Yves Bissouma is yet to convince at Tottenham
(Picture: Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)Antonio Conte has revealed Yves Bissouma is struggling to tactically adjust to his style of play and that is behind the midfielder’s lack of minutes for Tottenham.
Bissouma moved to Spurs in the summer from Brighton, arriving for an initial fee of £25million, but he has started just one game so far.
Instead, Conte has opted to stick with his central midfield pairing from last season of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Rodrigo Bentancur.
And now Conte has revealed that Bissouma is still getting used to playing in the way that the Italian wants him to.
“The only player that is struggling a bit with the tactical aspect is Bissouma, but also he is improving a lot in every aspect,” said Conte.
“I am sure when we start again and play 12 games, for sure he is another player I can count on but I try to take the best decision for the player because I want to protect the player.
“At the same time I want to protect the team and everybody. For sure we know very well when we start again to play 12 games in one month, you have to be ready. You have to be ready because I need all my players.
“If you compare other midfielders I have seen that other teams spent £60m, £70m, £50m. It depends on the view. I think that we spent the right money. Don’t forget that we spent a lot of money on players that now have gone out on loan.
“It doesn’t matter if you spend money, you need to have players to go into our idea of football. There are players that do this quickly like Richarlison, [Clement] Lenglet, like [Ivan] Perisic and then other players that need a bit of time.
“Also the midfielder is a specific role for us, with the ball and without the ball. It’s not simple. I ask for some moments, some positions. They have to be a point of reference in every moment of the game.
“The midfielder for sure, to go into our idea of football is maybe the most difficult position, but we are talking about a player that has great skill, good running. With the ball he’s really good, defensively he has to pay more attention.
“More attention because especially we only have two midfielders and then they have to be good with the ball and without the ball, but I’m really happy with his signing.”
