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

[nayimfromthehalfwayline]

Just on your point to me - I’ve got no real issue with people saying they’d rather have someone better with the ball at their feet in the 11. Not jumping at those folks. I am jumping at the ‘Sunday League, can’t pass a ball’ rubbish that always gets spouted, and the under-rating of his performances every single game compared to everyone else. Holding him to much higher standards. Holding up every small thing as an example of how bad he is, but not holding those same standards to every other player.

And therin lies the rub.

People hold him to the same standards as the rest of the team, standards he consistently fails to meet.

You find this unacceptable, and want him held to his own special standards, because then you might actually be able to find an argument to defend him.

The bit that eludes me is your commitment to jumping to his defence at any perceived slight - and it is any perceived slight - certainly not like you hold fire for the really outrageous criticism.

 

[Rorschach]

Just watch Sunday supplement tomorrow.

Don't.

Play with your kid. Mow the grass. Paint a picture of a bowl of fruit. Contemplate how time is not a constant. Have a toss.

All of these are better options.

 

[Nigeyman]

Don't.

Play with your kid. Mow the grass. Paint a picture of a bowl of fruit. Contemplate how time is not a constant. Have a toss.

All of these are better options.

Wife's been on at me for ages to sort the shed out....might clean it out and get some sissoko posters tacked to the wall...

Next time we play like a team who ate a dodgy lasagne but still manage to win ill go in there for a quick Thomas the Tank.

 

[spasm]

I actually like it.

Teal Lover

 

[BrainOfLevy]

And therin lies the rub.

People hold him to the same standards as the rest of the team, standards he consistently fails to meet.

You find this unacceptable, and want him held to his own special standards, because then you might actually be able to find an argument to defend him.

The bit that eludes me is your commitment to jumping to his defence at any perceived slight - and it is any perceived slight - certainly not like you hold fire for the really outrageous criticism.

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)

 

[nayenezgani]

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.

 

[Legohamster]

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.

Yep, I for one think Sissoko is rubbish because he isn't white.

not to do with his lack of footballing ability.

You caught me out, bravo.

 

[Gilzeantoscore]

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.

 

[Gilzeantoscore]

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.

This must go down as one of the most outrageous posts ever made on this board.

 

[NickTB]

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.

Really?

 

[AjaxDeSuperYids]

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.

Wow

I hope the boards resident personal account hacker likes you!

 

[AjaxDeSuperYids]

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)

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.

 

[Maltese Falcon]

I think that’s harsh mate, like Nayim said it was a great cross and took defenders out of the game. Sometimes you just have to accept a good piece of attacking play that you couldn’t really do anything about...

Poch does not seem to share your opinion, judging by the glare he gave Sanchez after the goal

If looks could kill, we would be a defender short this morning

The cross from Richie was good - just as the one from Aurier was for Alli's (probably the only good thing he did all afternoon..) However in both cases their covering player switched off abysmally. In Sanchez's case, this is probably his only real deficit but one hopes that with time and experience, he will learn to concentrate better and eliminate this from his system.

 

[Baleforce]

Poch does not seem to share your opinion, judging by the glare he gave Sanchez after the goal

If looks could kill, we would be a defender short this morning

The cross from Richie was good - just as the one from Aurier was for Alli's (probably the only good thing he did all afternoon..) However in both cases their covering player switched off abysmally. In Sanchez's case, this is probably his only real deficit but one hopes that with time and experience, he will learn to concentrate better and eliminate this from his system.

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...

 

[Baleforce]

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.

He does look nervous in those positions, what I will say though, is that yesterday, he was put in ridiculous situations by teammates a few times, tight to the line with 3 nearby opponents and no immeadiate hot, there had to have beeen better options.

To his credit he’s always open and never stops working, he doesn’t seem to dwell on his mistakes either. He did make some important defensive contributions yesterday, particularly when he was facing two Saudi Sportswashing Machine attackers in the outer right corner of our box and cleanly came away with the ball.

 

[harr1984]

Poch does not seem to share your opinion, judging by the glare he gave Sanchez after the goal

If looks could kill, we would be a defender short this morning

The cross from Richie was good - just as the one from Aurier was for Alli's (probably the only good thing he did all afternoon..) However in both cases their covering player switched off abysmally. In Sanchez's case, this is probably his only real deficit but one hopes that with time and experience, he will learn to concentrate better and eliminate this from his system.

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....

 

[Gazza Dazzla]

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.

Stop being a dingdong!

How does that theory work with Dembele, Sanchez, Dele?

 

[Bedfordspurs]

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.

I’m sorry but the only people who target them because of their skin colour was the commentators and that’s only in that the got the players mixed up
Sissoko gets a rough ride as technically he is our weakest player in the regaular starters
Aurier because he can be rash and get caught out
Yesterday neither player was as bad as some others and IMO the criticism is a follow on from last year

 

[nayenezgani]

Stop being a dingdong!

How does that theory work with Dembele, Sanchez, Dele?

They were all deemed to play to an 'acceptable level' by the majority?

 

[ShipOfTheseus]

Not going to dismiss the theory out of hand. There was a similar conversation in the politics thread about Diane Abbott, and some agreed that while she is undoubtedly thick and overpromoted, there’s something disproportionate about the level of opprobrium she attracts.

There have been white players who have attracted rage. Rasziak, for instance. I’m struggling, though, to think of a black player who has been a fan favourite despite not being terribly good, Ginger Pele-esque.