The Tottenham center midfielder’s performance against Manchester City was lackluster.
In the Premier League on Sunday, Tottenham Hotspur managed to hold Manchester City to a 3-3 draw at The Etihad, avoiding a fourth straight defeat.
Spurs had led 1-0 in each of their previous four games, but this was the first time they had managed to salvage a point.
After going undefeated through the first ten league games of the season, Ange Postecoglou’s team has suffered a severe decline in form due to a variety of injury and suspension concerns.
Among others, Manor Solomon, Micky van de Ven, James Maddison, and Cristian Romero were not available for selection.
Especially Maddison, who joined from Leicester City over the summer, has been missed after beginning the season with three goals and five assists in 11 Premier League appearances.
Heung-min Son, Gio Lo Celso, and Dejan Kulusevski all scored goals, though, to give them a great point that could have been all three.
Kulusevski’s final goal, which also tied the score, was a great moment for Postecoglou and Spurs. The Sweden international beat Nathan Ake in the air with great determination and unintentionally used his shoulder to find the top corner of Ederson’s goal.
The absence of Van de Ven and Romero has been felt greatly by the Spurs defense, as full-backs Ben Davies and Emerson Royal have been left to handle the responsibility of keeping things tight, something they have not been able to accomplish.
But defensive issues aren’t just the responsibility of central defenders or full backs; defense is a team effort, and Postecoglou’s midfielder Yves Bissouma didn’t do his share.
The Mali international was outmatched in the midfield and gave players too much room to get past him as City appeared to be creating chances at will at various points in the match.
The central midfielder performed worse than Davies, the temporary center back who had periods of strong defensive play despite his struggles.
Ben Davies’s statistical performance against Manchester City
The natural left-back turned central defender found himself isolated at times in the first half as Pedro Porro did not give him enough cover against Jeremy Doku.
This gave the amazing Belgian wizard every opportunity to create havoc with his speed and dribbling prowess. In one specific opportunity, the forward faced Davies in the box and easily controlled the play before hitting the crossbar with a fantastic shot.
The Wales international displayed some of his strong defensive qualities even though he occasionally found it difficult to keep up with City’s front line.
Throughout the match, Davies won all four of his duels (a 100% record), including the two on the deck and the two aerial contests, showcasing his strength against opponents such as Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland.
Throughout the course of the 90 minutes, the left-footed enforcer made five clearances, one tackle, and one interception in addition to several outstanding interventions, one of which resulted in him winning the ball off Haaland to start the move that Kulusevski scored from.
But there’s no denying that City did generate 2.64 xG (Expected Goals) of chances, and Davies was a member of that defense.
To his credit, the titan of Wales made a great effort to stop the hosts from having any more chances to end the game before Spurs could equalize.
And despite his lackluster performance in the middle of the park, Bissouma could unintentionally be named the worst player on the field, but he was far from it.
Numbers from Yves Bissouma’s performance against Manchester City
The City game was a nightmare for the central midfielder, who struggled to make an impact both in and out of possession.
After serving a one-match suspension for Tottenham’s 2-1 loss to Aston Villa, he was allowed to return to the starting lineup and was given responsibility for managing the game in the engine room.
Bissouma was unable to accomplish that because City’s players outplayed him far too frequently and he did not play to his full potential.
Although he did complete 88% of his 48 passes, Spurs were not particularly affected by them because the midfield player was unable to consistently break through City’s press and did not create a single opportunity for his teammates.
His careless play in possession allowed Manchester City to win the ball back on the edge of the box, which was the worst moment of his performance.
After failing to pass multiple Cityzens forwards, Bissouma lost a 50/50 challenge to Rodri, which gave the Spaniard the opportunity to set up Erling Haaland, who passed the ball to Jack Grealish, who slotted in what would have been the winning goal had Kulusevski not intervened.
The former Brighton player’s play was deemed “absolutely stupid” by Jamie Carragher, who was co-commentating for Sky Sports during the game.
Premier League teams, like City, will punish careless back-row mistakes, and Spurs might be left wondering what might have been if they hadn’t given up such a cheap goal.
Bissouma’s play off the ball was equally unsatisfactory. He made just one tackle to win the ball back and lost five of his eight ground duels. He also had no interceptions.
This season in the Premier League, the Mali international has averaged 4.6 tackles and interceptions combined per game; thus, his return of one against City represented a notable decline from his typical defensive output.
Based on the aforementioned statistics, Alasdair Gold of FootballLondon gave him a 4/10 match rating and called his performance “sloppy.”
The central midfielder had a howler against and at times his contributions on and off the ball left far too much to be desired.
Postecoglou will now be hoping that when they host West Ham United on Thursday night in midweek, Bissouma is back to his dependable best.
