Newsletter

Get your daily update and weekly newsletter by signing up today!

News

Another Moussa Sissoko disaster as France crash to defeat

7 years ago
Share

It was yet another shocker from Moussa Sissoko on Friday night as he got a shock recall for France.

Having been dropped from his country’s squad after being sidelined by Tottenham, the £30m midfielder was chosen for his first start for France in seven months.

Mauricio Pochettino had only given Moussa Sissoko eight Premier League starts all season, two since December, and Didier Deschamps (and French football fans) will be wondering why on earth the former Newcastle player got a game ahead of quality players such as Kante, Mbappe and others.

Despite Olivier Giroud giving France a 37th minute lead with a stunning volley, Durmaz (43′ minutes) and Toivonen (90’+3 minutes) won a dramatic victory for Sweden.

Having looked comfortable qualifiers for the World Cup finals in Russia, this result has moved the goalposts.

Sweden have gone ahead of France at the top, although the pair are level on points, whilst Holland won 5-0 against Luxembourg to move only three points behind the top two. Wijnaldum scored (at home naturally!) for the Dutch, this was the first game under the management team of former Sunderland & Newcastle bosses Advocaat and Gullit.

As for France, Moussa Sissoko was often called Didier Deschamps’ pet player because he used to make the France squad no matter how he was playing for club and country, and now the national head coach will be under some pressure after selecting the Spurs player.

Hugo Lloris made a massive error for the winner when giving Toivonen the chance to score from distance but Moussa Sissoko shared bottom billing with his Tottenham teammate.

Respected media outlet GFFN gave both Sissoko and Lloris only 4 out of 10 for last night’s match and they accused the one-time Newcastle of ‘failing to turn up’.

They added: ‘Looked a little bit out of place and was needlessly clumsy… didn’t produce anything of note’.

GFFN (Get French Football News):

France played out a painfully sluggish game in Stockholm and failed to bring home what could have been a vital three points. Team selection may have been the issue, with players such as Moussa Sissoko and Antoine Griezmann failing to turn up on the night.

Moussa Sissoko – 4

Looked a little bit out of place and was needlessly clumsy on a fair few occasions. He linked up well with Sidibe down the right flank but didn’t produce anything of note.

Hugo Lloris – 4

Djibril Sidibé – 5

Laurent Koscielny – 6

Raphael Varane – 6

Benjamin Mendy – 6

Blaise Matuidi – 5

Paul Pogba – 7

Moussa Sissoko – 4

Dimitri Payet  – 5

Antoine Griezmann – 4.5

Olivier Giroud – 7.5

Substitutes:

Kylian Mbappé – 7

Thomas Lemar – 7  

Share

If you would like to feature on The Mag, submit your article to contribute@themag.co.uk

Have your say

© 2024 The Mag. All Rights Reserved. Design & Build by Mediaworks