Player Watch: Moussa Sissoko

[hutchiniho]

For all his limitations I absolutely love him and he has become a very important part of the squad.

I think he won us over a lot last year. He definitely picked up the ‘most improved player’ award and it was more noticeable because so many of the team were having down seasons.
all That is massively to his credit
But even with the perceived improvement for me he is still a limited midfielder that doesn’t do one thing well.
If you were to poll his attributes, how many categories would be score 8,9 or 10/10?
Passing, heading, tackling, decision making, positioning.
Agree with the above, a good ‘squad’ player but it’s only a weak midfield that’s keeping him in the XI

 

[TheHoddleWaddle]

I think he won us over a lot last year. He definitely picked up the ‘most improved player’ award and it was more noticeable because so many of the team were having down seasons.
all That is massively to his credit
But even with the perceived improvement for me he is still a limited midfielder that doesn’t do one thing well.
If you were to poll his attributes, how many categories would be score 8,9 or 10/10?
Passing, heading, tackling, decision making, positioning.
Agree with the above, a good ‘squad’ player but it’s only a weak midfield that’s keeping him in the XI

I agree with you for the most part. I really like Sissoko but as said many times, he is limited. However, I think he brings the sort of skill set that is hard to evaluate or measure.

The man is an absolute power house of an athlete and, whilst limited with skill, can still make driving runs, track back and ',run around.a bit'. The point being, it is really hard to measure how that impacts the opposing side and how they play. I always think we look better when he starts. Thats not to say we cant 'upgrade' at some point but for now, he is a starter for me.

 

[emiley heskey]

We really need to replace Sissoko... We can easily replace Sissoko's experience with someone like Modric or Rakitic. Both are winner, both of their clubs reportedly want to move them on and if we can bring one of them for the next two years, it will give us valuable leadership and midfield stability for the foreseeable future.

Imagine how much Winks, Ndombele, Lo celso can learn by training with Rakitic or Modric ...

 

[Monkey boy]

The fact that this guy has been a main stay of our midfield for the past 18 months may go some way to explaining why we are so poor in that same time period.

can’t believe we gave him a contract extension last summer meaning that we’ll never be able to move him on now. Oh and if the spurs social media guy is on here reading this please stop referring to him as the Goat, he is about as far away from that as I’ve ever seen.

 

[emiley heskey]

I would like us to try Sissoko in the RB role after watching yesterday's game and sell Aurier, bring Castagne and Aarons ... Castagne can cover as Left back as well...

Mourinho had made Valencia and Young a very good Right back and Left back.. Sissoko with his physique can become an astute Right back given the right defensive drills .. His physicality has always been his asset and him getting stuck with opponent's tricky players can be good for our defense ....

 

[PeeEyeEmPee]

The fact that he is considered by some (including the manager) to be an important member of the team/squad is part of our problem. I keep hearing about all these under-appreciated attributes he has, but for as long as none of those relate to the actual kicking of a football, then it's all meaningless. There was a conversation in the Lamela thread about priorities, and the fact a player as obviously limited as he is gets as many games in central midfield as he does makes him our biggest priority for getting rid of and upgrading. Honestly, he's garbage.

 

[danielneeds]

The fact that he is considered by some (including the manager) to be an important member of the team/squad is part of our problem. I keep hearing about all these under-appreciated attributes he has, but for as long as none of those relate to the actual kicking of a football, then it's all meaningless. There was a conversation in the Lamela thread about priorities, and the fact a player as obviously limited as he is gets as many games in central midfield as he does makes him our biggest priority for getting rid of and upgrading. Honestly, he's garbage.

He shouldn’t be a first choice player, but another poster mentioned he should become Jose’s Park Ji-sung, a specialist brought in for certain matches to do a specific job.

 

[PeeEyeEmPee]

Except that Man U paid squad-player money (£4m) for Park, and we paid £30m for Sissoko.

 

[dSSAbr]

I do not rate Sissoko as a starter or a immediate backup, but he offers something different to this side. I would look to move Winks before Sissoko, especially since Winks probably could bring more money. In this double pivot competition Sissoko ideally would be a 5th option and someone who u turn to when the other side is not very athletic.

 

[danielneeds]

Except that Man U paid squad-player money (£4m) for Park, and we paid £30m for Sissoko.

That’s kind of moot at this point, though, isn’t it? He’s here, can offer a specialist role, but needs to be replaced as a starter at CM next season.

 

[PeeEyeEmPee]

It isn't moot. Park was a squad player. Sissoko would, I imagine, be among our higher earners. Given our reluctance to spend, I just don't see how we can keep high-earning squad players who don't offer anything but a "specialist role" that I'm just not convinced about.

Considering we probably can't/won't bring in players without selling first, then I think he should be right at the top of the list of players we should be actively trying to get rid of. In no order, it looks something like this

Sissoko
Winks
Lamela
Alli (obviously won't happen)
Rose
Aurier

Or let's put it another way. Who should we be getting rid of if not him? We don't have a hope in hell of getting better if most or all of these are still at the club next season.

 

[danielneeds]

It isn't moot. Park was a squad player. Sissoko would, I imagine, be among our higher earners. Given our reluctance to spend, I just don't see how we can keep high-earning squad players who don't offer anything but a "specialist role" that I'm just not convinced about.

Considering we probably can't/won't bring in players without selling first, then I think he should be right at the top of the list of players we should be actively trying to get rid of. In no order, it looks something like this

Sissoko
Winks
Lamela
Alli (obviously won't happen)
Rose
Aurier

Or let's put it another way. Who should we be getting rid of if not him? We don't have a hope in hell of getting better if most or all of these are still at the club next season.

The fact is that it's not gonna happen. He's won Jose's trust the same way he did Poch's. Despite his limitations, he carries out orders, he's a soldier, and manager's love this kind of player. However, I just hope that with the addition of a competent holding midfielder that Jose will rebalance the midfield and just use Sissoko as a disrupter in those games where we're gonna need to do a job under him.

 

[JayB]

The fact is that it's not gonna happen. He's won Jose's trust the same way he did Poch's. Despite his limitations, he carries out orders, he's a soldier, and manager's love this kind of player. However, I just hope that with the addition of a competent holding midfielder that Jose will rebalance the midfield and just use Sissoko as a disrupter in those games where we're gonna need to do a job under him.

It's not at all a fact that he won't be sold. We had ITK last month that he was on the list of players that the club would sell at the right price, and there's plenty of reason why that might be the case. He's on the wrong side of 30, his technical deficiencies have been a serious limitation for us in recent years, and he's the kind of player that you could see mid-table managers salivating over. The No. 8 position is the one area of the squad where we have an overabundance of players, he holds decent value in the market, and we're going to need to sell in order to buy.

There's absolutely no way of knowing definitively what will happen this transfer window, but there's plenty of reason to think he'd be a player the club would be willing to part with if the right bid came in.

 

[danielneeds]

It's not at all a fact that he won't be sold. We had ITK last month that he was on the list of players that the club would sell at the right price, and there's plenty of reason why that might be the case. He's on the wrong side of 30, his technical deficiencies have been a serious limitation for us in recent years, and he's the kind of player that you could see mid-table managers salivating over. The No. 8 position is the one area of the squad where we have an overabundance of players, he holds decent value in the market, and we're going to need to sell in order to buy.

There's absolutely no way of knowing definitively what will happen this transfer window, but there's plenty of reason to think he'd be a player the club would be willing to part with if the right bid came in.

I'm sure if someone offered silly money we'd look at it, but I just can't see that happening this summer. I'd be amazed if we sold him now. Jose doesn't need all his players to be highly technical, and if the balance of our midfield is addressed in the summer I can see Sissoko being useful to Jose in roles like yesterday.

 

[JayB]

I'm sure if someone offered silly money we'd look at it, but I just can't see that happening this summer. I'd be amazed if we sold him now. Jose doesn't need all his players to be highly technical, and if the balance of our midfield is addressed in the summer I can see Sissoko being useful to Jose in roles like yesterday.

I don't think it would take silly money. We desperately need a DM and selling one of the box-to-box midfielders in order to fund it seems like the most logical move for the sake of squad balance. It may well be Ndombele who goes but if not then Sissoko would be the obvious candidate. We're clearly not going to sell Lo Celso, and Winks has age and homegrown status on his side. Sissoko certainly has his uses but we'd be far better off with a competent DM.

 

[JCRD]

I wouldnt sell him one bit. I dont think people really appreciate what he brings - which is essentially legs. He isnt the most skillfull but he can run with the ball, relieve pressure from our defence and helps the defence. He wont be creating, he wont be passing it about liek Pirlo and he wont finish like Kane...

Every squad needs one or two like that. Is he first choice? No but when we play against the bigger teams we will need his play.

 

[John48]

If we had a great squad I don't see him in the team, but I think he's a useful player to have in the squad.

 

[TheHodFather]

I wouldnt sell him one bit. I dont think people really appreciate what he brings - which is essentially legs. He isnt the most skillfull but he can run with the ball, relieve pressure from our defence and helps the defence. He wont be creating, he wont be passing it about liek Pirlo and he wont finish like Kane...

Every squad needs one or two like that. Is he first choice? No but when we play against the bigger teams we will need his play.

Agreed. You look at Fergson's title winning squads and he always liked to have one or two solid dependable workhorses who could "do a job" in amongst the talent - your Evans/Fletcher/O'Shea types. For my money the likes of Sissoko, Davies and Winks are all fine as squad players - the problem is that they're currently starting nearly every game due to us having an unbalanced squad with a few holes in it.

 

[PeeEyeEmPee]

The fact is that it's not gonna happen. He's won Jose's trust the same way he did Poch's. Despite his limitations, he carries out orders, he's a soldier, and manager's love this kind of player. However, I just hope that with the addition of a competent holding midfielder that Jose will rebalance the midfield and just use Sissoko as a disrupter in those games where we're gonna need to do a job under him.

So my question remains unanswered. If not him, then who?

 

[nailsy]

So my question remains unanswered. If not him, then who?

Probably best to start with the players who don't play. Rose, Walker Peters, Foyth. I'd add Lamela to that list. Jan and Vorm are both leaving as well