier, Winks and Wanyama (sometimes Eriksen with the right opponent) who are all well above him in the pecking order - their average days are significantly better than Sissoko's good ones.
If he's playing further forward then it's the same story. Alli, Eriksen, Lamela, Son - they all outperform him on their off days.