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Moussa Sissoko

This comment in the article above is quite good:

"Mauricio Pochettino realised that the best way to use him: not on the flank where he would inevitably get squeezed out, but in the centre, where opposition teams never quite know where the ball was going next, because often neither does Sissoko. The injury to Mousa Dembele has been particularly timely in this respect: Dembele is the sort of player you bring in when you want to control a game. Sissoko is the sort of player you bring in when you want to control an opposition."

Similar to my comment about whether the Dier-Sissoko partnership would work against more defensive teams
 
AdamB said:
Of course, but it was a game which we could play on the counter with pace (they had 60%-odd possession). If we were against a team which sat back, I dont think it would have worked. I'm not taking anything away from Sissoko's performance today, but a Dier-Sissoko partnership in CM wouldnt work against non-top 6 teams which park the bus
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Fair enough. I think the possession stats were more because we raced into a 2 goal lead and sat off, but I think we can create a good amount of chances against any team with any combo of our central midfielders when we play like we did today - it was clear high tempo for 94 mins. Real tight, always tackling, always moving the ball quickly, it was relentless. It’s the kind of performance we will now see more of as we enter the winter stretch but it isn’t how we play at the very start of seasons IMO.

But lower table sides will struggle to live with us playing with the hardcore speed that we were and chances will open up from it. Thinking Burnley away last year was a Sissoko / Dier pairing, and we’ve had games in Wanyama’s first season where a Wanyama / Dier pairing got us some performances like today too.

It’s more the system that’s important, the central two need to be super athletic and able to move the ball quickly, but I don’t think they need to be Modric standard passers. (Of course it would be nice, I just don’t think it is the most essential quality)
 
Was great today, I’m always pleased when spurs players exceed my expectations. I would have got rid of him and Aurier based on last seasons performances but credit to them both for knocking down under a coaching team that seems to be capable of improving players better than any other in the league. Sissoko in particular looks so much more comfortable on the ball now.

Nice touch that he had Dembele’s song sung a few times.
 
AdamB said:
This comment in the article above is quite good:

"Mauricio Pochettino realised that the best way to use him: not on the flank where he would inevitably get squeezed out, but in the centre, where opposition teams never quite know where the ball was going next, because often neither does Sissoko. The injury to Mousa Dembele has been particularly timely in this respect: Dembele is the sort of player you bring in when you want to control a game. Sissoko is the sort of player you bring in when you want to control an opposition."

Similar to my comment about whether the Dier-Sissoko partnership would work against more defensive teams
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Yeah, I don’t agree with that. It’s a nice point for Lieuw to make but I don’t think the performance today was down to Sissoko being there any more than it would be if Dembele or Winks were there. Anyone who gets the nod from obviously needs to perform but I think this was all about the team to a man playing absolutely relentless football.

We can have games where Sissoko will be in a side playing more patient football and we’ll have games like today where Dembele has embraced the chaos so to speak (United at Wembley in the league last season). I just think it’s more about the team and the tempo we set.

Late November onwards is usually when Poch’s conditioning kicks in and our performances reach another level. I think if a player has made the squad after the transfer deadline and is training with the first team, he trusts any of them in any game. And he makes his decision more on conditioning than he does on the type of game, because I think he trusts any of our players to carry out a plan like today, or to swipe aside a mid-table team. It’s more about getting everyone in the squad in the condition to play in the tempo that we played today, and that is the thing that will see us through - giving us the creativity and getting the results. It just isn’t possible for most teams to live with. (And we get the benefit of it because we trade off some early season tempo so we can be in control of our peaks, IMO)
 
nayenezgani said:
Sissoko the destroyer! It's the position he was always meant to play, going back to his emergence at Toulouse.

Not sure where and why he became a winger, but CM destroyer is by far his best position IMO.
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It is, but he needs to be next to a very strong ball player. If we play him instead of Dier then we lose a lot of on the ball ability and gain little defensively. If we play him instead of Winks or Dembele then we gain a bit defensively but lose a lot of creativity.

Chelsea are a very good example of what happens if you want to press, keep the ball and play a pure destroyer (Kante) all at once. You end up with 10 men when you have the ball (and someone getting in the way of the talent), and you end up having to play a specialist creator, just to make up for their inability on the ball. That means you either have your creator pressing (meaning he's not in space if you turn the ball over) or you have him as the destroyer, negating the point of your destroyer.

If you want to play ultra defensive long ball like Chelsea and Leicester did that's fine. If you want to be a team that plays more football, you need all your midfielders to be passers.
 
scaramanga said:
It is, but he needs to be next to a very strong ball player. If we play him instead of Dier then we lose a lot of on the ball ability and gain little defensively. If we play him instead of Winks or Dembele then we gain a bit defensively but lose a lot of creativity.

Chelsea are a very good example of what happens if you want to press, keep the ball and play a pure destroyer (Kante) all at once. You end up with 10 men when you have the ball (and someone getting in the way of the talent), and you end up having to play a specialist creator, just to make up for their inability on the ball. That means you either have your creator pressing (meaning he's not in space if you turn the ball over) or you have him as the destroyer, negating the point of your destroyer.

If you want to play ultra defensive long ball like Chelsea and Leicester did that's fine. If you want to be a team that plays more football, you need all your midfielders to be passers.
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As much as I agree with the gist of your post, I have to be pedantic to a point. As much as i agree Kante is 100% a destroyer (no argument there) my challenge is that that is simply not how he was employed today.

It baffled me completely that Jorginho was the DM and yet completely out of his depth, and Kante was 30 yards further forward and unsurprisingly useless.

I get that Jorginho is supposed to be a Carrickesque ballplayer, but he is certainly not a DM. And it seems obvious Chlesea should be in a 4321 type set up with Kante AND Jorginho in the 2.

That they werent seemed to me like a tactical shoot yourself in the foot by Sarri.

Sissoko? Its absolutely no surprise to me theres an over reaction in here. Entirely predictable.

I think this was probably his best performance yet for us.

And it comes as no surprise that I would think that when he was played exactly how Ive been saying (for fudging ages) how he should be played.

It was notable how disciplined he was, he was clearly set out to play as a DM and nothing more. And he did well.

Exactly as I said he would ages ago.
 
nayimfromthehalfwayline said:
As much as I agree with the gist of your post, I have to be pedantic to a point. As much as i agree Kante is 400% a destroyer (no argument there) my challenge is that that is simply not how he was employed today.

It baffled me completely that Jorginho was the DM and yet completely out of his depth, and Kante was 30 yards further forward and unsurprisingly useless.

I get that Jorginho is supposed to be a Carrickesque ballplayer, but he is certainly not a DM. And it seems obvious Chlesea should be in a 4321 type set up with Kante AND Jorginho in the 2.

That they werent seemed to me like a tactical shoot yourself in the foot by Sarri.

Sissoko? Its absolutely no surprise to me theres an over reaction in here. Entirely predictable.

I think this was probably his best performance yet for us.

And it comes as no surprise that I would think that when he was played exactly how Ive been saying (for fudging ages) how he should be played.

It was notable how disciplined he was, he was clearly set out to play as a DM and nothing more. And he did well.

Exactly as I said he would ages ago.
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Sari played one way at Napoli regardless of opponent, he will play that way with Chelsea.

Means kante is wasted
 
nayimfromthehalfwayline said:
...

Sissoko? Its absolutely no surprise to me theres an over reaction in here. Entirely predictable.

I think this was probably his best performance yet for us.

And it comes as no surprise that I would think that when he was played exactly how Ive been saying (for fudging ages) how he should be played.

It was notable how disciplined he was, he was clearly set out to play as a DM and nothing more. And he did well.

Exactly as I said he would ages ago.
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I think there comes a time when you just need to admit he has surprised you recently. Sorry, and I more than willing to apologise if proven otherwise, but for you to suggest that you “knew he’d do well” when deployed as a DM is re-writing history. Unless you meant to say “sent”?
 
scaramanga said:
It is, but he needs to be next to a very strong ball player. If we play him instead of Dier then we lose a lot of on the ball ability and gain little defensively. If we play him instead of Winks or Dembele then we gain a bit defensively but lose a lot of creativity.

Chelsea are a very good example of what happens if you want to press, keep the ball and play a pure destroyer (Kante) all at once. You end up with 10 men when you have the ball (and someone getting in the way of the talent), and you end up having to play a specialist creator, just to make up for their inability on the ball. That means you either have your creator pressing (meaning he's not in space if you turn the ball over) or you have him as the destroyer, negating the point of your destroyer.

If you want to play ultra defensive long ball like Chelsea and Leicester did that's fine. If you want to be a team that plays more football, you need all your midfielders to be passers.
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The only problem with your theory is that today we created more clear chances than any other game this season.

I agree that Dier is a massive massive part of all this (we have always agreed there in the face of doubters)...

I think today was as much about balance as any single factor. I will say that Aurier and Sissoko both linked really well, but it was the whole shape.

Moussa actually created a few chances, and was robbed of an assist when Hazza inexplicably fluffed his line late on (what a game he had BTW, free to roam as he likes with Dele, Eriksen and Sonny off him)...


Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app
 
Good to see hes getting recognition he has deserved for a while - and not the "he was good for sissoko" ****

I hate those lot but the tactics were weird, Kante at one point was in the box on end of a header. Whats the point, If you want to play Jorginho as a holder (wrong) then better playing Barkley and Kovacic either side.

Having said that 3mins in you could see Poch had watched the Derby game and realised Jorginho doesnt play, chelsea doesnt play

I hoped Winks would dump Dembele out of the team (for our development)
Never in my dreams saw sissoko dumping them both out
 
thfcsteff said:
The only problem with your theory is that today we created more clear chances than any other game this season.

I agree that Dier is a massive massive part of all this (we have always agreed there in the face of doubters)...

I think today was as much about balance as any single factor. I will say that Aurier and Sissoko both linked really well, but it was the whole shape.

Moussa actually created a few chances, and was robbed of an assist when Hazza inexplicably fluffed his line late on (what a game he had BTW, free to roam as he likes with Dele, Eriksen and Sonny off him)...


Sitting on my porcelain throne using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app
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Agreed, as I said above I don’t think this was about any one single player as it was the system coming together, as it often has for us a few times under Poch in these types of games.

I don’t agree that we have any less creativity in the side if Sissoko is one of the deep two and not Winks / Dembele, today disproves that. Even if we allow for the fact Chelsea won’t park the bus, we’ve still had creative, all conquering performances with a Wanyama / Dier pivot. It’s about the system functioning more than anything.
 
nayimfromthehalfwayline said:
As much as I agree with the gist of your post, I have to be pedantic to a point. As much as i agree Kante is 400% a destroyer (no argument there) my challenge is that that is simply not how he was employed today.

It baffled me completely that Jorginho was the DM and yet completely out of his depth, and Kante was 30 yards further forward and unsurprisingly useless.

I get that Jorginho is supposed to be a Carrickesque ballplayer, but he is certainly not a DM. And it seems obvious Chlesea should be in a 4321 type set up with Kante AND Jorginho in the 2.

That they werent seemed to me like a tactical shoot yourself in the foot by Sarri.

Sissoko? Its absolutely no surprise to me theres an over reaction in here. Entirely predictable.

I think this was probably his best performance yet for us.

And it comes as no surprise that I would think that when he was played exactly how Ive been saying (for fudging ages) how he should be played.

It was notable how disciplined he was, he was clearly set out to play as a DM and nothing more. And he did well.

Exactly as I said he would ages ago.
Click to expand...

It seems that, the last two Chelsea managers have come in expecting to make 4-1-4-1 work...I wonder if it can be done in this league. The cut off of the single holding playmaker means there’s too much of an easy and obvious route to choking the whole system.

Poch has tried it as well but always seems to abandon it as soon as he starts it.
 
thfcsteff said:
I think there comes a time when you just need to admit he has surprised you recently. Sorry, and I more than willing to apologise if proven otherwise, but for you to suggest that you “knew he’d do well” when deployed as a DM is re-writing history. Unless you meant to say “sent”?
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To be fair to Nayim, it was he arguing that Sissoko should have something of a Palacios role a couple of pages back was it not?

Although on the other hand, I’m sure I’ve had some debates where I’ve said Sissoko is excellent defensively and ive had it said that he is bad...alongside being a terrible footballer and up until only recently a complete liability, it is quite the change to now say it was always the case that he’d play well in the position. *insert smiling emoji here*
 
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