Tottenham: Surprise at Ange Postecoglou as Yves Bissouma contributes to costly failure
Yves Bissouma was partly at fault for Tottenham losing at home to Wolves at the weekend but has largely been impressive this season, says Paul Robinson.
The Mali international made his first start since suspension and Africa Cup of Nations duty in the 2-1 defeat on 17 February and conceded possession at an attacking corner, allowing Pedro Neto to streak down the pitch and set up Joao Gomes for the winner.
Robinson admits he was slightly surprised to see the likes of Rodrigo Bentancur, Brennan Johnson and Timo Werner all left out of the starting XI by Ange Postecoglou but stopped short of blaming the result on the line up or former Brighton man Bissouma.
He heaped praise on an impressive Wolves defied who have defied expectations this term but still expected Spurs to have enough to win, so the sloppy loss was a definite disappointment.
He told Tottenham News: “Listen, you can’t play to your top level every week. It wasn’t his best game. Yes he was at fault for certain parts of the game.
“But I think the Tottenham team as a collective have to take responsibility for a home defeat against Wolves.
“Wolves are a good team this year, they’re in 11th for a reason and Gary O’Neil’s got them playing really well. I’ve seen them numerous times at Molineux this season and I, like many others, tipped them to be down there scrapping against relegation. But they’ve had an excellent season. They’re a really good team who can score goals, although they do ship a lot of goals.
“But Tottenham should have had enough to beat them at home. Yves Bissouma was at fault, it wasn’t his best game.
“I was surprised by his team selection in all honesty, playing Bissouma and [Pape Matar] Sarr, left Bentancur on the bench. It’s not often that Bentancur, if fully fit, gets left on the bench. Werner and Johnson were on the bench.
“You can argue for rotation but yes it wasn’t Bissouma’s best game. That’s with hindsight though. When you’ve got a fully-fit squad to pick, with Sarr, Bissouma, Bentancur, all three have played particularly well this season in that role.
“With hindsight would you put Bentancur in there with the way that Bissouma played? Yes. But before the game were there any qualms about it? No there wasn’t.”
Rodrigo Bentancur among those left on Tottenham bench
It’s not the first time the manager’s personnel choices have come in for questioning after dropped points this month, and it also isn’t the first time that Bissouma has been caught out as Tottenham have conceded.
Both the Australian and most of the squad have largely been excellent this season but with a battle heating up to finish in the top four they need to iron out mistakes, especially at home.
Spurs remained just two points after Aston Villa in fourth coming out of the weekend and have a two-week break before facing Crystal Palace on 2 March so Postecoglou will surely be at work on the training ground looking to engineer a response.
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