Deemed a Tottenham flop for the best part of two years, Sissoko turned his form around under Pochettino and has now earned a long-term new Spurs deal.
With Tottenham Hotspur going through a bit of a rough patch at the moment, there have been murmurs of discontent amongst sections of the Spurs fanbase regarding Mauricio Pochettino’s tenure as manager.
Tottenham have won just two of their eight games this season, were knocked out of the League Cup on Tuesday night by League Two side Colchester United, and have let several leads slip this season, including against Arsenal and away at Olympiacos in their opening Champions League group-stage game last week.
Add to that the lingering uncertainty over a string of first-team stars – Pochettino blamed their latest setback on players having “different agendas in the squad” because of an unsettled summer (The Mirror) – and it’s understandable why some fans may feel that the Argentine should step aside.
Nonetheless, calls for Pochettino to go are not unanimous amongst the fanbase by any stretch of the imagination, given just how far he’s taken the club since taking over, and on Friday, an update from the Tottenham camp highlighted just how talented he and his coaches are.
Moussa Sissoko, a player who for the best part of two seasons was derided and deemed not good enough by numerous fans and pundits, has signed a new contract at Tottenham – remarkably, considering the club’s tendency not to offer older players long-term deals, the 30-year-old has committed until 2023.
This shows that a player who was widely considered a flop between 2016 to 2018 was given the chance to prove himself by Pochettino and his coaches, and even though it took the best part of two years, he has improved to the point that he’s earned himself a groundbreaking long-term contract.
Not only is this a wonderful endorsement of the coaching and man-management being done by Pochettino and his team at Spurs to keep their players fit, sharp and motivated – let’s also not forget Fernando Llorente’s purple patch earlier this year in Harry Kane’s absence – but also that, if anyone knows how to prove people wrong, it’s Poch.
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