Player Watch Player Watch: Yves Bissouma

[Ron Burgundy]

Interesting. So slightly odd as to why he didn't start some of the games for them. Surely he is their best player

Indeed. God knows. If he can play for us though that’s a good thing.

Fingers crossed he gets back to the form we know he has in his locker

 

[kernowspurscoach1977]

I think biss will be fine - his form drop off coincided with losing 1/2 the team through suspension and injury!
I think when he has confidence in the back 4 and his midfield partners he’ll be the biss we all want to see.

 

[delawarespur]

At his best his carrying and technical security is invaluable so hope he brings that for the rest of the season.

 

[tevezito]

Interesting. So slightly odd as to why he didn't start some of the games for them. Surely he is their best player

He also had a muscle strain or some such, so presume that's why.

 

[jordibwoy]

Looking at the way we allow teams to get out of our counterpress in transition and how the legs all seem to gone in midfield, this is where Biss will really help transform us back into the team we saw early doors.

As much as we miss his ability to relieve pressure in the first phase of possession, he was the top of the league in tackles won and interceptions, and we haven't been able to sustain pressure and domination over teams for sustained periods without him. His defensive work is what we've missed more than anything. It just jumped out at me watching the match today.

We would pin Brighton back, lose the ball on a half-chance, and with so many bodies committed forward we would (and have done for a while) not get enough pressure on the ball and they would play out. If they didn't sit on their lead in the first half as much as they did, I think they would have scored another the way we were lethargic in that half.

I think Biss changes that dynamic for us. He's always snapping at legs and rushing to close down the man on the ball. Was such a stark difference with him vs Lolo, and I love Lolo but Biss is much better and sharper at this aspect (or at least has been this season, granted Lolo is clearly not firing near 100%)

 

[mil1lion]

There was one attack where Brighton had men over on our right side and they would have been in. Bissouma made the challenge of the match to shut the door. He looked pretty sharp as well. I think he should start the next game. Bentancur still isn't on it and is slowing the game down a bit too much.

 

[Finchyid]

There was one attack where Brighton had men over on our right side and they would have been in. Bissouma made the challenge of the match to shut the door. He looked pretty sharp as well. I think he should start the next game. Bentancur still isn't on it and is slowing the game down a bit too much.

Thought he made a big difference to us…should start over bents next week

 

[Neon_Knight_]

Looking at the way we allow teams to get out of our counterpress in transition and how the legs all seem to gone in midfield, this is where Biss will really help transform us back into the team we saw early doors.

As much as we miss his ability to relieve pressure in the first phase of possession, he was the top of the league in tackles won and interceptions, and we haven't been able to sustain pressure and domination over teams for sustained periods without him. His defensive work is what we've missed more than anything. It just jumped out at me watching the match today.

We would pin Brighton back, lose the ball on a half-chance, and with so many bodies committed forward we would (and have done for a while) not get enough pressure on the ball and they would play out. If they didn't sit on their lead in the first half as much as they did, I think they would have scored another the way we were lethargic in that half.

I think Biss changes that dynamic for us. He's always snapping at legs and rushing to close down the man on the ball. Was such a stark difference with him vs Lolo, and I love Lolo but Biss is much better and sharper at this aspect (or at least has been this season, granted Lolo is clearly not firing near 100%)

Bissouma during the first 2 months of the season was immense at regaining possession and transitioning into attack. Best in the league at it and had the stats to back it up.

He did have a drop-off in form after that though, before disappearing to AFCON, during a run of games where he also got himself suspended three times. Possibly fatigue, possibly disrupted by the suspensions, possibly impacted by our cobbled together defence while Romero & VDV were out...or perhaps a combination of all of that.

Him, Sarr & Bentancur at their best simultaneously would be the strongest three CMs we've had in many years. We've had some very good CM pairs over the years (e.g. Dembele + Wanyama, Modric + Sandro, Carrick + Davids), but I've always felt the back-up / rotation option was a significant drop-off in quality. Now we have three options that are good enough to start for a "top 4" side, each of which offers something slightly different.

 

[Frozen_Waffles]

He was fantastic when he came on today, so much focus on his ball playing ability but his reading of the game, defensive interceptions were top class.

We have conceded a lot since his suspensions and afcon. He is vital for us.

He starts for me, as sure as Maddison, Romero, VDV etc.

Bentancur and Sarr can fight it out for the 8. I actually think Bentancur is better suited to the 8 than the 6 imo.

 

[Sp3akerboxxx]

Hopefully AFCON disappointment will light a fire under him.

In form he is the exact midfielder we need.

He has been patchy since he joined, but on his day he can be a very important player for us

 

[muppetman]

I thought he was very good yesterday.

 

[Westmorlandspur]

I think we will start the Wolves game with the team which played so well at the start of the season.
Benty on the bench. We then have 2 weeks off, whether that is a good thing i don’t know .
Sometimes when teams get a longer break they come back and play , in the first half, as if they have never met each other.
Before our CL final both teams had 3 weeks off and it was possibly the worst CL final ever.

 

[TOLBINY]

This is when the ball is turned over for the Ansu Fati chance - look where Biss is compared to both Fati and Wellbeck. They both end up ahead of Biss who was ball watching and did not follow the run until late - he then tried to play catch up. Long term I am not sure he is as defensively disciplined as we need in that role. In fairness Sarr ended up in no mans land as well - but the lad had 80+ minutes of football in his legs by that time - Biss was fairly fresh.

 

[ARMASPUR]

I’d like to see Biss, Sarr and Madders back starting together. I don’t feel like we have had real control of any game since they were playing together early season.

 

[Mr Pink]

I think we will start the Wolves game with the team which played so well at the start of the season.
Benty on the bench. We then have 2 weeks off, whether that is a good thing i don’t know .
Sometimes when teams get a longer break they come back and play , in the first half, as if they have never met each other.
Before our CL final both teams had 3 weeks off and it was possibly the worst CL final ever.

This time i think it works in our favour.

Depends on the training. CL final was end of the season so they probably had some time off.

This is mid season where we're have a lot of players coming back from injury.

More time on the training pitch together, and some rest could see us firing from early March.

Wouldnt surprise me if we thumped Palace after the break.

Someone is going to get a good hammering.

 

[Frozen_Waffles]

This is when the ball is turned over for the Ansu Fati chance - look where Biss is compared to both Fati and Wellbeck. They both end up ahead of Biss who was ball watching and did not follow the run until late - he then tried to play catch up. Long term I am not sure he is as defensively disciplined as we need in that role. In fairness Sarr ended up in no mans land as well - but the lad had 80+ minutes of football in his legs by that time - Biss was fairly fresh.

View attachment 137785

I just don't see where the problem is here.

Biss is covering the pass through to the striker and winger in the right, he is also aware of the run from midfield. I would, based on this photo, say he is perfectly positioned.

Where do you think he should be? He shouldn't be following runs into the box, he should leave them to the centre backs.

If you're a CM and you're constantly tracking runs back into your own box you're going to leave a lot of space.

From this photo, Johnson needs to get back and Sarr needs to be tighter.

I think you're just finding reasons to criticise what was an excellent cameo from Bissouma. Considering his interception stats, he's probably one of the best postionally aware players in his role. Seems a strange criticism, if we took his performance today and compared it with Hoijberg or Bentancur in recent games, I think you'd find much more issues with those two.

 

[BorjeSpurs]

was an excellent cameo from Bissouma.

Agreed.

 

[NEVILLEB]

He gives us a defensive physicality we miss when’s he’s not in the team.

A starter for me.

 

[Tucker]

Need a big second half to the season from him. Nobody has really claimed that number 6 spot for us so far, and since his suspension against Luton we’ve not really been able to control games the way we did in the first 10 games.

Hopefully he can step up.

 

[TOLBINY]

I just don't see where the problem is here.

Biss is covering the pass through to the striker and winger in the right, he is also aware of the run from midfield. I would, based on this photo, say he is perfectly positioned.

Where do you think he should be? He shouldn't be following runs into the box, he should leave them to the centre backs.

If you're a CM and you're constantly tracking runs back into your own box you're going to leave a lot of space.

From this photo, Johnson needs to get back and Sarr needs to be tighter.

I think you're just finding reasons to criticise what was an excellent cameo from Bissouma. Considering his interception stats, he's probably one of the best postionally aware players in his role. Seems a strange criticism, if we took his performance today and compared it with Hoijberg or Bentancur in recent games, I think you'd find much more issues with those two.

Look at the image in my previous post and what I wrote - Biss is goal side of Ansu Fati & Wellbeck when the move starts - but look at the image below and they both end up goal side of him when the shot is taken. He did not go with them - he was ball watching and then reacted to their runs when it was too late. That is just a fact, go and watch the whole clip.