Yves Bissouma continues to struggle for Tottenham

A look at the Mali international and his downfall this season.

Transcript

00:00Yeah, let's just look at one player in Vespersuma. Now, obviously, he came in and obviously,

00:07you touched on it there, he was really stale in Angie's plans, in Angie's team. He could

00:14receive the ball really well. He made the team tick from back to front when he first

00:19came in and then slowly he's petered out. He's almost at 100 games for Spurs, but if

00:24you look across them, it's been pretty abysmal this season, especially the last few months.

00:29He's really suffered. He's really going through a tough patch personally as a player. How

00:34do you think he gets back to his best? Can you see him getting there? He's only 28 years

00:37of age. He's still got a lot of football to play if he can at the top, want to be at the

00:43highest level, but it's been a real poor season for him by his standards.

00:48Yeah, I mean, you look at Vespersuma at Brighton and when Spurs brought him in, you're thinking,

00:53wow, what a signing. This is a really, really good deal for Spurs. Not a huge amount of

00:58money, super talent, ball-carrying midfielder, working those tight spaces, got a brilliant

01:04engine on him and it's just never worked out for him at Spurs. You don't know what's going

01:10on off the pitch and any personal issues. Obviously, we can't comment on any of that

01:14sort of thing, but it looks to me from the outside in, in terms of his discipline, there's

01:19an issue there. Mentality, I think, is another thing and I think you could probably level

01:23that at several Spurs players. It's almost like when they get to Spurs, they get too

01:27comfortable. It's like the pipe and slippers job. You're at Spurs, nice and comfy, really

01:30nice stadium to play in every week, lovely training ground, but actually on the pitch,

01:34it doesn't really matter. Nobody stands up to be countered. They all find it easier to

01:39go and hide and you can see that. When Vicario's got the ball at the back, we're trying to

01:43play out from the back, which is another thing that we just play and play and play. It's

01:47totally in the way of the manager, but the options he's got to pass the ball out from

01:51the back. Vespersuma was there initially when we first started with Ange and he'd be taking

01:56the ball off the centre-halves and he could lay it off back to start the build-up play.

02:02Now there's just nobody and there's no options and that's why we keep losing the ball. You

02:05saw the first goal against Fulham, throw-out to Odubu, he's got three players around him,

02:10not one person shows for him for the ball and he ends up losing it and it costs us a

02:13goal and you could level that confidence, form, fitness, but ultimately, is it a lack

02:20of desire? Is it a lack of mentality? I just don't see Vespersuma ever shining in a Spurs

02:26show. He's had flashes under Ange, a little bit under Ryan Mason, didn't really play under

02:30Antonio Conte, he didn't fancy him. Again, a really, really positive on-paper signing

02:37for Spurs that's just turned into a real disappointment and I hope he can get back to the levels because

02:43he's a terrific player, he's clearly a talent, but sadly I don't think that's going to be

02:48in a Spurs show now and I can see him moving on during the summer.