Tottenham Hotspur veteran Moussa Sissoko was perhaps the one negative from Wednesday night’s emphatic Europa League victory over Wolfsberger AC.
But tht merely continues a worrying trend that should see the 31-year-old moved on in the summer.
He’s gone from a regular under Jose Mourinho to a mere bit-part player and certainly looks like a shadow of his former self.
Both Victor Wanyama, 28, and Mousa Dembele, 31, were sold by Spurs when the writing was on the wall, so Daniel Levy and co could repeat that feat here with Sissoko.
On the Chalkboard
The £16m-rated Frenchman had started 11 games in a row in the Premier League for Spurs between October and December this season but now finds himself down the pecking order, having only started two of their last seven outings, via Transfermarkt.
Therefore, it was on Sissoko to deliver when given an opportunity, just like on Wednesday night when Mourinho started him alongside Harry Winks, though in return, the bustling midfielder showed that he was terribly out of form as he graded as Spurs’ worst player (6.6) as per SofaScore ratings.
Usually, the former Newcastle man is solid defensively and very active in terms of work-rate, managing an average of 1.2 tackles on the season but against the Austrian minnows, he failed to manage a single tackle and was instead dribbled past once by the poorer quality team.
Sissoko was also weak and lightweight, winning only two of five duels in the 81 minutes he was on the pitch – this was the worst of any Spurs midfielder who started the match, whilst substitute Marcel Lavinier – a 20-year-old debutant at right-back – won double the number of battles in only 16 minutes of action, via SofaScore.
Though, his disappointing display in what was a routine win for Spurs was merely a microcosm for his overall form for the club – it’s trending downwards, and at 31, he really should have no long-term future at the club especially amid links to RB Leipzig livewire Marcel Sabitzer, and the emergence of Oliver Skipp.
In terms of Europa League starters, Sissoko ranks worst for average WhoScored rating in the whole squad (6.35) – only the young academy hopefuls that have received minutes from the bench have been graded worse.
Similarly, in the Premier League, the French midfielder sits 14th overall (6.59), which is second-bottom for those that have started 12 or more matches – clearly, this shows that Sissoko is regressing at a worrying rate and thus, should be sold in the summer.
This is reinforced by the fact that he is down on his numbers from the 2019/20 campaign, where he averaged a rating of 6.79 in the English top-flight, and managed more tackles (1.3), more dribbles (1.4) and more key passes (0.6) per appearance, via WhoScored.
Sissoko is also among the high earners at the club, raking in a reported £90k-per-week at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which is better earnings than Sergio Reguilon (£80k-p/w), Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (£65k-p/w), and even Toby Alderweireld (£85k-p/w).
The long-serving Spurs passenger must be axed from the starting XI going forward and when the transfer window reopens, the north London outfit must do all they can to make some money on him.
All in all, he’s simply no longer good enough.
AND in other news, Matt Doherty silences his harshest Spurs critics vs Wolfsberger