Tottenham Hotspur’s hopes of salvaging their Premier League campaign seem all but over as they were hammered 5-1 in their latest trip to Anfield against Liverpool.
Dominic Solanke’s opener seemed to hand Tottenham an early sign of hope but the Reds were in mood to relinquish their chances of winning the league title — with Luis Diaz, Alexis Mac Allister, Cody Gakpo, Mohamed Salah and an own goal from Destiny Udogie rounding off a tigerish comeback from the hosts.
Ange Postecoglou would have been as gutted by the scoreline as he was by his experimental line-up being handed by a footballing lesson by Liverpool.
Postecoglou tinkered his midfield against Arne Slot’s side as he started a trio that featured Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall and James Maddison.
Experienced heads like Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr were named on the bench while it seems Dejan Kulusevski was given more time to recover from his latest return from injury.
Yves Bissouma looks set for Tottenham exit after being benched vs Liverpool
Tottenham could offload Bissouma in the summer and his absence from the starting XI against Liverpool did not perhaps do much to play down the speculation around his future at Spurs.
TBR Football exclusively revealed on Friday that Tottenham are working to move Bissouma on as well.
Considering Ange Postecoglou named the £25 million (Sky Sports) man on the bench despite seemingly resting his side ahead of their Europa League semi-final clash against Bodo/Glimt is telling.
After all, Postecoglou could have well have given Bissouma a runout against Liverpool and chosen not to start the Tottenham midfielder on Thursday.
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However, Lucas Bergvall and Archie Gray are Tottenham’s future while perhaps the 59-year-old views the Malian international as a player who could be their past come the summer.
With Bissouma not having his finest season for Tottenham as well — often being culpable of needlessly losing the ball, not tracking his runners and being a liability both on and off the ball — perhaps Ange Postecoglou felt it was much more worth his time to experiment against Liverpool instead.
The truth behind Aston Villa’s interest in Yves Bissouma
The 28-year-old’s stock has fallen after initially impressing under Postecoglou.
But Aston Villa are interested in signing Bissouma.
Unai Emery has a penchant for reviving careers and he could do the same with Bissouma, unlike Ange Postecoglou at Villa.
Tottenham are happy to move forward with a deal and perhaps the Issia-born technician could be given a second chance at Villa Park to rediscover his best self on a football pitch.