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Moussa Sissoko

crazy money. To think Mane cost 5m more!! not convinced to be honest. He was crap at Saudi Sportswashing Machine but so were most of them. not exactly inspiring playing under Mclaren and Carver.
 
parklane1 said:
As i have said before i have never been a fan of Sissoko and the fee is way over the top, however if he was the one that Pooch wanted then well done to Levy for getting the deal done.

You have to laugh though at some opinions, first they bitch that Levy does not back his managers and now they are bitching about how he is not worth the money. The guy can not win.
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@DubaiSpur was this kind of signing what you've been looking for from Levy?
 
DubaiSpur said:
The thing is, his fantastic performances for France came while under the watchful eye of the national team captain, a Mr. H. Lloris. At worst Lloris will at least have told us about what he's like behind the scenes before we made the decision - at best, Lloris will bring the best out of him, as was the case in the Euros. Either way, his attitude is the one thing I'm actually fairly unconcerned about.

How Poch plans to use him in a way that minimizes his weaknesses on the ball and in terms of technique is what I'm interested in - will he play on the wing, or through the middle? If it's the latter, he'll be like Wanyama but with better dribbling abilities - not a playmaker in any sense. But that may be what we need at this point. Really, Poch got him, now let's see what he makes of him.
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I'm not sure Lloris would have had a whole lot of input to transfers really, maybe a minor character reference at most, and I'm sure he had even less to do with Sissoko's Euro performances. Sissoko was surprisingly picked for the French squad and to be fair took his chance when it came by playing out of his skin. He was playing for a move and got it. The Saudi Sportswashing Machine team he left could have done with him putting in a similar effort to avoid relegation but that level of performance was conspicuous by its absence. To me that shows the character of the man.

I'm glad to see Levy back his man (as you are ;)) but I think we've just bought our next expensive flop to be honest. Anyway I won't harp on about him all season. It happened once before that I was wrong about something and hopefully I am here.
 
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Wouldn't have been my choice, but obviously Poch wanted (Levy would not have just upped and overpaid)

Think we have to look at this tactically, we have bought width & pace

- Pace & width have been missing from the squad
- It could allow Eriksen and/or Lamela to come more central, another option

Welcome!
 
the dza said:
I don't think the fee means he is guaranteed to be a starter right away. Son isn't, and he cost £22m didn't he?
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Personally I think it is irrelevant as to whether or not he is guaranteed to be a starter right away. We are in 4 competitions and our squad is stronger than it was last season. I am sure form and what you do in training will account for a lot.
 
NaijaSpurs said:
Personally I think it is irrelevant as to whether or not he is guaranteed to be a starter right away. We are in 4 competitions and our squad is stronger than it was last season. I am sure form and what you do in training will account for a lot.
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Poch has said that you sign to train for a club and team selection comes out of training.
 
I think this is a good signing.

Forget the money. Half of this board (at least) have been bitching all week that we look light, we've sold too many CMs, we have no experience there anymore.

Well now we have an experienced, versatile, France international, who on his day is one of the best CMs in the league.

He will be a vastly useful squad option.

At present we have no-one whatsoever who can replace Dembele in midfield. Granted, Sissoko is a long way from the technical ability of Dembele, but 99% of professional footballers of their physique are.

Sissoko can drive the ball up the field from CM, causing danger and opening up spaces around him. Dembele does this in perhaps a more graceful manner, and can get away with drawing more players further in, but we can't ask for a much better back-up.

Furthermore, Sissoko has often been deployed as a narrow right midfielder - I'm sure he will get minutes in a similar position for us too. The possibility of shaping up with a midfield 4 of something like Lamela, Dembele, Dier and Sissoko (with Alli and Kane as forwards) to close games out is one I would like to see explored.

At least we have an international break now, so all the unhappy people can focus on the fantastic new England manager whom we all unanimously adore...
 
Pandy said:
Furthermore, Sissoko has often been deployed as a narrow right midfielder - I'm sure he will get minutes in a similar position for us too. The possibility of shaping up with a midfield 4 of something like Lamela, Dembele, Dier and Sissoko (with Alli and Kane as forwards) to close games out is one I would like to see explored.
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I was going to make this very point myself, you neat me to it
 
I am genuinely gobsmacked that we've made this transfer. It doesn't make sense at all.

Firstly - Saudi Sportswashing Machine fans all hate him. They are over the moon that he's gone. One good game every 5 or 6 if they're lucky. They have moaned for years about his lack of effort and bad attitude, let alone the fact that he regularly wastes possession, hardly creates anything and hardly scores any goals. How many players from relegated sides that fit that kind of profile have joined Champions League clubs and gone on to be successes?

Second - I know that the transfer market was crazy this summer, but seriously, for that kind of money there were players available who moved during the window that could have easily improved our starting lineup. Where is he going to play? On the wing ahead of Eriksen or Lamela? Or in the middle ahead of Alli, Dembele or Dier? And I haven't even mentioned Wanyama. Who would he start ahead of? SURELY there's no way we could sign a player for that kind of money to be a reserve? I know there's more games to play this season in the Champions League but our record signing is going to expect to start most games when fit.

Third - This is so unlike Levy. On one hand it's good to see him backing a manager with a big transfer fee. But on the other, this is a 27 year old with a history of attitude problems, joining a manager with a history of quickly axing players, even if they are club record signings or top earners, that have bad attitudes. If things go sour, he'll be out of the team quickly and have practically no re-sale value as a 27+ year old problem child. By starting at £16m and almost doubling it to £30m, Levy has massively damaged his reputation as a tough negotiator and that could have major long term consequences in future.

On top form he's devastating, and could prove very useful in some of the bigger games this season when we're playing on the counter attack. I'd have happily signed him for the money that we were originally offering. But £30m? £30m! Unless he becomes at least 5/6 times more consistent than he is, I wouldn't even consider substituting him on for one of our current first teamers, let alone starting him ahead of one of them.

You can bang on about "if he's good enough for Poch he's good enough for me", but that's a cop out. People used to say the same about players during honeymoon periods under Ramos, Redknapp and AVB as well. Poch's record in the transfer market is far from perfect, and this comes from someone who talked him up as first choice to be our manager long before he was, and defended him through all the brick in his first half season.

We have a long track history of signing brick players from relegated teams and this feels like the sort of waste of money signing we were making pre-stadium construction. I'd love to be proven wrong about him but this seems like a very strange one.

Now I'm off to watch Euro 2016 highlights in bed.
 
Poch: “We need a player who is more direct, more aggressive offensively,” Pochettino revealed. “Because we have players like Eriksen, [Heung-Min] Son or Lamela who like the ball played into their feet. So we need someone who has characteristics like we saw from Liverpool, like Sadio Mané, the type of player that can break the defensive line. I'm not talking about kicking or punching someone, only running and having the right mentality.”
 
Transfer price has got more to do with the buying and selling clubs' motivations . Levys negotiations and chairman to chairman relationships doesn't really help much too.

Price aside, a player with power and pace will be good and this is a new element to Poch's game. He us still a young manager and learning the game, interested to see what he can do with the new additions and Sissoko.



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SUIYHA said:
I am genuinely gobsmacked that we've made this transfer. It doesn't make sense at all.

Firstly - Saudi Sportswashing Machine fans all hate him. They are over the moon that he's gone. One good game every 5 or 6 if they're lucky. They have moaned for years about his lack of effort and bad attitude, let alone the fact that he regularly wastes possession, hardly creates anything and hardly scores any goals. How many players from relegated sides that fit that kind of profile have joined Champions League clubs and gone on to be successes?

Second - I know that the transfer market was crazy this summer, but seriously, for that kind of money there were players available who moved during the window that could have easily improved our starting lineup. Where is he going to play? On the wing ahead of Eriksen or Lamela? Or in the middle ahead of Alli, Dembele or Dier? And I haven't even mentioned Wanyama. Who would he start ahead of? SURELY there's no way we could sign a player for that kind of money to be a reserve? I know there's more games to play this season in the Champions League but our record signing is going to expect to start most games when fit.

Third - This is so unlike Levy. On one hand it's good to see him backing a manager with a big transfer fee. But on the other, this is a 27 year old with a history of attitude problems, joining a manager with a history of quickly axing players, even if they are club record signings or top earners, that have bad attitudes. If things go sour, he'll be out of the team quickly and have practically no re-sale value as a 27+ year old problem child. By starting at £16m and almost doubling it to £30m, Levy has massively damaged his reputation as a tough negotiator and that could have major long term consequences in future.

On top form he's devastating, and could prove very useful in some of the bigger games this season when we're playing on the counter attack. I'd have happily signed him for the money that we were originally offering. But £30m? £30m! Unless he becomes at least 5/6 times more consistent than he is, I wouldn't even consider substituting him on for one of our current first teamers, let alone starting him ahead of one of them.

You can bang on about "if he's good enough for Poch he's good enough for me", but that's a cop out. People used to say the same about players during honeymoon periods under Ramos, Redknapp and AVB as well. Poch's record in the transfer market is far from perfect, and this comes from someone who talked him up as first choice to be our manager long before he was, and defended him through all the brick in his first half season.

We have a long track history of signing brick players from relegated teams and this feels like the sort of waste of money signing we were making pre-stadium construction. I'd love to be proven wrong about him but this seems like a very strange one.

Now I'm off to watch Euro 2016 highlights in bed.
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Saudi Sportswashing Machine fans would hate every player from last season.
By the end of the season, if Saudi Sportswashing Machine doesn't get promoted, some may say 30 Mil is good entertainment value [emoji3]

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