Antonio Conte has stated that Yves Bissouma is currently struggling with the "tactical aspect" at Tottenham. A huge hit at Brighton & Hove Albion over the past few seasons, the midfielder made the switch to Spurs in the middle of June in a £30million deal.
Behind Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Rodrigo Bentancur in the pecking order at present, the Mali international has mainly had to make do with minutes off the bench so far. Bissouma did start in the recent 1-1 draw against West Ham but he struggled to make a real impact on proceedings during the game in east London.
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Set to rotate his team over the coming weeks with plenty of games on the schedule after September's international break, Tottenham fans should see a lot more of Bissouma in the team. Amid calls for the talented midfielder to be named in the side against Leicester City on Saturday, Conte has opened up what the 26-year-old needs to improve on when speaking about the player, as well as Matt Doherty and Oliver Skipp
"I can explain because I like to be honest, not only with you but first of all my players. In this first part of seven (eight) games, don't forgot we had players like Matthew that had serious injury and I said in the past that he is struggling a bit to come back the player I knew last season," the Italian told football.london at his pre-match press conference. "For sure now he is improving a lot and I am sure now there is the international break, he will have the possibility to have two games with the national team and then he will come back and for sure I am I will have the possibility to have another rotation with him.
"It was the same with Skippy because in this period, Skippy was injured with a serious injury. Don't forgot Skippy played his last game in January, maybe December. Another player we have to recover from injury. Then there are players like Richarlison, who went into the team quickly, Lenglet was the same, Perisic was the same.
"The only player that is struggling a bit with the tactical aspect is Bissouma, but also he is improving a lot in every aspect. 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."
He added: "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, Lenglet, like 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."
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