Pundit identifies Ange Postecoglou’s ‘biggest challenge’ at Spurs this season 

Former Sunderland midfielder Michael Bridges has claimed that improving the disciplinary record of the Tottenham side is going to be Ange Postecoglou’s biggest challenge over the coming months. Yves Bissouma picked up his second red card of the season for his challenge on Ryan Yates in Tottenham’s 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest last week, with […]

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Former Sunderland midfielder Michael Bridges has claimed that improving the disciplinary record of the Tottenham side is going to be Ange Postecoglou’s biggest challenge over the coming months.

Yves Bissouma picked up his second red card of the season for his challenge on Ryan Yates in Tottenham’s 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest last week, with the midfielder now suspended for four matches and is set to be missing for a longer period due to his upcoming involvement at AFCON with Mali which begins next month.

It was the fourth sending-off that Spurs have suffered this season, with Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie being given their marching orders during the London derby against Chelsea last month.

Tottenham’s lack of discipline has been criticised by several pundits over the last few days, with Gary Neville stating after the Forest game that Postecoglou has to find a way of reigning in the Spurs players, who can be ‘mad’ at times (Sky Sports).

Former Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard has even called on the Tottenham head coach to fine two weeks wages for any player who gets sent off (The 2 Robbies podcast).

Are Tottenham’s disciplinary issues a concern?

Bridges has now said that Spurs simply cannot afford to keep making mistakes like the one Bisosuma did, with the pundit admitting that Postecoglou has to find a way to get the message across.

When asked about Tottenham’s disciplinary problem, he told Optus Sport: “That’s probably gonna be Ange’s biggest challenge this season, I would say. He’s had the injury side of it. 

“The Chelsea game was a nightmare. Handling the injuries, Maddison’s been a big loss. But the discipline record, just to say to these players, listen, especially with Romero, you cannot afford to do this.”

His fellow pundit, Mark Schwarzer agreed with that assessment, opining that these kinds of stupid challenges could cost the Lilywhites dearly.

The former Middlesbrough goalkeeper said about Bissouma’s challenge: “That’s not even the physical element of it, that’s just like a red mist coming down. It’s just stupidity. It’s a bad part of their game,” Schwarzer said.

“That Romero, we’ve seen it time and time again, we saw it last season, now we’ve seen it a couple of times this season already. That is just a really bad side of their game that they certainly do need to try and control more because it’s going to cost Spurs. It’s going to cost them dearly this season if they continue.”

Spurs Web Opinion

While Romero clearly does have an issue with controlling his aggression, I do not think it is fair to tar Bissouma with the same brush.  The Mali international does not have a terrible disciplinary record throughout his career and he will learn from the mistakes he has made.

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