Moussa Sissoko

[scaramanga]

Oh come on!!!!
Are you SERIOUSLY going to now compare Moussa Sissoko to Christian Eriksen?
Name me 5 players in the Premiership who are at Eriksen's level of vision?

Of course we won't get to 5 as good as Eriksen. Let's instead list 7 midfielders who don't look out of place next to him on a football pitch.

Alli, Winks, Dier, Dembele, Lamela, Amos, Skipp. All talented footballers with an ability to use a football in ways those of us running about a park on Sundays cannot.

You know who's going to be on the list of players who look out of place and can't though right?

 

[NoLimits01]

Well as i said they were up against tough opposition...even with Nainggolan going off Valero is still a tenacious technically adept player.

I don't think it's our best central partnership but I do feel it has potential against opponents who sit back and attempt to contain.

Central midfield is now a tricky one for me...yes I'm a spurs fan but I've always wanted us to have a Roy Keane type in there and my wish has been for Dier to become this but Dier is very defensive minded and is more of an Anchor Man 'Makelele type.

Laugh if ya want but Sissoko's recent displays have reminded me heavily about what I most admired about Keane...particularly his tenacity against Chelsea.

Interestingly enough Keane was never 'a' grade technically gifted but would dominate games more often than not the ones that really mattered.

Also Sissoko's recent displays have also minus the goals reminded me very much of Ya ya Toure as when he is running at full pelt it's like a steam train and the opposition dunno wtf to do about it.

Half the time picking a central midfield is about finding the right blend...

Like it or not Sissoko offers us qualities that we need that can give us the edge in certain games, I'm happy for him to be busy whilst Winks attempts to keep things ticking over.

Well as i said they were up against tough opposition...even with Nainggolan going off Valero is still a tenacious technically adept player.

I don't think it's our best central partnership but I do feel it has potential against opponents who sit back and attempt to contain.

Central midfield is now a tricky one for me...yes I'm a spurs fan but I've always wanted us to have a Roy Keane type in there and my wish has been for Dier to become this but Dier is very defensive minded and is more of an Anchor Man 'Makelele type.

Laugh if ya want but Sissoko's recent displays have reminded me heavily about what I most admired about Keane...particularly his tenacity against Chelsea.

Interestingly enough Keane was never 'a' grade technically gifted but would dominate games more often than not the ones that really mattered.

Also Sissoko's recent displays have also minus the goals reminded me very much of Ya ya Toure as when he is running at full pelt it's like a steam train and the opposition dunno wtf to do about it.

Half the time picking a central midfield is about finding the right blend...

Like it or not Sissoko offers us qualities that we need that can give us the edge in certain games, I'm happy for him to be busy whilst Winks attempts to keep things ticking over.

Did you just compare Sissoko with Roy Keane and Ya Ya Toure?

 

[Nigeyman]

Did you just compare Sissoko with Roy Keane and Ya Ya Toure?

My post so good I guess you need to quote it twice?

I guess I said certain aspects of his performances reminded me of those players...

You gonna rip me a new a hole?

 

[NoLimits01]

My post so good I guess you need to quote it twice?

I guess I said certain aspects of his performances reminded me of those players...

You gonna rip me a new a hole?

Had to post it twice, didn't believe I had read it correctly the first time

Why would I rip you a new one? Not my style

 

[DeanoAustin]

Oh come on!!!!
Are you SERIOUSLY going to now compare Moussa Sissoko to Christian Eriksen?
Name me 5 players in the Premiership who are at Eriksen's level of vision? If you can even get to four, you're picking world class players!!!!! I don't think you'll find another beyond David Silva and sometimes DeBryunne.

Sissoko has been involved in several highly productive insurgent, incisive moves since he was able to play centrally, and each time he has displayed great close touch and a great final ball. If it was "that easy" then you would think any of ours breaking into those positions could deliver every single time. But they don't. he's done it at least four times since Sept.

We don't play Sissoko to replicate Eriksen, or Eriksenesque vision, because that would be like asking an orange to be an apple.

I wasn’t really comparing him to Eriksen, I’d just picked an exquisite piece of play to illustrate a point. I could have take Lamela or even Winks as players to do likewise. Winks, for example will sometimes pick a ball that you wouldn’t expect him to. Sissoko won’t do that. He’ll always play the most obvious ball because he has no vision.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m loving how he’s playing at the minute. He really has surpassed all my expectations in a way I’d have bet the house he never would. I was utterly wrong about him because I never thought he’d amount to anything more than a figure of fun. But he is still very limited. A great athlete, someone who will bust a gut for us and can power through opposition lines. But he isn’t Erksen, Lamela, Alli, Moura, Son or even Winks and he needs those players or he’ll usually run into dead ends.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

I expect all of our players to run, to fight and be physical - and they all are.

The other ten on the pitch are also talented footballers, they're on a different level from Sissoko in terms of on the ball ability.

Yes they can all run and fight, but many of them can’t do it as fast as Sissoko, or with as much strength. Those attributes can be useful too, to add variety to our attack and make us less predictable.

Again, I’m not sure why physical attributes don’t seem to count with you, but Sissoko literally opened up a CL game against a good side by using his physical gifts to break down a tough team, and had enough technical capability to lay on the right pass.

A team of Eriksens isn’t going to beat a team of 7 Eriksens and 3 Sissokos. Of course he isn’t as good technically as our best technical players, but he’s good enough to be in our side and help us win games.

 

[Kandi1977]

He ran into a gap. I've never denied he's quick or strong, I do contend that he's a good way below the minimum standard of ability a team of our style requires.

You just don't get it, do you? You seem to have no fudging clue how a TEAM is put together. It's like you insits that every player has to be like Eriksen or Winks.
I'll tell you what, a team of 11 Eriksens or Winks wouldn't fare very well!
You need players with different attributes, and Sissoko have some that no one else in the squad has.

 

[Maltese Falcon]

And yet, here they still were, for now: infinitely optimistic, infinitely patient. Lloris to Alderweireld. Back to Lloris. Lloris to Aurier. Aurier to Winks. All the while working the ball around, all the while running hard, all the while probing against an Inter Milan team set up specifically to thwart them. Jan Vertonghen nudged the ball wide from four yards. Tottenham’s dreams were beginning to dissolve into the wet night.

But then, having patiently scurried around all night, Moussa Sissoko saw an opening. And in an instant he was rushing through it, and in another instant the Inter defence was sliced open, and in another ball was at Dele Alli’s feet, and though he could have taken the shot himself, he too waited another instant, seeing Christian Eriksen outside him moving into an unmarked position. And in the time it took the ball to ripple gently down the back of the Inter net, the previous 79 minutes had melted away.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport...an-eriksen-report-jonathan-liew-a8657136.html

Clearly a stupid and misguided journalist. Doesn't he understand that a player who is "a good way below the minimum standard of ability a team of our style requires" cannot possibly see openings against an expert defensive team such as Inter, far less slice through them!!

 

[afsoc4life]

Following this club can feel like something of a trial at times. For all the sumptuous football, for all the genuinely compelling characters, for all the thrill of the ride, Spurs fans must find it hard to shake the sense that they’re travelling without ever threatening to arrive. The big tests keep coming. And yet, as the whistle blew for full-time, once more Wembley - two-thirds full, not a third empty - swelled with belief. Arsenal this weekend? A breeze. Barcelona at the Nou Camp? Bring them on. When the prize is this big, after all, a glimpse is all you need.

Quite apt from the same link.

 

[nayimfromthehalfwayline]

Well as i said they were up against tough opposition...even with Nainggolan going off Valero is still a tenacious technically adept player.

I don't think it's our best central partnership but I do feel it has potential against opponents who sit back and attempt to contain.

Central midfield is now a tricky one for me...yes I'm a spurs fan but I've always wanted us to have a Roy Keane type in there and my wish has been for Dier to become this but Dier is very defensive minded and is more of an Anchor Man 'Makelele type.

Laugh if ya want but Sissoko's recent displays have reminded me heavily about what I most admired about Keane...particularly his tenacity against Chelsea.

Interestingly enough Keane was never 'a' grade technically gifted but would dominate games more often than not the ones that really mattered.

Also Sissoko's recent displays have also minus the goals reminded me very much of Ya ya Toure as when he is running at full pelt it's like a steam train and the opposition dunno wtf to do about it.

Half the time picking a central midfield is about finding the right blend...

Like it or not Sissoko offers us qualities that we need that can give us the edge in certain games, I'm happy for him to be busy whilst Winks attempts to keep things ticking over.

If opposition sit off any partnership can look good. That it took us until the 80th minute to make the breakthrough might suggest they werent as effective as they seemed?

Keane wasnt the most technical footballer, but he was an excellent footballer. Had vision, intelligence, and the ability to use the ball well.
Similarly Toure.

I see the comparison in Sissoko physically dominating things, carrying the ball and charging up and down - but I think they were fundamentally better footballers. Once they had done winning the ball, or carrying it forward, they did more with it than Sissoko does.

And its not even that Im trying to slate him or any of that, rather that that pair for me dont really jive that well. I dont think Inter is the best example of how they might, given how deep they were looking to sit.

But - as you say - it got the job done. "Got the job" done being the story of our season so far.

 

[tynesidespur]

No he's genuinely far, far worse on the ball than the rest of our squad.

Name me one player with worse ball skills than Sissoko on our books.

Davinson Sanchez in my opinion is the weakest player in the squad on the ball.
Toss-up between Wanyama and Sissoko next.

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

Have to say, WInksy played one back-pass last night in the first-half that was terrible! It will happen though...he is not only young, he consistently wants the ball, and the more you take on, the more possible an occasional blip is.

One thing I do notice with Winksy is 70 mins onwards he really looks shattered. I think he puts a lot of physical and mental effort into his game.

It might be that he's so set on doing well forvus, he's all in from the off.

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

I agree
I think the balance wasn’t right but it worked in the end

Is that their first game together? Early days.

Going back a bit I was convinced Dier Wanyama was a no no. Then they played a series of games against arsenal man u (last season at the lane?)....and absolutely run the show.

It's all on Poch really ...he can get anything to work

 

[nayimfromthehalfwayline]

One thing I do notice with Winksy is 70 mins onwards he really looks shattered. I think he puts a lot of physical and mental effort into his game.

It might be that he's so set on doing well forvus, he's all in from the off.

I look at it more as - is he fully fit yet?

He has so far had that Lamela like quality of getting injured every time he looks to be reaching 100% form and fitness. I wouldnt be at all surprised if, at this point, he is still only 60-70% there.

 

[Kenyan Spur]

Based on the ad revenues this site generates, I've been able to buy a bottle of Lambrini, a 1983 Ford Fiesta Ghia and a trip to Butlins in Bognor Regis.

You have been to Butlins !!!
Some photographic proof is required.
If I am not mistaken, I think I saw you at the Richard Branson's Safari Camp in Kenya ???
You had expressed your desire and plans to do that in another thresd.

 

[monkeybarry]

Davinson Sanchez in my opinion is the weakest player in the squad on the ball.
Toss-up between Wanyama and Sissoko next.

Llorente


I win

 

[alekaras]

To be fair, he has a point to an extent. Sissoko has come on hugely over the last month or so. In fact, he’s been our best player in that time.

But...he still isn’t a very clever player. His assist against West Ham and his contribution last night were great but he played the only balls that were really on. You look at a player like Eriksen and the pass he picked out of nowhere for Son against Chelsea on Saturday just before half time. Sissoko will never ever do that because he isn’t clever enough. He’s a hell of an athlete though.

That's not his role, though, is it? I see him more as a Dembele replacement, but with a different style and probably more effective, too. Whereas Dembele is someone you give the ball to and he holds on to it impressively while bringing it down the pitch to lay it off to one of our more creative players, Sissoko gallups up the pitch to lay it off to one of our more creative players. The difference between the two is that Sissoko's style is more disruptive to the opposition, since they don't get a chance to set up their defence, compared to the slow and deliberate way Dembele brings up the ball. Taking nothing away from Dembele I, for one, prefer Sissoko's style better, as this slowness in our attacking is something that has frustrated me no end.

 

[Baleforce]

Llorente


I win

I challenge anyone attempting to find our weakest exponent of ball control and manipulation to run their eyes down our list and bother reading beyond squad number 1.

 

[DeanoAustin]

That's not his role, though, is it? I see him more as a Dembele replacement, but with a different style and probably more effective, too. Whereas Dembele is someone you give the ball to and he holds on to it impressively while bringing it down the pitch to lay it off to one of our more creative players, Sissoko gallups up the pitch to lay it off to one of our more creative players. The difference between the two is that Sissoko's style is more disruptive to the opposition, since they don't get a chance to set up their defence, compared to the slow and deliberate way Dembele brings up the ball. Taking nothing away from Dembele I, for one, prefer Sissoko's style better, as this slowness in our attacking is something that has frustrated me no end.

I get your point but Dembele is a much better player because he can do it under pressure and in tight spaces. That can be invaluable in taking opposition players out of the game and when we need someone to take some pressure off us when we’re ahead.

Dembele at his best is one of the most invaluable players in the league. Sadly he’s probably past that now.

 

[alekaras]

Let's not get carried away here.

Last night, he was unrecognisable from the player who joined us but he's still the least talented player in our squad by a very long margin. Our goalkeepers and the kids we almost never play are all significantly better on the ball than him.

He deserves praise for his improvement (albeit from a low level), but let's not pretend Poch has made anything more than an average (by football standard, not Spurs standard) footballer out of him.

No, the sky is really brown with pink polka dots. Why can't anyone see that?!