People quite literally say he cannot control and pass the football under no pressure. Even smart, normally balanced posters say that. And it’s nonsense. It is not imaginary. I honestly don’t know how you can argue it - it’s blatantly obvious.
I was engaging with Scara last night on his points. Apparently Obertan getting 470 PL minutes over 2 years is the equivalent of Poch consistently picking Sissoko. And then apparently ‘we would struggle if we ever had to pick him against a decent side’, to which I then listed the good wins he had started in last season, to which I get ‘they were in spite of him’. It’s just ridiculous.
My ‘campaign’ is to see him rated as the 6 or 7 out of 10 player that he usually is, rather than the 4/10 a lot of people consistently make him out to be. It is a weird undercurrent of looking for any opportunity to hammer the guy, when he is our player and deserves our support.
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.
