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

harr1984 said:
How do you know Poch was glaring at Sanchez? He was glaring in the direction of our penalty box which considering we’d just conceded a goal there id expect him to be doing. You must have some special powers if you know exactly where/who he was glaring at....
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Well... considering that Sanchez was marking Joselu and there was no other player to distract him; considering that - as could be seen in slow motion analysis - Sanchez starts with the Saudi Sportswashing Machine striker in his sights and in front of, only to end up in no man's land with for Joselu a full two yards behind him unmarked; considering that there was nothing any of the other defenders could do to prevent the goal... I would say that the stare was in one singular direction!
 
Thought Sissoko had a reasonable first few mins, ie when he chased a ball early on, won the free kick. But he still tackles himself, and had a few mins placed passes. I don’t hate the guy, i want every player to succeed, but just don’t he’s good enough, not enough finesse. The combination of him and Aurier in the same team is too much.
 
SpurMeUp said:
@Greg why did 'castle let Mitrovich go? He looks like he is maturing into a handful of a forward. Fulham with some decent signings.
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Doesn't work for the team, unwilling to follow the manager's instructions, all ground game off the ball not great.
 
BrainOfLevy said:
I watch him as dispassionately as any one else and hold him to the same standards in my own mind as everyone else. I can only speak for myself, and I’m never scared or worried or wondering why this sub par player is on our team because most of the time I can see the job he’s doing and he looks like he belongs.

It’s not a stretch to say the criticism he gets is outsized compared to the reality of his performance. This forum, Twitter, Reddit, people at the games - a significant amount of people wait for anything he does not to go to plan so they can pile in and say how brick he is. Ben Pearce tried to tweet something vaguely positive about Sissoko tonight and his replies filled up with people going ‘you must be joking’, ‘are you blind’, ‘worst player to ever wear the shirt’. It is undeniable that Sissoko gets outsized criticism from our fan base generally. If a player had a different name and appearance, and was signed for £10M and performed the exact same way, they would not get as much vitriol. And I know you will say ‘we expect more because he cost 30’. And to that I would say: we all agree he didn’t live up to what we thought we were buying in that first season. Now though, 2 years on and with a solid season under his belt, is it really a reason to give him less support than everyone else? When one of the great things about supporting this team is how we are all united behind the players, as they are united together? Why do we always need a spacegoat? (Not saying this is you, I’m talking about the general Spurs population that unload on Moussa every chance they get)
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In general I think most Spurs fans can, quite rightly, see that he isnt the level of the rest of the team. Over time that bears frustration.

Its not that I dont support him. You think I didnt want him to score when he got the ball in the box? Of course I did, and I cant imagine others being any different.

However, after the game, when he has done his best but still reaffirmed all the complaints people have with him, is it unfair to go in the match thread or Sissoko thread and say "I thought he was poor"?

Which is basically what happens - but is always met with "HOW DARE YOU SINGLE HIM OUT!!!" from the cult of Sissoko protectors.

Yes, players were poor. Many have been commented on. Sissoko is one of them.

And - as much as you like to repeat about "the reality of his performance" etc - its just not true. The reality is, even when doing not much wrong - it doesnt mean he is making a positive impact either. The reality is, we are a lesser side with him in it.

If he was a free transfer, at his age and now time at the club - my feelings would be exactly the same.

What would change them? If he was a lot younger and showing signs he can grow. Two things that are actually beyond him, regardless of his cost.



galeforce said:
Alli’s goal was terrible from their point of view, it was pure laziness from Ritchie, and he wondered why he was subbed later on...
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Ritchie thought he handed off to Yedlin, who was completely unaware. Not sure who's man Alli was when he scored - but neither covered themselves in glory.

Do we know what he was so angry about on the bench yet?
 
Sissoko was far from our worst player yesterday. However, it’s glaringly, bloody obvious that he isn’t good enough and I simply can’t believe it’s his third season with us and he is STILL staring premier league games. He should only start if every other CM is injured and there are no youngsters available. How we couldn’t find someone in the transfer market to replace him, even a freebie I’ll never know.

Obviously we can’t make someone buy him but I really wonder what our scouting team do all day if there is honestly no one out there who they think can do a better job, even with all our injuries in that position.
 
Jurgen the German said:
Sissoko was far from our worst player yesterday. However, it’s glaringly, bloody obvious that he isn’t good enough and I simply can’t believe it’s his third season with us and he is STILL staring premier league games. He should only start if every other CM is injured and there are no youngsters available. How we couldn’t find someone in the transfer market to replace him, even a freebie I’ll never know.

Obviously we can’t make someone buy him but I really wonder what our scouting team do all day if there is honestly no one out there who they think can do a better job, even with all our injuries in that position.
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Maybe there’s something in the fact that given it’s his 3rd season and now he’s survived 5 transfer windows, he probably is adding some value that people don’t want to admit / can’t see?
 
Ok, say I agree with the proposition that Sissoko is indeed rubbish, what logical (full and believable) explanations are there for his continued selection?
 
Gilzeantoscore said:
Watch Sissoko in tight positions. He has no concept of how to hold onto possession, or even of how to distribute. The guy struggles to make a five yard pass. Most of the time they either bobble or are way over hit.
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I honestly think this is where a lot of people project their own fears on to him. I regularly see him play out of tight positions, and as I said earlier, for someone apparently so bad on the ball in an era of teams very comfortable with the high press up and down the League, you’d think his would be the obvious weakness they would target in order to get an easy tackle and route in at goal? But he has quite literally never lost the ball in a dangerous area like that leading to us conceding a chance. Dier has had it happen to him on more than one occasion. Yet Dier is praised (as well he should be) while Sissoko is at worst dealing with vitriol and at best ‘clearly isn’t good enough’ despite being 3 seasons in now.
 
AjaxDeSuperYids said:
Look Brains we have been here before!

The general issue is his ceiling is what we saw yesterday - That's his level of quality and it doesn't get any better.

That's why arguably worse performers like Kane and Eriksen are left alone, because it's very rare they play like that, so people know they likely won't do it again any time soon and feel uncomfortable digging out often brilliant perfomers for a rare off day.

Sissoko though, whilst not particularly bad yesterday imo, we know that's what we get at best.

THATS what people are afraid of and why they don't want him in the team because it's potentially detrimental to our success and people do not want our success to be put in jeopardy.

I get what your saying about Poch picking him for a reason though, but people are fallible and for me Poch is clearly getting it wrong by not playing Eriksen deeper and thus negating the need to play Sissoko.

For the record I salute Sissoko for his career; earning the money he does and having played for France at a high level is a truly amazing achievement given his level of ability, it really genuinely is and he should not want for anything once he retires.

He's got a terrific life ahead of him and whilst how he's managed to accrue that staggers me, I'm genuinely pleased for him.
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Ok, so you’re expecting way more from him than he can give. Fine. But why not...just not do that? Appreciate him for what he is? As I always say, I’m never saying he is a stand out for us, and most of the time he is a 6 or a 7. And most of the time the majority are saying he was a 3 or a 4. It is outsized criticism and it’s getting to the point now, when he is still us, still performing and are still winning with him in the side, that people are looking rather silly.

Ultimately I think he deserves as much support as any other player, and to not be targeted more than any other. Personally, I think the fact that Dan Kilpatrick asked him a question over preseason which began ‘the fans are unhappy with your performances....’ is an absolute embarrassment to be honest. Moussa clearly doesn’t care, and the right answer is that his coaches are happy, so he’s happy. But I do wonder how much better it would be for him if he didn’t feel that he was targeted more than others. People say it’s fine, it’s only venting on a forum, or on Twitter, or under your breath at a game, but the general feeling does reach him. It’s to his credit he keeps performing in the face of it.
 
BrainOfLevy said:
Maybe there’s something in the fact that given it’s his 3rd season and now he’s survived 5 transfer windows, he probably is adding some value that people don’t want to admit / can’t see?
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Even the best managers/coaches aren’t perfect and make mistakes with their team selections. In terms of what a midfielder is supposed to do, he does the bare minimum, has poor control and and a limited range of passing. I fail to see how we would be any worse off with a loan signing, free transfer or academy youngster.
 
nayenezgani said:
The way Aurier and Sissoko are lambasted in this OMT and elsewhere, while Eriksen and Kane (arguably our two worst performers) are given a pass, I dare say that skin colour plays an unfortunate role in the more savage aspersions cast by some.

I'm sure I read a post somewhere by @Bullet stating that they should both be killed?! I mean come the fudge on, even if that's tongue in cheek it's a disgraceful comment.

I'm not saying Serge or Sissoko played particularly well and I really wish I was wrong, but it's an undertone that I just can't shake.
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Eeeeeeeeeeh that’s a tough one, I’ll try and sidestep that and leave it to others but I would say there is something in Spurs fans in particular giving a longer rope to players that are ‘classy’ and less rope to plays that are ‘physical’ generally speaking.

Obviously a classy player is great, but I think maybe their lack of application, their reduce physical ability, anything that they might be weak at is skirted over. But a physical player doesn’t get anything that they are strong at given equal weight.

I would say, someone like Zokora wasn’t exactly a classy player. But he got a song, Spurs fans generally didn’t give him vitriol like they give Sissoko. But I think the other part of the roostertail is that Zokora cost £7M and people generally wanted him before he was signed. We needed a Carrick replacement and we hoped Zokora was it. Sissoko cost 30 and not many fans wanted him anyway, and Saudi Sportswashing Machine fans didn’t like him so Moussa gets way more stick, even from us, his own fans. Either Moussa or Poch said it over pre season - but he is still being judged for his fee and his bad start, rather than what he’s actually contributing to the team right now.
 
Jurgen the German said:
Even the best managers/coaches aren’t perfect and make mistakes with their team selections. In terms of what a midfielder is supposed to do, he does the bare minimum, has poor control and and a limited range of passing. I fail to see how we would be any worse off with a loan signing, free transfer or academy youngster.
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Maybe you failing to see it is your problem rather than Poch’s. Don’t really want to go down the rabbit hole of ‘do coaches see what fans cant’ but he’s 3 seasons in now. This isn’t an isolated mistake.
 
nayimfromthehalfwayline said:
In general I think most Spurs fans can, quite rightly, see that he isnt the level of the rest of the team. Over time that bears frustration.

Its not that I dont support him. You think I didnt want him to score when he got the ball in the box? Of course I did, and I cant imagine others being any different.

However, after the game, when he has done his best but still reaffirmed all the complaints people have with him, is it unfair to go in the match thread or Sissoko thread and say "I thought he was poor"?

Which is basically what happens - but is always met with "HOW DARE YOU SINGLE HIM OUT!!!" from the cult of Sissoko protectors.

Yes, players were poor. Many have been commented on. Sissoko is one of them.

And - as much as you like to repeat about "the reality of his performance" etc - its just not true. The reality is, even when doing not much wrong - it doesnt mean he is making a positive impact either. The reality is, we are a lesser side with him in it.

If he was a free transfer, at his age and now time at the club - my feelings would be exactly the same.

What would change them? If he was a lot younger and showing signs he can grow. Two things that are actually beyond him, regardless of his cost.





Ritchie thought he handed off to Yedlin, who was completely unaware. Not sure who's man Alli was when he scored - but neither covered themselves in glory.

Do we know what he was so angry about on the bench yet?
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I’m not saying it’s you. You have an opinion I disagree with but at least come at it in a balanced way. He is clearly singled out though - it’s undeniable.

Here’s the Ben Pearce thread as an example - a decent Spurs journo trying to be balanced:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1028272878641405952

‘The only reason you would be saying Sissoko had a good game is if you’re afraid of being banned for being part of the media that reports at the games’ ROFL
 
The man gets a lot of stick, often unfairly.

However, in terms of the wages we allegedly pay him (90k a week) and his transfer fee, the question of whether he's worth it will always hang around.

And, for all his versatility, pace and power...he has the first touch of an inebriated baleen whale with no flippers, and in general just can't control a football at all. A Premier League athlete, a League Two footballer.

He's a man of contradictions, and will be until he leaves. Just hope that we as a team get good enough to afford to not play him.
 
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