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Player Watch: Moussa Sissoko

phillipjpalmer

Well-Known Member
Jul 29, 2008
652
1,304
At this point in time I would prefer him in our side then against it. He would steamroll a midfield containing winks, dier or wanyama.
We have deadwood difficult to shift taking up space that should be occupied by better players that would mean sissoko is more squad player instead of current regular.
 

BPR_U16

Well-Known Member
Jun 28, 2006
1,783
2,603
Moussa having to play is the problem because it means we are desperate.
Cannot fault his effort, determination and willingness BUT he is a very limited footballer and he shows how poor our squad is. Said at start of the season good squad player to come on in games to do a role but should never be a starter.
Is not a DM. He is not a CM. He is not creative. Has no end product. Passing not great. Crossing no better.
Like Danny Rose he can get stuck in, wears his heart on his sleeve but we need more.
Fact that he really was our player of the season last year us damning to the rest - Son excepted.
 

Kiedis

Well-Known Member
Aug 4, 2013
2,926
8,490
He thrives when we're in transition, and his skillset actively contributes to us always being in transition. The problem is that that is not how we should play or what we're trying to accomplish (I think, hard to tell anymore).

He's a guy that directly or indirectly start fires and then get praise for putting some of them out.
 

isaac94

Well-Known Member
Jan 5, 2017
2,921
9,733
Can someone explain why his name gets sung the most over the last 18 months, but stalwarts like Jan, Toby, even Eriksen in his prime didnt even get a song?
 

The Opinionated Lurker

Well-Known Member
Jun 9, 2019
720
2,554
Sissoko is great to have around the squad just in mentality terms IMO but he shouldn’t be starting consistently for a club trying to achieve what we are. He’s a really limited player even at his best
 

Yiddo100

Well-Known Member
Jan 16, 2019
9,894
52,009
Can someone explain why his name gets sung the most over the last 18 months, but stalwarts like Jan, Toby, even Eriksen in his prime didnt even get a song?
Eriksen has/had a song and jan and Toby sort of had a song but I imagine it’s mainly because it’s not hard to sign ‘oh Moussa sissoko’
 

coys200

Well-Known Member
May 22, 2017
8,436
17,403
For me one the most exciting things about last night was Sissoko as a single pivot CDM. Some people seem to thing he is/has been a DM. But for me he never really has. In a 2 he always played the more advanced with Winks. But in theory he has everything to be a great modern day CDM. He’s quick covers ground can tackle is physical with the bonus he can still make surging runs from deep. I guess the question mark would be his technical ability in tight spaces but I think he he has improved that. It seems so obvious not sure why we never tried it before. And the beauty of Ndombele/ Lo Celso either side is they have the creativity going forward but both have also played CDM. So they know when to drop in and cover. I think it makes us much more solid than having Eriksen or Dele in there.
 

rsmith

The hand of Ghod
Nov 8, 2006
792
848
Every other player has been rotated over the last year...except Sissoko. We've been pants for the last year. This is not a coincidence. Remember players like Teddy, Modric, Moose who made the players around them look good. Sissoko, sadly, is the opposite. 9 out of 10 passes are backwards, which:-
  • places pressure on the back 4
  • kills our passing out from the back game.
  • denies ball to our forwards
  • forward balls have to be long, or down the wings which makes life easier for the opposition because they don't need to defend midfield
  • when the forward ball finally arrives, the defence has had 10 extra seconds to organise
At 52 minutes v. Red Star, the ball was cleared from one of our corners to Sissoko defending in the centre circle. With every outfield player in front of him, he looked for the back pass. Sanchez was first player back, and once he was safely behind Sissoko, MS passed to him! Today, our midfield looked so much better with MS on the wing, but wingers need to contribute goals and we all know that's never going to happen. Today at 89min, the ball cam to him in the penalty area and he didn't move a single muscle.

I'll go as far as to say that playing Sissoko is the equivalent of playing with 10 men. Poch needs to drop him back to being a squad player in order to get us back to our 2018 level, before it's too late.
 

punkisback

Well-Known Member
Apr 10, 2004
4,410
7,278
Every other player has been rotated over the last year...except Sissoko. We've been pants for the last year. This is not a coincidence. Remember players like Teddy, Modric, Moose who made the players around them look good. Sissoko, sadly, is the opposite. 9 out of 10 passes are backwards, which:-
  • places pressure on the back 4
  • kills our passing out from the back game.
  • denies ball to our forwards
  • forward balls have to be long, or down the wings which makes life easier for the opposition because they don't need to defend midfield
  • when the forward ball finally arrives, the defence has had 10 extra seconds to organise
At 52 minutes v. Red Star, the ball was cleared from one of our corners to Sissoko defending in the centre circle. With every outfield player in front of him, he looked for the back pass. Sanchez was first player back, and once he was safely behind Sissoko, MS passed to him! Today, our midfield looked so much better with MS on the wing, but wingers need to contribute goals and we all know that's never going to happen. Today at 89min, the ball cam to him in the penalty area and he didn't move a single muscle.

I'll go as far as to say that playing Sissoko is the equivalent of playing with 10 men. Poch needs to drop him back to being a squad player in order to get us back to our 2018 level, before it's too late.
I agree completely; only problem is due to poor signings or lack of, we have no one who can win the ball back with energy and strength like the does...
 

rsmith

The hand of Ghod
Nov 8, 2006
792
848
I agree completely; only problem is due to poor signings or lack of, we have no one who can win the ball back with energy and strength like the does...

I fully agree that his strength is his strength, but if we're really at the level of using 1/10th of our outfield quota for a big guy whose only ability is to run around bumping into people, then we don't deserve a PL place, let alone a CL place.
Sissoko is not a great technical tackler and what good does winning the ball do if it he then fails to do anything constructive with it. Count how many passes get made before the ball is coming straight back at us. Compare with Newdembele who not only wins the ball, but is immediately showing the ambition for a run or forward pass.

Winks isn't as big or strong, but he's a much better tackler and covers a lot more ground than Sissoko. Dier and Wanyama are both better holding DMs.
 

punkisback

Well-Known Member
Apr 10, 2004
4,410
7,278
I fully agree that his strength is his strength, but if we're really at the level of using 1/10th of our outfield quota for a big guy whose only ability is to run around bumping into people, then we don't deserve a PL place, let alone a CL place.
Sissoko is not a great technical tackler and what good does winning the ball do if it he then fails to do anything constructive with it. Count how many passes get made before the ball is coming straight back at us. Compare with Newdembele who not only wins the ball, but is immediately showing the ambition for a run or forward pass.

Winks isn't as big or strong, but he's a much better tackler and covers a lot more ground than Sissoko. Dier and Wanyama are both better holding DMs.
Thing is both are Dire and Wanyama lack that energy and I feel that winks just isn't as solid as him; he loses the ball a lot deeper and Sissoko has been a bit more press resistant recently. He's a 5/10 player in that position, and what we need to do is buy. I have even considered Foyth there; I feel he would be quality as a ball playing DM.
 

SpursD22

Well-Known Member
Aug 3, 2017
4,682
8,929
Sissoko has become a fan favourite so it’s hard to criticise him much these days and I respect him, he’s had to really fight to be where he is today but he’s a liability, that’s the harsh truth. He literally offer us nothing. He’s awful with the ball as we know, at times it almost looks like he’s hiding from getting the ball. And defensively he’s nowhere near good as people think. He barely wins any tackles/interceptions and he’s not positionally smart enough. The only thing we can count on him is to run a lot and some physicality in midfield and that’s it

It’s no coincidence that we’re much worse now than when we had Dembele & Wanyama in midfield. We need a DM so badly, someone who can play 4-2-3-1 with Ndombele or a 4-3-3 with him, Ndombele and Lo Celso

Edit: We need Sangare

Edit 2: Without a true DM we will never dominate games like we used to, like today against Sheffield we will find it hard to control games, to look good defensively. Today we needed Ndombele to drop deeper to get some control of the game. As I said before, we desperately need a DM
 
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JimmyG2

SC Supporter
Dec 7, 2006
15,014
20,779
Problem is that Sissoko
doesn't want the ball.
Unlike Winks he doesn't show for it.
If it comes to him
fine he'll run with it
sometimes successfully
Improved from the depths
he previously explored
Big heart
but basically not good enough.

Never gets injured
which is a mixed blessing
 

Timberwolf

Well-Known Member
Jan 17, 2008
10,328
50,217
Thing is both are Dire and Wanyama lack that energy and I feel that winks just isn't as solid as him; he loses the ball a lot deeper and Sissoko has been a bit more press resistant recently. He's a 5/10 player in that position, and what we need to do is buy. I have even considered Foyth there; I feel he would be quality as a ball playing DM.
I think he's definitely worth a try. He'd have to cut out his tendency to overplay in dangerous areas but he has a Dembele-esque ability to glide past players with the drop of a shoulder, and he's a far better, more creative passer than either Sissoko or Winks. At this point we don't have anything to lose, and if Dier could be converted into a DM, why not Foyth?
 
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