Maltese Falcon
Niko Kranjcar
If Winks picked up any knock it was in the first half - he was subbed around 70 minutes!
The reason he was subbed was because he was ineffective offensively - what;s so wrong to state that?
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Moussa Sissoko
- Thread starter Jordinho
- Start date
If Winks picked up any knock it was in the first half - he was subbed around 70 minutes!
The reason he was subbed was because he was ineffective offensively - what;s so wrong to state that?
Maltese Falcon
Niko Kranjcar
But those stats do not show where their starting position. Since we were attacking a parked bus it was obvious that Sissoko was not going to stay around the centre circle because that we were the centre halves were. However when Villa started a (rare) attack that is where Sissoko was positioned.
You only have to look at the build-up to the third goal... just as Villa launch the ball, Sissoko is the most withdrawn central midfielder. When Sanchez heads the ball out, Sissoko moves into the centre circle where he takes the ball from Moura's header and launches the run which leads to Kane's goal.
You understand that it's possible to win despite players right? That there could and should be a 4-5 goal gap between us and Villa, and not playing our best players could reduce that to two.
Eriksen on was obviously the right choice. Unless everyone else is injured, leaving Sissoko on never is.
Maltese Falcon
Niko Kranjcar
It's possible but not probable. Not in a league like the Premiership. Maybe in Spain or Holland - but not England. And not over a whole season and not in getting to the CL final.
Once again just apply Occam's razor to the question...
I have, and the answer is injuries to everyone else.
If he's regularly starting after Christmas then it will probably say more about our medical team than it does anything else
milo
Jack L. Jones
He'll be part of the match day squad and get games through rotation/injuries. He'll get a decent number of appearances over the season.
Robspur12
John Lacy
This. We have upgraded our midfield significantly but we need to give Ndombele and Lo Celso time to adjust to the PL. Sissoko, though has earned his place as much as any of last season's midfield options.
90291Spur
Paul Walsh
And not at all surprising. The fella has clearly worked his nuts off to improve to the point where he made vital contributions to us last season. This summer he spent two weeks or so in LA training HARD. Against Villa he was playing in a new position and didn't cover himself in glory, yet kept going and didn't hide and assisted our third. Yes, he's limited, yes, we could upgrade, but I'd rather him that a Townsend or Bentaleb who - as far as I can tell - didn't have the mental1ty to make it under Poch.
Robspur12
John Lacy
Summed up perfectly mate. He is good enough to do a job and he will play this season even when others are fit because we may need him to do a job like last season.
BrainOfLevy
Michael Carrick
Really don’t understand why it can’t be as simple and easy as this post for everyone.
BrainOfLevy
Michael Carrick
I think the weaker players in our team are GKN and Wanyama. GKN because he may lack some quality and mentality and Wanyama because I don’t think we’ll ever be able to rely on him consistently ever again because of injuries. Sissoko though, has played himself in to being an important part, and adds value.
N’Dombele when fully fit and settled I would have in the team ahead of Sissoko, but this idea of a fully fit first 11 isn’t going to really be the case for us this season. There are so many options and so many players deserving of playing time. And still, N’Dombele may not bring certain defensive strengths that Sissoko does. In the tackle yes, in his selfless positioning to cover danger, maybe not. But that’s because he is better offensively than Sissoko and Sissoko has to add enough value to the team in other ways, otherwise he wouldn’t play.
Successful teams are built on selfless players like Sissoko. My point around Winks was that if you have a team of technical players that need to be close together to play good football and not get stretched, the gaps are more easily to exploit. We are inherently more difficult to counter with Sissoko in the side, because he provides variety both offensively and defensively. If you set up to stop the pretty football, you may leave out the burst of pace from deep that he provides. If you think you can exploit gaps between our lines that we may leave because we take risks offensively, Sissoko stops it.
He is with us as much because of what he forces the opposition into doing, and what doesn’t come to pass, as much as what does. Poch gets this.
And now we have Ndombele (and previously had Dembele) who can do all of that, plus do the stuff actual footballers do like passing.
This is starting to sound a lot like the (can't be arsed version of) Adebayor argument. Once he stopped doing any of the actual useful stuff that footballers have to do, people started claiming that hiding on the touchline was actually pulling players out of position.
Sissoko has a lot of traits that are useful in a footballer. Unfortunately they only serve a purpose if he can do the footballer bits like passing or reading the game.
I think he did far better in the middle of the park than out wide. He has his very obvious strengths which work for us. We know he can't shoot, and not the best technically. But his power through the middle can have a devastating impact. The third goal v Villa an example, or if you think back to his performance at Anfield where he missed a great chance when 2 v 1, he absolutely blew a hole through their midfield just through direct powerful running. Sometimes football at it's simplest can be very effective.
milo
Jack L. Jones
That in a nutshell is his time with us. Poch converting into a ball carrying central midfielder after Dembele was broken was a masterstroke. We do look to have a specialist in the position now and without Sissoko's limitations.
glasgowspur
Dimitar Berbatov
The real shame is that it's for almost every player.
Cochise
Steve Carr
He was our default right winger in the second half until Eriksen came on, then Moura went out there and Sissoko went back central. As it is, it seems that our CMs in the 4231 rotate quite a bit with the #10 (Eriksen). If they cannot receive the ball at CM they made some form of vertical run up to between the two banks of four to make space for Eriksen or their CM partner.
Anyway, regarding Sissoko. He was poor when being asked to create as it's not his strength but managed an assist later on doing something that I don't think any of our other midfielders can do. That driving run through the middle took out 2-3 Villa players and he offloaded early and well to Kane.
He is a solid addition to any midfield where we need to have someone breaking play up. The issue comes when his marauding runs take him into the box as he lacks the ability and the confidence to reliably make something happen.
His skillset suits games where we need to nullify and stretch an offensive opponent. I expect to see him start against City.
Anyway, regarding Sissoko. He was poor when being asked to create as it's not his strength but managed an assist later on doing something that I don't think any of our other midfielders can do. That driving run through the middle took out 2-3 Villa players and he offloaded early and well to Kane.
He is a solid addition to any midfield where we need to have someone breaking play up. The issue comes when his marauding runs take him into the box as he lacks the ability and the confidence to reliably make something happen.
His skillset suits games where we need to nullify and stretch an offensive opponent. I expect to see him start against City.
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SteveAWOL
Andy Thompson
If only he could learn how to shoot then Sissoko would surely be the new Yaya!
Just have to hope that the likes of Kane will take advantage of the mayhem caused by his rampaging runs to get into space from which they can slot home but is close enough for Sissoko to be able to find them with a straightforward pass.
Just have to hope that the likes of Kane will take advantage of the mayhem caused by his rampaging runs to get into space from which they can slot home but is close enough for Sissoko to be able to find them with a straightforward pass.
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