{"id":2511,"date":"2016-12-17T12:04:16","date_gmt":"2016-12-17T17:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonfootball.com\/?p=2511"},"modified":"2016-12-17T12:04:16","modified_gmt":"2016-12-17T17:04:16","slug":"moussa-sissoko-form-must-continue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2016\/12\/17\/moussa-sissoko-form-must-continue\/","title":{"rendered":"Moussa Sissoko&#8217;s Excellent Form Must Continue"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Tottenham&#8217;s<\/strong> record signing <strong>Moussa Sissoko<\/strong> initially failed to impress at the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/football\/38128008\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">club<\/a>, but has recently impressed in the <strong>Premier<\/strong> <strong>League<\/strong>. Sissoko&#8217;s run of form must continue if he wishes to cement a place in the first team against the likes of <b>Erik <\/b><b>Lamela<\/b>.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Moussa Sissoko&#8217;s Excellent Form Must Continue<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The competition between the two may forge stellar\u00a0performances between them in order to invigorate Tottenham&#8217;s attack. But, to have quality in depth is also important. Rotating an in-form Sissoko and Lamela would ensure a quality right midfield.<\/p>\n<p>Continuing the run of form is also important for the club by supplying the likes of <strong>Harry<\/strong> <strong>Kane<\/strong> with his crossing and providing another angle of attack out wide.<\/p>\n<h3>Competition<\/h3>\n<p>Lamela&#8217;s injury was undoubtedly the main reason why Sissoko has gained some first-team minutes. All injuries allow the opportunity for a less-favoured player to prove themselves worthy of a start. Recently, Sissoko has\u00a0begun to prove himself worthy of that starting place. Whilst before there were lacklustre performances, now there seems to be a new energy to his play.<\/p>\n<p>This is just in time for the imminent return of Lamela. The Argentinian underwent his own transformation at the club but has proved himself a crucial first-team player. His return to the squad will create healthy competition between him and Sissoko. This is important in boosting their performances, which in turn boosts their team&#8217;s results.<\/p>\n<h3>Depth<\/h3>\n<p>It is hard to predict which player will emerge on top, but there is arguably more depth due to Sissoko&#8217;s emergence. Both players\u00a0possess different assets.<\/p>\n<p>Whilst Lamela is a tenacious, skilful and more creative midfielder, Sissoko exploits an ability to physically dominate his opponents. Lamela tends to cut inside, whilst Sissoko usually heads to the by-line. They can both be deployed as inside-forwards and are perhaps better suited there compared to winger roles.<\/p>\n<p>This allows manager\u00a0<strong>Mauricio<\/strong> <strong>Pochettino<\/strong> plenty of depth in his squad. Therefore, this allows for more flexibility in starting elevens. Also, the match dynamics can be changed by substituting\u00a0either player. Sissoko&#8217;s form has really added to the squad depth and can allow his club to advance their league position.<\/p>\n<h3>Assists<\/h3>\n<p>Recently, <strong>Kyle Walker<\/strong> and <strong>Danny<\/strong> <strong>Rose<\/strong> both notched assists from wide areas to set up <strong>Christian<\/strong> <strong>Eriksen<\/strong> against <strong>Hull City<\/strong>. This was reminiscent of the traditional playing style\u00a0for Spurs, with marauding wingers setting up clinical strikers. Now, the fullbacks are the only element of pace in the game.<\/p>\n<p>Whilst <strong>Dele Alli<\/strong>, Eriksen and Harry Kane aren&#8217;t slow, they lack the pace to cause defences trouble, which is why Sissoko is so important. His recent <a href=\"http:\/\/www.skysports.com\/football\/news\/11675\/10697613\/record-signing-moussa-sissoko-ready-to-show-true-worth-at-tottenham\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">performances<\/a> have injected extra speed and acceleration, stretching defences and creating the gaps for team-mates to exploit.<\/p>\n<p>Sissoko&#8217;s\u00a0pace also adds to the counter-attacking threat that Spurs could employ against tougher teams. Whether it is directly from a cross or a vital link in an attacking move, Sissoko could help to assist his strikers.<\/p>\n<h3>Will Sissoko Continue His Form?<\/h3>\n<p>Sissoko has often been lambasted for his<a href=\"http:\/\/www.chroniclelive.co.uk\/sport\/football\/football-news\/arsenal-legend-martin-keown-questions-11841007\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> inconsistency<\/a>. However, Pochettino seems to have riled him into improving this element of his game. So long as he remains disciplined and works hard, he may continue his form.<\/p>\n<p>The return of Lamela may jeopardise his place. But if he continues his strong play, his team-mate may have to wait his turn. Moussa Sissoko is a powerful player, who on his day could really bolster Spurs&#8217; attacking threat.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/629852966\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 69.023569% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"margin: 0px; left: 0px; top: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%; display: inline-block; position: absolute;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/629852966?et=agkBwAkjTYllZK1U8BPl8Q&amp;viewMoreLink=off&amp;sig=DDAlrddeuMy5jfCeRyd77eh_nq6XD0BZ5sStOqco5CI=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"410\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sissoko&#8217;s form must continue if he is to cement his first team place, with the imminent return of Lamela. His pace, power and crossing are vital to Spurs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":408,"featured_media":2522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24,3],"tags":[292,286,266,559,264,288,258,117,40,96],"class_list":["post-2511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tottenham","category-premier-league","tag-christian-eriksen","tag-danny-rose","tag-dele-alli","tag-erik-lamela","tag-harry-kane","tag-kyle-walker","tag-mauricio-pochettino","tag-moussa-sissoko","tag-premier-league","tag-tottenham-hotspur"],"modified_by":"Roy Emanuel, Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/408"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2511\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}