Moussa Sissoko Happy to Contribute in First Tottenham Start
Moussa Sissoko was able to earn his first-ever start for Tottenham.
Since joining Tottenham on transfer deadline day, Moussa Sissoko had only made two appearances as a substitute. But against Sunderland he was able to earn his first-ever start for Spurs.
Playing the full 90 minutes, Sissoko afforded Érik Lamela 74 minutes of rest, before Mauricio Pochettino brought on the Argentine winger to pull out an injured Mousa Dembélé.
The right side of Spurs’ offense which featured Sissoko and Kyle Walker weren’t as prolific as Son Heung-Min and Jan Vertonghen, but against a defensive Sunderland side who couldn’t punish Tottenham on a counterattack, it wasn’t too bad.
After making his first start at White Hart Lane, the 27-year-old French international was happy with the team’s performance as well as his own.
“I’m very happy after my first Spurs game at White Hart Lane in front of our fans,” Moussa Sissoko said (via Spurs’ official site).
“I tried to give my best, we wanted to react [after Wednesday’s defeat to Monaco] and we did well. I think we had a lot of chances, we deserved to win by more goals but we deserved the result overall.”
“The most important thing was to win and we did that so I’m very happy and, as I said, I’m very happy to play my first game at White Hart Lane as a Spurs player.”
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Playing at White Hart Lane isn’t new for the Frenchman, as he was a visitor with Newcastle United. But this time around, he’s being cheered and welcomed by the Tottenham faithful.
It’s an atmosphere that he’s well aware of and playing in front of them, instead of against them, made it even more enjoyable.
“Yes, of course, but I knew about it because I’ve played here a lot of times [for Newcastle],” Sissoko said.
“The atmosphere today was fantastic from the beginning to the end. We need the fans for everything.”
“There are a lot of games in the season, I’m sure they will be behind us, we will give everything on the pitch game by game and try to win every game, then try to win something at the end.”
Moussa Sissoko hasn’t contributed to any goals or assists in three appearances this season. And even though he cost Spurs £30 million (£6 million-a-year for five years), the Frenchman is happy with his contributions thus far.
He will continue to work hard to be a regular fixture in Mauricio Pochettino’s squad and considering that he wasn’t able to play football during the summer because he was looking to move away from Newcastle, he hasn’t played bad.
“It was my first Spurs game at White Hart Lane and I’m happy,” Moussa Sissoko added.
“I know I can do more, I will do better step by step. I played a few minutes against Stoke City and Monaco and then today I played the full game so that’s good.”
“My fitness can really get stronger week by week. Now we have some rest, we have another game on Wednesday, it won’t be easy but it’s at home so I hope we will win this game as well.”
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Expectations will be high because of his transfer fee, but Sissoko will only get better once he gets his fitness levels up.
The more he plays (as a substitute or starter), it makes Spurs’ decision to sign the former Newcastle midfielder easier to justify if he offers Pochettino some much needed depth and to give Lamela rest.