Tim Howard believes Ange Postecoglou must take some responsibility after Yves Bissouma was sent off for the second time this season in Tottenham Hotspur’s win over Nottingham Forest on Friday night.
Yves Bissouma will now not play for Tottenham for some time after receiving a red card at the City Ground. The Mali international is suspended for the next four matches. He will take part in the AFCON in the new year.
The 27-year-old was sent off after a second-half tackle on Ryan Yates. Tottenham had just taken a 2-0 lead when Bissouma caught centre-half Forest in the knee, showing off his studs.
Tim Howard says Ange Postecoglou must respond after Yves Bissouma’s sending off
Fortunately, it wasn’t the fiercest attack you’ll ever see. Still, it was a shocking mistake from Bissouma that put Tottenham under real pressure before the last 20 minutes.
It was Spurs’ fourth red card this Premier League season. Only Liverpool can boast that number. Meanwhile, Tottenham are third in the division in the number of yellow cards received.
Tim Howard told The 2 Robbies that Ange Postecoglou needs to make some changes as soon as possible.
“Certain players need to get that out of their game. Yves Bissouma, there’s no place in the game for going hard and reckless in attack when the ball is on the ground – it’s different when the ball is bouncing – and going in with daggers straight under his knee. That’s not appropriate,” he said.
“But we saw the disciplinary part of it with Tottenham’s north London rival Arsenal. Under Mikel Arteta they had a terrible disciplinary record. And I was the one who said, look, Arteta is a former teammate of mine, but this starts and ends with the manager. You say to the players that, without a doubt, everybody stays on the pitch. If not, I will punish you with two weeks’ wages. We are damaging the team by doing this.
“So it starts and ends with the manager. And so, when I look at Postecoglou, he doesn’t turn a blind eye when the going gets tough and he gives his players the free will to press and make mistakes. That is fine and that is right. But at some point, you have to take it all back, calm it all down and say, listen, this is going to damage us in the long term. We have to control our discipline.”
Tottenham’s centre-forward let the side down
Bissoum’s discipline should be a concern. It could be argued that this was his second unnecessary sending off this season. He also received a stupid yellow card for diving in the Luton game.
However, it seems a little unfair to suggest that this is a problem for the whole team. Cristian Romero has returned to his old habits recently. However, it was remarkable how disciplined he was in the first months of the season.
The only red card, however, was given to Destiny Udogie in that crazy game against Chelsea last month. After all, it was a completely wrong decision by a young player to dive towards Raheem Sterling as he was running away from goal.
Tottenham are playing with such intensity that it will be difficult to make comprehensive changes. In reality, however, Postecoglou might look at the situation and think that Tottenham have much more to gain from taking these risks.
But with Spurs currently struggling with a number of injuries, there is little doubt that Bissouma really let the side down with his red card last week.