View: Yves Bissouma beginning to show promise under Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham
Midfielder Yves Bissouma did not enjoy a positive debut season with Tottenham but is now beginning to show signs he might flourish this season.
When the 26-year-old arrived from Brighton and Hove Albion last summer, he did so to plenty of excitement. For the reported £25million fee that had been paid (Sky Sports, 17 June 2022), it seemed a steal.
However, due to injuries and his inability to adapt to Antonio Conte’s slightly restrictive system, the Mali international did not live up to expectations.
He only managed to feature for 1,010 minutes in the Premier League and when he was on the pitch, wasn’t up to his usual standards, and was particularly poor defensively.
As per FBref, he made just 1.43 tackles per 90, placing him in the bottom 12 per cent of the league’s midfielders, and was in the bottom one percentile for the number of dribbles challenged (0.62 per 90) and dribblers he tackled (0.18 per 90).
Therefore, he of all people would have been particularly excited when he saw Ange Postecoglou walk through the door.
And early signs suggest he is loving life under the Australian. His body language seems much improved through various social media posts and the system that the former Celtic boss is beginning to implement is suited perfectly to the midfielder.
In fact, direct quotes from Bissouma himself suggest Postecoglou has already had a big impact on him, even though he has been with the club for just a matter of weeks.
“He gives us confidence,” said Bissouma, as reported by the Evening Standard (19 July).
“He’s like a dad, uncle, friend for us, so we’re happy to be with him and we’re trying to do what he wants.
“He’s good with us. He gives us confidence. He comes to his players and talks to us all. That’s really important in the changing room. I’m really happy to be back like this, and playing football like this, it’s amazing,”
During the club’s pre-season clash with West Ham in Perth on 18 July, Postecoglou’s first official game in charge, the midfielder was one of the brightest sparks on the pitch for Spurs.
He played the full first 45 minutes before the whole starting eleven was substituted at half-time, in order to give Postecoglou a chance to examine his squad, and was one of the standout performers.
As per Sofascore, the combative midfielder had a very busy first half, making two tackles, winning all four of his ground duels, succeeding in both of his dribble attempts and registering a passing accuracy of 92 per cent, completing 36 of his 39 passes.
And despite his poor previous season, he still showed plenty of passing potential throughout the 2022/23 campaign. His 90.9 per cent pass completion rate left him in the top two per cent of the league’s midfielders and he found himself in the top one per cent for his pass completion rate over a short distance (95.2 per cent per 90).
It is clear that in his new 57-year-old manager’s possession-based, high-pressing system he should be more than capable of thriving and if he does, it will feel like Tottenham have a new signing on their hands.
In other Tottenham news, there were three other winners from the club’s clash with West Ham down under.