Sissoko responds to Pochettino challenge in training

Regular readers will know it is how you handle adversity that establishes whether you will be successful or not. Everybody has failures, everybody.

Moussa Sissoko has had his problems at Spurs due to a lack of pre-season training. Reading about him now he is almost being compared to Emmanuel Adebayor by some, suggesting it is all about the money with him and he only performs as Adebayor did, when a new deal is needed.

I'm not sure I agree with that, the are obstacles he has had to overcome, which he hasn't managed yet, that isn't to say he won't. We shouldn't have paid £30m for him and handed him the suggested wages he is on. He wasn't worth either, especially if we are going to play him out of position as a winger. He is a central midfielder.

With no pre-season he is behind everyone else and is having to learn a system and how everyone else plays that system as he goes. It took most of the others a season to master it. We did expect more, I certainly did, technically he seems way off the mark to me.

The problems mean Juventus, Inter Milan, PSG and Everton are watching the situation to see if a loan move is a possibility in January, which would mean us buying a player to replace him. We don't do loans because we then get the player back and have an additional wage to pay, plus we have to find a place in the squad, in this case for the limited number of non-home-grown players.

Mauricio Pochettino openly admitted Tottenham expected more from the player and has since spoken that he is pleased with the response from him in training. he will undoubtedly play in the final UEFA Champions League game at Wembley against CSKA Moscow.

"His answer was good in the week, I am happy with the answer from him. He is training very hard then it's up to me to decide whether he is involved or not. "I think when you ask me, you make it public. I need to answer. If you ask me about Sissoko after Chelsea, I am a person that likes to answer. 

"You ask me why he was not involved in the squad and I explain why. It is a football decision. When you have 24 players plus younger players, my decision is about football – and football means all the things. Football is a word that involves many things."

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