View: Tottenham ace Yves Bissouma steals the show for Mali with a spectacular solo assist
Comparing Tottenham midfielder Yves Bissouma’s performances from last season to this season is like comparing night and day, and he continued his brilliant form with a bit of magic for Mali.
It is amazing the difference a new manager and confidence can make to a player. Under Antonio Conte, Bissouma was hardly offered a sniff in the side, featuring sporadically throughout the season and lacking confidence when he did feature.
Yet under Postecoglou, the midfielder looks undroppable, and it will leave fans wondering why the 27-year-old could hardly get a kick of the ball last season. He is back to his Brighton best, and with the prices being quoted for some midfielders this summer, the £25million Tottenham purchased him for is now beginning to look like a steal (Sky Sports News, 17 June 2022).
He has started all four of the club’s Premier League games this season, earning match ratings of 8.0, 7.6, 7.7 and 7.1 (Sofascore). At times he has been unplayable, dominating the midfield in all of the games he has featured in, appearing to glide effortlessly across the surface.
And he demonstrated those qualities during Mali’s 4-0 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying victory against South Sudan on Thursday 8 September. Although he did not start the match, he was introduced from the bench and completely ran the show upon entering the field of play.
Throughout his 28 minutes on the pitch, he completed 88 per cent of his passes, was successful with three of the six dribbles he attempted, won four of his seven ground duels, and created one big chance that led to an assist, and what an assist it was.
As seen in the image above, Bissouma drove into the box and carried the ball toward the byline.
He then quickly changed the direction of the ball, sitting the goalkeeper down and effectively taking the defender out of the game.
He then showed a tremendous bit of skill to drag the ball back, leaving the goalkeeper on the floor, and skip past him and cut it across the goal for an easy tap-in.
It was an outrageous assist and will only add further fuel to his confidence after such a bright start to the season.
In other Tottenham news, John Wenham is hopeful of an “emphatic” win over Sheffield United.