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Ange Postecoglou urged Yves Bissouma to stay on the right track after the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder took his first steps on the road to redemption with a wonder strike against Everton.
Spurs boss Postecoglou had likened the midfielder to a naughty child who was now behaving himself, having been suspended for one match by the club for taking laughing gas.
Restored to the starting line-up, the Mali international instantly repaid Postecoglou’s faith with a stunning 20-yard drive to open the scoring. It was Bissouma’s first Spurs goal, in his 57th match for the club, and put them on their way to a thumping 4-0 win.
Bissouma marked it with a contrite celebration before running up to the touchline to hug his manager.
“Biss was good and we know Biss is a good footballer,” said Postecoglou. “It’s about him being the best version of himself. Discipline is a big thing for him and he was disciplined today. It was a good performance.
“There’s no doubting his ability to do something special. But he needs to make sure he does everything right on and off the field to give him the platform to show who he can be as a footballer. We certainly believe in him. It’s up to him to keep going on.”
Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford blotted his copybook when his dreadful error allowed Son Heung-min to double Tottenham’s lead.
James Tarkowski played the ball square to his keeper from a throw-in but as Pickford tried to switch feet, he took a poor touch allowing Son to nick it and tap into an empty net.
After the break Cristian Romero headed a third and Son struck again late on to wrap up a convincing win.
“The performance was excellent,” added Postecoglou.
“We looked really threatening going forward all the time, created many different kinds of chances and handled their threat really well.
“We looked a threat from different areas. If we are going to turn compelling performances into consistent results that’s what we have to do.”
Back-to-back defeats at the start of the season for the third straight year sees Everton already slipping towards full crisis-club mode.
“It’s a strange situation, here,” said boss Sean Dyche.
“We kind of build something, and then we have to go down the hill and build it again. What about playing when it’s 0-0?
“We’ve done well when the challenges have come our way. We’ve done great. So I reminded them of that afterwards. Reminded them that this is not our first rodeo.
“We get written off and then we start changing the storyline again. It’s a never-ending challenge at Everton.”
