Yves Bissouma running out of Tottenham chances after latest no-show | OneFootball

Midfielder was hooked at half-time against Fulham for the second consecutive Premier League game following another underwhelming display

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Even for a manager as forgiving as Ange Postecoglou, Yves Bissouma is surely running out of chances at Tottenham.

For the second consecutive Premier League game and third time in his last five starts, Bissouma was substituted at half-time following an underwhelming display as Spurs slumped to a 2-0 defeat at Fulham on Sunday - their 15th reverse in the top-flight this season.

“I just feel Biss can sometimes let the game drift by him,” Postecoglou said at Craven Cottage.

Bissouma was not alone in struggling, nor was he to blame for another bad Spurs result; Fulham scored two late goals through Rodrigo Muniz and former Spurs player Ryan Sessegnon, long after the Malian had departed the action.

Bissouma has been inconsistent under Ange Postecoglou at Spurs

John Walton/PA Wire

Bissouma was not alone, either, in being hooked at the break, Brennan Johnson also coming off for the second league game running after the pair were withdrawn by Postecoglou at half-time of the 2-2 draw with Bournemouth, with Spurs trailing 1-0.

But, for the Malian, another ineffective performance was part of a pattern of inconsistency which arguably stretches back all the way to autumn 2023, when his outstanding start to Postecoglou's tenure quickly petered out.

The 28-year-old has had good games since but he has not put together another convincing run of form for a Spurs side in need of midfield presence.

There is a case that Postecoglou's system, which often relies on a single-pivot with support from inverted full-backs, puts too much pressure on his lone No6 but Bissouma has failed to do the basics even in a two-man midfield, as he was on Sunday.

Bissouma started this season in last chance saloon after being suspended by the club for the opening game of the campaign - a 2-2 draw at Leicester - after filming himself inhaling nitrous oxide.

Postecoglou said at the time that he would need to re-earn the trust of himself and his team-mates through his "behaviour" and while there has been no indication that Bissouma has misbehaved (Postecoglou played down a trip he took to the Alps during a recent two-day break for the squad, with the club insisting he did not go skiing), he has plainly not developed into the on-pitch leader which the manager hoped he could.

The emergence of Lucas Bergvall as an all-action No6 and Postecoglou's faith in Rodrigo Bentancur, who started 11 straight matches before missing last week's Europa League tie at home to AZ Alkmaar through suspended, has already left Bissouma down the Spurs pecking order, while Archie Gray was handed a first start in midfield - his preferred position - at Fulham.

Postecoglou suggested that Bissouma needed to play on Sunday to get him up to speed for the run-in, when Spurs will be all-in on the Europa League, suggesting he could still have a part to play this term.

"I needed [Bissouma] to play though, because he hasn't played a lot," the manager said. "At the same time you've got to perform.

"It's fair to say, Biss and a few others are probably lacking a bit of confidence. That's affecting him but we're at the point of the season now where we need guys to get out there and put those things to one side and perform.

"It's not about getting through to him or a lack of effort. I just think with players sometimes they go through these spells and he needs to find a way to break through that and we need to find a way to get that out of him."

But with three more compelling options at the base of midfield, Postecoglou is surely starting to lose patience with Bissouma.