Moussa Sissoko

[Legohamster]

I guess we must really be thankful for having a "brickheap of a footballer". With Eriksen invisible, Winks anonymous and Ndombele languid, his physicality and aggressiveness was the only thing stopping Emirates Marketing Project from running riot yesterday.

He was as bad as the names above - his wastefulness on the ball was on par with the others.

 

[Robspur12]

I guess we must really be thankful for having a "brickheap of a footballer". With Eriksen invisible, Winks anonymous and Ndombele languid, his physicality and aggressiveness was the only thing stopping Emirates Marketing Project from running riot yesterday.

I didn't think he was particularly good yesterday. No one in midfield was really at the races yesterday.

 

[Maltese Falcon]

I am not saying that he was outstanding - by no means. Nobody was. We were that bad. He was as @Legohamster says, quite wasteful. But then he wasn;t the only one either
However his commitment was as good as it is always. He was at least supporting KWP and trying to break the lines. He did not amble back at a canter like NDombele and Eriksen

 

[metalgear]

He had plenty presence everywhere, the only thing across the midfield that created problems for city.

Kane could not hold up the ball... It was a big problem as the game went through the midfield with ease. But Sissoko still chased the game in an effective manner.

Sent from my SM-T819Y using glory-glory.co.uk mobile app

 

[scaramanga]

I didn't think he was particularly good yesterday. No one in midfield was really at the races yesterday.

Yesterday was a scary view of what a team of Sissokos would look like.

Ndombele and Lamela were a cut above, but when everyone else doesn't perform, we get to see what 11 Sissokos would look like.

 

[Robspur12]

Yesterday was a scary view of what a team of Sissokos would look like.

Ndombele and Lamela were a cut above, but when everyone else doesn't perform, we get to see what 11 Sissokos would look like.

A team is about making the best with the sum of its parts. A team of any individual player and their attributes would be poor.

Lamela made 2 important interventions but for the rest of the game he was rubbish. If he had been better then those 2 game saving interventions could have been match winning ones instead. Ndombele forgot how to defend and was frankly poor. But he gets a bye for me as he is still settling in.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

Yesterday was a scary view of what a team of Sissokos would look like.

Ndombele and Lamela were a cut above, but when everyone else doesn't perform, we get to see what 11 Sissokos would look like.

I actually think Sissoko was poor defensively versus City and the thing I usually praise him to the hilt for - that he always senses danger, that he is excellent tactically and his positioning is top notch - left a lot to be desired. In the crucial moments, namely Sterling’s goal, I think he should have been closer to helping out KWP and the article on The Athletic this morning makes a similar point.

I wonder if as he has gotten more confident in his attacking responsibilities that he has been letting the defensive slide suffer slightly, however unintentionally. I don’t think he intended to cheat with Gundogan’s positioning to spring a counter as the team was clearly set up to contain. And I think it’s the kind of error he doesn’t usually make, even if it was against a top side.

But please let’s move on from the ‘he can’t kick a ball’ nonsense, it’s keeping the debate in the gutter when we could move it on.

 

[scaramanga]

I actually think Sissoko was poor defensively versus City and the thing I usually praise him to the hilt for - that he always senses danger, that he is excellent tactically and his positioning is top notch - left a lot to be desired. In the crucial moments, namely Sterling’s goal, I think he should have been closer to helping out KWP and the article on The Athletic this morning makes a similar point.

I wonder if as he has gotten more confident in his attacking responsibilities that he has been letting the defensive slide suffer slightly, however unintentionally. I don’t think he intended to cheat with Gundogan’s positioning to spring a counter as the team was clearly set up to contain. And I think it’s the kind of error he doesn’t usually make, even if it was against a top side.

But please let’s move on from the ‘he can’t kick a ball’ nonsense, it’s keeping the debate in the gutter when we could move it on.

Until he shows himself to be at least of the level of a footballer in a team with our aspirations, I'll continue to make that point.

 

[Robspur12]

I actually think Sissoko was poor defensively versus City and the thing I usually praise him to the hilt for - that he always senses danger, that he is excellent tactically and his positioning is top notch - left a lot to be desired. In the crucial moments, namely Sterling’s goal, I think he should have been closer to helping out KWP and the article on The Athletic this morning makes a similar point.

I wonder if as he has gotten more confident in his attacking responsibilities that he has been letting the defensive slide suffer slightly, however unintentionally. I don’t think he intended to cheat with Gundogan’s positioning to spring a counter as the team was clearly set up to contain. And I think it’s the kind of error he doesn’t usually make, even if it was against a top side.

But please let’s move on from the ‘he can’t kick a ball’ nonsense, it’s keeping the debate in the gutter when we could move it on.

He was playing further forward at that point. I think that was to do with utilising his pace. Should have been Ndombele helping out KWP.

 

[BrainOfLevy]

He was playing further forward at that point. I think that was to do with utilising his pace. Should have been Ndombele helping out KWP.

Sissoko was on the right though? He was the closest to KWP and in the frame you can see Gundogan has moved ahead of him.

 

[glorygloryeze]

I didn't watch much of second half but did see some highlights and am i right that Sissoko seemed physically easy to knock off the ball a few times? Or was that just the once or twice?

 

[Baleforce]

I'd have to watch it again to be sure but I do think Sissoko should have been tracking Sterling for the first goal.

 

[Bishop]

A team is about making the best with the sum of its parts. A team of any individual player and their attributes would be poor.

Lamela made 2 important interventions but for the rest of the game he was rubbish. If he had been better then those 2 game saving interventions could have been match winning ones instead. Ndombele forgot how to defend and was frankly poor. But he gets a bye for me as he is still settling in.

Frankly neither Lamela nor Sissoko are ultimately good enough for the team we are. Both are poor technically in their own way. As squad players cool, fine I'll accept them. As starters we ain't achieving ish.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Fapatalk

 

[Robspur12]

Sissoko was on the right though? He was the closest to KWP and in the frame you can see Gundogan has moved ahead of him.

Ok I have not seen it again, but rather going by the initial formation.

 

[Robspur12]

Frankly neither Lamela nor Sissoko are ultimately good enough for the team we are. Both are poor technically in their own way. As squad players cool, fine I'll accept them. As starters we ain't achieving ish.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Fapatalk

I think we need to wait and see. I really think Lamela just needs a run of games, he is a fine player.

 

[AdamB]

I think we need to wait and see. I really think Lamela just needs a run of games, he is a fine player.

Problem with that statement is that he's been with us for 6 years and never has a season which gets to the levels which someone like Son, Dele or Eriksen have in terms of assists or goals. As a squad player he's acceptable given his work-rate and attitude, plus he doenst cause trouble when not in the team but he's not close to being a first choice player in my view, and with a fully fit squad, I'm not sure he'd make the bench

 

[Bishop]

I think we need to wait and see. I really think Lamela just needs a run of games, he is a fine player.

Nah.

He's been been here long enough that we have a good read on what sort of player and the level of his ability.

He dwells on the ball for too long, poor decision making and often simple bad decision making means he either loses the ball or executes a poor pass. He loses the ball too easily so as much as I'd love him to be a success and the Eriksen alternative, he's proven that he is simply not up to the task.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A6003 using Fapatalk

 

[papaspur]

Sissoko is so brick that we've resorted to brick-talking other players in his thread. Nice!

 

[Maltese Falcon]

Sissoko was on the right though? He was the closest to KWP and in the frame you can see Gundogan has moved ahead of him.

Sissoko does have some responsibility. However I'm not sure it is not as simple as that... This is the instant KvB is receiving the ball.




You would not expect a midfielder to be in the box when the ball is on the other side of the pitch because that would then leave a massive gap behind him, especially with Zivchenko lurking.

If there was a mistake it's the fact the KWP is marking Aguero when it should have been Toby and KWP should maybe be a few paces back to cover both Sterling and Gundogan.

Having said that, and I mentioned this previously, the cross was simply a stroke of genius. If KdB had even stopped for half a second to look up for a cross, KWP would be looking over his shoulder and adjusting his position and Sissoko would be moving into the box to provide additional cover for the second ball. But the first time execution took all of these out of the game.

Indeed the only way that goal would have been avoided was by preventing the cross in the first place - and that would have been possible with a man-to-man marking job on KdB; something Poch has never done.

There are times when you just have to admire an outstanding piece of play - this is just one of them...

 

[Baleforce]

great picture, other than Rose and Lloris, pretty much everyone else is in the wrong place