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OMT....Saudi Sportswashing Machine Rovers V Tottenham Hotspur.... OMT

This is the issue though with Poch, that his method of grading is overly influenced by someone's attitude and how they work in training. It takes precendent over ability.

It proves to be an incorrect policy because overall taking all his attributes into account, Sissoko is a Derby county / Ipswich town level player, worth around £8.5m who should be earning about £25k pw.

Players of that level should not be in the team, even if they are willing to give the manager a blow job.

I personally applaud Pochs preference on that, and to his credit Sissoko has clearly done nothing but work hard for us.

I would rather a limited player give his all than a talented player not show up because they cant be bothered.

Thankfully our squad is mostly comprised of very talented players with excellent attitudes, best of both.
 
I personally applaud Pochs preference on that, and to his credit Sissoko has clearly done nothing but work hard for us.

I would rather a limited player give his all than a talented player not show up because they cant be bothered.

Thankfully our squad is mostly comprised of very talented players with excellent attitudes, best of both.

This is what I’m arguing against, that he should be playing in lower league backwaters.
 
We won a pretty even game with both teams playing scrappy football, yet "we got lucky" unlike the numerous games I've seen where we batter a side and lose which is usually down to "a master plan by their manager" or "a brilliant defensive display". We were good enough to win and thats what matters.
 
I personally applaud Pochs preference on that, and to his credit Sissoko has clearly done nothing but work hard for us.

I would rather a limited player give his all than a talented player not show up because they cant be bothered.

Thankfully our squad is mostly comprised of very talented players with excellent attitudes, best of both.
Dier said basically that in the Evening Standard today
 
Happy with the win but it was not really a convincing performance. It was good to start the season in winning form but we rode our luck. We played well for the first 20 minutes or so and deserved to lead 2-1 by then. But we slowed down after that and let Saudi Sportswashing Machine create many chances. They could have easily scored 2 or 3 goals as they hit the post twice and Lloris made 2 or 3 good saves as well. Most of the players looked rusty, especially those who played in the World Cup.

Credit to Vertonghen and Alli for scoring our goals. Amazingly, it was Vertonghen's first league goal for us in 6 years. He had many goals taken off him over the years. It is good to see him given a goal via the goal line technology for once ! Good to see Alli scoring despite just returning after playing in the World Cup. In contrast, Kane was missing for most of the game and didn't look like overcoming his jinx of not scoring in August. Expected more from Moura but he had a poor game. Son didn't have much impact when he replaced Alli.

Our midfield had a mixed match. Dier and Sissoko worked hard but let Saudi Sportswashing Machine control the midfield too much, especially in the second half. Dembele looked rusty when he came on as well. I think we badly missed the work rate of of Wanyama and Lamela. Our lack of new signings means we will have to rely on inexperienced youngsters this season. This was proven when Amos replaced Dier late in the match. Amos didn't do too badly but his lack of experience will be problem against more stronger teams.

Our defence will be happy they only conceded 1 goal as Saudi Sportswashing Machine had far too many chances to score. It was always annoying to see us conceding immediately after we scored our first goal. Thought Sanchez should have dealt with the cross before being headed in goal by the Saudi Sportswashing Machine player. I think Alderweireld would have cleared the header. But at least Sanchez and Aurier assisted both our goals. Lloris had a good game as he pulled off at least 3 good saves. It was good to see Lloris returning in goal after winning the World Cup as France captain.

It was great to start the season with the win. But we need to perform much better in the coming matches. Let's hope all our players who returned from the World Cup, especially Kane, will be back to their best as the season progresses.
 
And very often, he cant. And very often it takes him 3 or 4 touches to manage to get the ball under control. If someone says he cannot control the ball, this is what they are talking about - nobody has said he quite literally, exclusively, can never ever control a ball. Whats nonsense is to argue as if thats the case.

Ive seen his first touch be so bad he has had to chase it up the pitch, many times. Criticising his control is completely valid.

The same with his passing. Yes, of course, he is entirely capable of finding a decent pass - and yet - he very often passes like brick. Under hit/over hit/out of play/straight to the opposition...

And I know your first response "Well all players do that... (most likely with examples)" but this misses the point because you are trying to deal in absolutes.
Which is telling, by the way, when an argument has to be resorted to a binary thing - its already been lost.

Yes, all players have a bad touch, miss a pass etc. All players do it every game - Ill even say that before you. NONE, in our squad, have done it with the frequency/regularity of Sissoko though. And this is where we come back to that scale - comparing him to his team mates - he is very poor in these areas.

Hence people say "He cant control the ball", obviously not as an absolute, but as shorthand for "His control is reliably very poor, especially compared to the level of our other players, even if he sometimes has a good touch".

As much as you like to look to Poch consistently picking him, I think its plainly obvious its never by preference. Its always as a "well half my midfield is missing" or "Its only Newport and I want to rest people" option. That in itself speaks volumes.

7/10? No, almost never. Ive seen it in him maybe a few times. He is 5-6/10 for me. Bang average at best, and yet worse quite often as well.

He has improved in his time. He is a more regular 5-6 now, his first season was regularly lower.

7/10 though? Thats a high bar for him. If hes a 7/10 then the rest of the team are 9/10 and 10/10 every game, which Im sure you will agree is rubbish.


Nobody is looking for opportunity to hammer him, thats your weird lens that you read everything through. Ive no doubt if Sissoko played a genuine blinder - by SPURS standards, those "hammering" him would be utterly delighted. Yet Im also sure you have already convinced yourself the opposite is true and are already arguing against the perceived injustice.

Mate, I would just say to you that it still very, very obvious that there is an under current against him. It’s not my weird perception. It’s clear. Maybe people aren’t consciously looking for an opportunity to hammer him, but it happens. It’s just blindingly obvious. If you and I are arguing over whether he’s a 6-7/10 or a 5-6/10 most times, I don’t think that’s a very interesting or worthwhile debate. But he gets hammered. He only has to do one thing that isn’t perfect for a lot of people it’s say he was ‘awful’. Decent people have said he cannot pass and control under pressure and I don’t think it is a stretch to say that if a player who cost less, didn’t have such a poor start and had a better reputation among his old club’s fans, put in the exact same performances, he wouldn’t get as much stick as he does. I think his performances are rated unfairly in relation to every other player, and I think to most people that is pretty clear.

The tide seems to be turning a bit. There seems to be a lot more people now actually watching the games and saying ‘hang on a minute, he wasn’t that bad’ where as before he was treated as a joke across the board. I don’t think he’s ever going to play a blinder by the Spurs standards you are talking about, I’ve always ever argued he’s going to be a 6 or a 7, enabling our other players and spoiling the opposition. He’s never going to take individual plaudits, but it doesn’t mean he isn’t doing a good job for the balance of the team. Dembele is better - more penetrative passes, better ability to dribble past players - but Sissoko is tarred with an unfair brush because he was bought for a role he wasn’t suited for, and I don’t think people readjusted their expectation of him. And answer me this - I think last season I can remember 5 times Dier giving the ball away in our half, resulting in a one on one chance for the opposition. Sissoko has never done that, and Dier has done it repeatedly. What do you think the reaction would be if Sissoko did it? Because you say that other players get more rope because they have shown more, but other players have actually made way more glaring errors than he has too, and on a regular basis. Why is it that Sissoko gets such hate from his own fans given this? I maintain, it’s his fee, it’s his poor start with us, and it’s that a lot of our fans didn’t want him in the first place given his reputation with Saudi Sportswashing Machine. Given that he’s a physical player in the team for balance rather than a technical player in the team for goals and assists, he never stood a chance to turn that around and get a fair shake.

And as always, maybe my argument isn’t with you. We disagree which is fine, but it’s against the general vibe of saying he is awful when he wasn’t, saying he shins the ball out of play constantly when he doesn’t, saying he trips over himself when he doesn’t. This happens every game, regardless of how he actually performed. And whether or not people are joking, Moussa is aware of that vibe, because he was asked questions about the negative fan reaction towards him in pre season. It’s great that he doesn’t care, but I’ll maintain it would be better if he got the level of support from our own fans that he deserves, rather than being treated like a joke, because it is what happens.

I would say though, I feel like you’ve even changed your tune slightly. I could have sworn last season you were insisting he was in go way good enough for the league. Now at least he can do a job for a PL side, although maybe I have this wrong. Not us though, not a top 3 side. Even though he played the majority of games in us finishing top 3 and progressing to CL knockout stages with a near perfect group record.
 
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