Sub-par Bissouma needs to be taken out of the Tottenham firing line
There are times when - and we hate to break it to you - football managers do not always tell the truth.
Step forward Ange Postecoglou, whose public assessment of Yves Bissouma’s performance against West Ham United on Tuesday might well have differed from his privately held view.
"I thought Biss was outstanding tonight," the Tottenham Hotspur boss said, unprompted, in his press conference after a 1-1 draw at the London Stadium.
Postecoglou must have felt that Bissouma needed a pick-me-up, because not many Spurs supporters would have agreed with their manager’s appraisal of the Malian’s performance. In truth, Bissouma has had a difficult few months.
As Spurs surged to the summit of the standings early on this season, the former Brighton man was among their star players. Having started just eight Premier League games under Antonio Conte last term, Bissouma looked like the perfect fit for Postecoglou’s very different style of play.
His ability to both break up play and progress the ball made him one of Tottenham’s most important players in the early part of the campaign. With Spurs dominating possession much more this season than last, they needed a midfielder who was comfortable receiving the ball in the build-up and moving it forward, either by passing or dribbling. Bissouma was that man.
However, the 27-year-old soon went off the boil. His decline can be traced back to the red card he received in a 1-0 victory over Luton Town in October. Already on a yellow, Bissouma foolishly took a dive in first-half stoppage time and was duly given his marching orders.
The sending-off at Kenilworth Road was the first of several incidents that have disrupted Bissouma’s rhythm. A second red card of the season in December brought a four-game ban, by which time the midfielder was off to the Africa Cup of Nations with Mali. During his time in Ivory Coast, he contracted malaria.
There are mitigating circumstances for his dip in form, then. Even so, it would not be a surprise to see Bissouma taken out of the team at some point soon, with Postecoglou potentially considering a partnership of Pape Sarr and Rodrigo Bentancur in the engine room.
A short break from the XI might even do Bissouma good. He appears to be lacking in confidence, as evidenced by his increasingly ponderous play in possession. Bissouma has lost the sharpness that characterised his game at the beginning of the campaign, and he is not taking as many risks with the ball. Bissouma ended the West Ham game with a 96% pass completion rate - tidy, certainly, but evidence too of a lack of incision.
The Mali international is averaging 0.5 key passes per 90 minutes this term. Even allowing for the fact he tends to play in a deep-lying midfield berth, Bissouma’s numbers compare unfavourably to those in similar roles such as Bruno Guimaraes (1.6), Douglas Luiz (1.6), Rodri (1.5), Jorginho (0.9) and Wataru Endo (0.9).
Bissouma has not covered himself in glory without the ball either. Andros Townsend got away from him too easily in the build-up to Luton’s opening goal in their recent 2-1 loss in north London. "Defensively he has to pay more attention," Conte said last season.
Bissouma can still be a significant player for Spurs. At his best he is well suited to Postecoglou’s attack-minded, possession-based style of play. Moreover, he is hardly the only Tottenham player to have gone through a sticky spell this season.
Right now, though, Bissouma is having a tough time. With Tottenham not yet guaranteed Champions League football next season, Postecoglou may be considering taking his No.8 out of the firing line - whatever he says in public.
