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Tim Howard blames Ange Postecoglou for 27-year-old Spurs player’s mistake on Friday
Tim Howard believes that Ange Postecoglou has to take some responsibility after Yves Bissouma was sent off for the second time this season in Tottenham Hotspur’s win over Nottingham Forest on Friday night.
Yves Bissouma is now not going to play for Tottenham for some time after being shown a red card at the City Ground. The Mali international is suspended for the next four games. And he will be involved at AFCON in the new year.
The 27-year-old was dismissed after a challenge on Ryan Yates during the second-half. Tottenham had just gone 2-0 up when Bissouma caught the Forest midfielder on the knee with his studs showing.
Tim Howard says Ange Postecoglou needs to respond after Yves Bissouma is sent off
Fortunately, it was not the most forceful challenge you will ever see. Nevertheless, it was a shocking mistake from Bissouma which put Tottenham under real pressure ahead of the final 20 minutes.
It was Spurs’ fourth red card in the Premier League this season. Only Liverpool can match that tally. Meanwhile, Tottenham sit third in the division for the most yellow cards received.
And with that, Tim Howard has told that Ange Postecoglou needs to make some changes as soon as possible.
“Certain players need to get it out of their game. Yves Bissouma, there’s no place in the game to go strongly and recklessly into a challenge when the ball’s on the floor – it’s different if the ball’s bouncing – and you go right under the guy’s knee with your studs. It’s uncalled for,” he said.
“But the discipline part of it, we saw it with Tottenham’s North London rival Arsenal. They had a horrific disciplinary record under Mikel Arteta. And I was one to say look, he’s a former teammate of mine, Arteta, but this begins and ends with the manager. You tell your players undoubtedly everyone stays on the pitch. If not, two weeks wages, I’m going to fine you. We are hurting the team.
“So it begins and ends with the manager. And so when I look at Postecoglou, he doesn’t bat an eye in the face of adversity and gives his players free will to press and to make mistakes. That’s all fine and well. But at a certain point, you have to bring everything back in, settle everyone down and say, listen, this is going to hurt us in the long run. We have to get our discipline under control.”
Tottenham midfielder did let the side down
Bissouma’s discipline should be a concern. You could argue that it was his second needless sending off of the season. He also picked up a silly yellow card for diving away at Luton.
But it does seem a little unfair to suggest that it is a problem across the squad. Cristian Romero has slipped back into old habits more recently. But it was remarkable how disciplined he was in the opening months of the season.
And the only other red card came for Destiny Udogie in that mad game against Chelsea last month. Ultimately, that was a young player making completely the wrong decision to dive in on Raheem Sterling when he was running away from goal.
Tottenham play with such intensity that it is going to be difficult to make wholesale changes. And in truth, Postecoglou may look at the situation and feel that Tottenham benefit a lot more from taking those risks.
But with Spurs battling so many injuries right now, there is no question that Bissouma has really let the side down with his red card last week.