Yves Bissouma has now spent his first pre-season at Tottenham and working with Antonio Conte. The former Brighton man signed for Spurs this summer and has been added to create a strong midfield quarter.
The Mali international missed out on the pre-season friendlies in South Korea due to contracting Covid and so had to isolate abroad with Fraser Forster. This meant the 25-year-old's first appearance was in the 2-1 victory over Rangers.
Bissouma came on to play alongside Pierre Emile Hojbjerg and produced a solid enough performance in the middle of the field. He has already shown his skills in videos Spurs have posted recently.
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His display against Roma wasn't as good, although the summer arrival could still be settling into his new club and may have had a slight setback with his recent Covid contraction. Conte is now lucky enough to have four strong options for his midfield, excluding Harry Winks, who is still set to leave this summer and has been left out of pre-season.
This means the Italian has Hojbjerg, Bissouma, Oliver Skipp and Rodrigo Bentancur to choose from, which will be a real boost this season. Conte not only needs options to allow for rotation with the busy fixture schedule, but it will also make each player work extra hard to ensure they keep their spot and get regular game time.
After Saturday's 1-0 defeat to Roma, the ex-Brighton man was asked if the foundations of a midfield partnership with the Dane were starting to be formed. "Why not? Yeah, of course," Bissouma said in his post-match interview with Spurs TV.
"That's what we're trying to do, that's why we work together, and it's not just me and him. We've got Rodrigo, Skippy, so all midfield try to work hard and be ready when the coach needs some midfielder at the positions, so we're working to be ready."
The Mali international hasn't been in N17 for too long but is already enjoying working with his new manager, which he also commented on after the game. "I'm very happy to be with him [Conte] at this club because he's living football and I like that, I like the coach like him," the 25-year-old admitted.
"I know he can push the team higher and the players as well. That's why we're trying to do what he wants. Every training is not easy, but we're working for that, and I like him because he's crazy like me. Good crazy because he's crazy about football, and I like how he works, I like how he teaches everyone, and I like his work."
This already seems to indicate the positive relationship Bissouma has with his new coach. Spurs now have just under a week left to prepare for their opening game of the season, where they welcome Southampton to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Before the end of his interview, the midfielder asked about the upcoming season. "We have a week to prepare this game well, but I think all the pre-season was good. We're ready and just [waiting] for the moment to fight," Bissouma explained.
The Lilywhites did have a positive pre-season, winning two, drawing one and losing one game. Almost more importantly than the results, Conte got to assess his squad, and it gave the new arrivals the chance to impress.
This will hopefully give Tottenham some momentum as they enter what is hopefully going to be a successful 2022/23 campaign.
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