Anthony Onifade

Mon 14 August 2023 21:10, UK

Tottenham and Ange Postecoglou can take plenty of positives from the club’s 2-2 draw away at Brentford during their Premier League opener on Sunday 13 August but one of them will have been the performance of Yves Bissouma.

While several neutrals will have expected Spurs to get all three points at the Gtech Community Stadium, a Premier League fixture away to Brentford certainly is no mean feat as recent history suggests.

The Bees have won their opening home fixture in the last two Premier League seasons, against Arsenal and Manchester United, no less which certainly suggests that Postecoglou and Spurs can certainly be encouraged by the result.

There were some impressive and promising performances from a number of Tottenham players in Postecoglou’s first competitive game in charge, Destiny Udogie and James Maddison – new Spurs additions – proved two of the best picks.

But the Australian coach will have been mightily impressed by the performance of Bissouma who seems to have gotten his Spurs career back on track with this stunning individual performance.

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 passive and rigid system, the Mali international simply did not live up to expectations, much to the disappointment of some of the Tottenham fanbase.

But that story looked to have embarked on a new chapter on Sunday as Bissouma proved to Postecoglou why he could well become one of the former Celtic coach’s most crucial components this season.

Awarded man-of-the-match by Sky Sports for his performance on the afternoon, Bissouma put in by far his best display in a Tottenham shirt to date.

Bissouma was unplayable at times, making 138 touches and registering a successful passing accuracy of 92 per cent, completing 107 out of his 116 passes. In addition to this, he completed five of the six dribbles that he attempted and won nine of the 12 ground duels he contested. Defensively he was impressive, making two clearances, four interceptions and three tackles (Sofascore).

The former Brighton midfielder also completed an impressive 22/26 line-breaking pass attempts vs Brentford on Sunday, the most line-breaking passes completed on the opening Premier League weekend highlighting how pivotal he will be for Postecoglou to establish his playing style at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.

It was a fantastic performance, and a comparison to the last time he visited Brentford shows just how much better he looks under Postecoglou compared to his previous manager, Conte but also points to the fact that the 26-year-old now looks determined as ever to prove why Spurs shelled out nearly £30m for his services.

It is amazing what confidence and a change in management, one whose style and persona fits the brand of football a player like Bissouma strongly desires and the Malian international is certainly going to be one to watch out for in north London this year.

In other Tottenham news, one player is in talks with a European club to finally seal his long-awaited North London exit.