Tottenham Hotspur head coach Ange Postecoglou has explained that while he does not believe he has done "anything specific" to get Yves Bissouma performing this season, he did task the midfielder with becoming a "leader" in the team.
Bissouma arrived at Spurs last summer from Brighton & Hove Albion for a £25m fee, citing his desire to play in the Champions League.
Though the Mali international fulfilled his dream of playing in Europe's premier club competition, his first season at the club on the whole was a poor one.
He failed to break up Antonio Conte's preferred midfield pairing of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Rodrigo Bentancur, before an ankle injury in February ruled him out until the latter stages of the campaign.
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However, Bissouma has been one of Tottenham's standout performers so far this season under the guidance of new boss Postecoglou. Spurs are unbeaten through the first four Premier League games of the 2023/24 campaign and have quickly become one of the country's most entertaining teams.
In an interview with talkSPORT, Postecoglou was asked how he's managed to get the best out of the midfielder.
"I don't think I've done anything specific with him," he replied. "All the players, it's about creating an environment. I put the responsibility on them too because you can sometimes, when you've had a disappointing season, you can blame the manager in the past or other things, but ultimately I said to all the players that it's about them now.
"You never start with a clean slate but you certainly start with an opportunity to take hold of your career, show me what you can do and be the best that you can be.
"Biss, I was lucky because he was here the first day I arrived. A lot of the boys had played international football but Biss was here from the first day.
"I kind of grabbed him and said to him that the way he was training at the time, the first three or four sessions we mainly had young guys and I said 'you can be a leader in this group'. I already knew about his ability but the way he was training, I could see he got a lift from that.
"He was late the next morning and again I said to him that to be a leader means being on time and he's been good since then. So there's always lessons to be learned there. I think with him and all the players it's about creating an environment, a framework to say 'you should really have no excuses, I'm not going to allow you to have any excuses to not be the best you can be'. Within that context then the rest is up to them."
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This article was originally published on 90min as Ange Postecoglou explains how he's got the best out of Yves Bissouma.
