Portsmouth sitting deep allowed Sarr, who played in the pivot with Oliver Skipp pushing beyond him, to dictate play. He touched the ball 115 times, the most on the field and more than double that of Skipp (54), with a 90 per cent pass accuracy, which you’d expect. Where he excelled was in winning the ball back with five tackles (highest on the field) and three interceptions (the most of any Spurs player).
Apart from a couple of wayward first-half passes, he sprayed the ball around with confidence and usually precision, also playing 13 long balls (the most of any outfield player), of which nine found their target.
Conte’s assistant Cristian Stellini said before the game that Sarr had been working on his body position and that was evident in the way he shielded the ball from Portsmouth’s midfielders and then opened himself up to switch play to either flank.
Sarr has played a number of different midfield positions during his short career and if he’s now to be a more regular fixture in the senior group rather than just an unused substitute, Conte will need to work out how best to use him.
In 2020-21 at Metz, he mostly played as a defensive midfielder, then last season he moved up to central midfield (50 per cent of minutes) and also played 36 per cent of his minutes as an attacking midfielder behind the front line.
He can play box-to-box, he can break up attacks, he can score goals, he can even take free kicks, as we saw for Senegal against England.
We didn’t see much dribbling or shooting against Portsmouth but that wasn’t Sarr’s role on the day. If Yves Bissouma had played alongside him, as he was supposed to before injuring himself in the warm-up, Sarr may have been given licence to push further forward.
“He’s a very young player and it’s the first time he came to England,” Stellini said of Sarr. “One year experience in Ligue 1. About the skill, he can do everything. Great player with many possibilities and play in many different positions.
“You have to wait with young players. With Pape, Antonio decided this moment that he’s ready to play. We work a lot on the body position and he showed the desire to improve and this is very important because you can work with them.
“With Pape, it was very easy, but we have a hierarchy and he has to respect that.”
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11 Comments
There were few passes that he made and they were not completed. I re- watched the game and realized that those were forward & progessive passes But his team mates are so used to side and back passes hence those passes were not completed.
Put some top quality players around him so he can learn the dark arts of midfield and he should develop into a great 1st team player
Cant see him being loaned out with the number we have and consistent flow of injuries. Hoping Tony plans that the lad gets game time for the rest of the season (fa Cup and non top 6 sides)
Its Pape, H. Love ya mate but your titles v’been slipping of late!
Dembele 2.0👏
what`s your take on the saudi link? dare i dream for a future without enic
will take some bid for the owners to sell up their cash cow
More tackles and interceptions in one game than Winks in a whole season
He stands out amoungst the dirge of negative & limited team mates. He has a football brain thankfully. He is thoughtful with his runs and energy. It would be interesting to see him with Bentancur. His use of the ball is of a better quality. His passing is executed with pace, intent and accuracy to feet. Impressively, when he sees the momentum of a push forward, he hits a pass with great conviction into the stride of his attacking team mates. Not like Skipp, Sanchez, Tanganga, Royal, Gil, Sessignon who play loose, hospital passes that kills momentum. He needs a bit more meat on those bones and more game time. Such a young man with good potential. I think he will be a good player, but not with Spurs. 🐓
it was only Portsmouth, but he played well, lets hope he does a harry, and keeps getting better every year, a bit in the bentancur mold, physically upto it, and confident, good signs in a youngster,, a loan spell up north in the championship in winter will bring him on, lol,,
What I see is desire and ambition , which the team sorely lacks
I know it was Portsmouth but sarr and gill were the best players at least Bryan wants the ball even if it didn’t always come off