Sissoko looks bad as soon as he gets near the opposition area but we always miss him when he's not in the team.
I agree PNP. They played the clever football today and were smart enough to crowd out the likes of Kane, N'dombele and Son. Pound for pound we have the better squad IMO., we certainly have the better individual players available today, not to mention home advantage. I refuse to believe that this group of players enjoy 'parking the bus' or 'chasing shadows' for the majority of their time on the pitch. Management decisions let us down today of that I have no doubt. Shy-ite tactics gets shy-ite results.
Why? Potential is potential and so far he's living off of a hype from about 3-4 years ago. All those players at one point were expected to become superstars and they didn't. Dele's well on his way to joining them.
Potential becomes pointless if you're nowhere near reaching it over x amounts of years. Dos Santos was tipped to be the heir to Ronaldinho at Barca so I'd argue that his ceiling was the highest of the lot.
I would never pretend to be an expert but Dele look mentally broken to me. He started to struggle soon after he went public with his wish to be called Dele due to a big dispute with his birth dad. He seemed to distract himself with social media and modelling znd seemed to take his eye off the ball. He rarely played well in Pochettino's last season and apart from a 4 or 5 match spell when JM took over he has been poor ever since. The airport episode showed how detached he had become. Recently he went on Insta with his customised Roller. I think (not know) that he has mental health difficulties. I don't say this as a dig and nor am I pretending to be in the know but his behaviour off the pitch and performances on it and like chalk and cheese compared to 2028-19 season. If my guess is right then it is like any other long term injury. It needs to be correctly diagnosed and treated or his career will continue to nose dive. Plenty of other plsyers have had this type of problem such as Colleymore, Hendry and Armstrong to name just a few.
That doesn't take away the fact he was touted to be the heir to Ronaldinho (one of the genuine touts too, not the YouTube variation). You don't get that sort of hype by being an average young player. Ironically he followed Ronaldinho a bit too close to home because his partying antics contributed toward his downfall. There's no denying Dele was brilliant for a spell but that spell was ages ago and the odd flash over the seasons since really isn't enough if we have genuine aspirations of achieving big things.
Not really. Wilshere is still bang average but at least played loads of games for a team that won two FA Cups Alli - erm... MK Dons young player of the year 13/14??
Ironically I thought Jack Rodwell was going to be a superstar during that era of young English players. I thought he'd carve out a really good career, looked brilliant at times for Everton and was able to play in defence and midfield seamlessly. Went City too early I reckon, they were just looking to boost HG numbers and then injuries kicked in and he never looked the same again. Don't even know where he is now.
I think he's hugely valuable when we set up to counter as he plugs the gaps and works extremely hard off the ball. If we want to play a more possession based game then he's a hinderance though. Ideally what we need is a deeper playmaker who also has the workrate and intelligence to fill in and complement PEH's attributes. Winks isn't that, Tanguy doesn't do enough off the ball. It could be Gio but he doesn't have Sissoko's physicality and nous at sniffing out danger, although he'll work hard. I still think we should try and adapt to sometimes hold the ball more even with him in the team though.
When we have been at our best over the last 2 years I'd likely bet that Sissoko was on the pitch. As DH highlighted, he's still good enough for France... We shodnt have to rely on K &S every week, but there are no regular support acts Lo Celso promises but was ineffective today even before injury. N'dombele was back to his worst and as for Aurier.... Words fail You can't then expect the likes of Bale & Lucas to turn things around when they get so little time. Davies for Aurier, moving Reggie fwd & playing a back 3 might have been a better bet. Or maybe just starting being cleverer with squad rotation generally... Or maybe the squad depth - good on paper - just isn't there?
Tanguy needs firm under foot conditions to be seen at his best IMO. He will come good. LoCelso no way near the same as N'dombele let alone Eriksen. I agree, should look to off load him as soon as possible.
We've had a bad week but we don't need to trash the team because of that, its football that's what happens. We could be smiling next week, and this **** year is nearly over so it's not all bad.
This There always threatened the potential for a wrong turn for him but I was hopeful that his close friendship with the grounded Dier would be his salvation. Still hopeful but you have to wonder where his head is. Hope all is OK.
As much as we despise him there was a time when Wilshere like Dele appeared to have the world at his feet.
Sheffield United. Robbed Sunderland for a few years, then fell upward to Blackburn and back into the Premier League. Played twice last season and hasn't featured at all in this one, so he's back to form. Contract's up in the summer, when I guess he'll start playing again.
