How Good is Yves Bissouma?
Some notes on the "modern 6"
Players understood to play the “6” role have become a hot commodity in the Premier League in recent years, with Declan Rice going to Arsenal for upwards of £100m and Chelsea going on a shopping spree to land Moises Caicedo (£115m), Romeo Lavia (£58m), and Enzo Fernandez (£107m) (though it’s possible the latter was signed for more of an attacking role in Chelsea’s midfield).
Such fees are almost understandable when you look at how Pep’s dominant Manchester City side make use of Rodri, and why they’ve opted to bring in Mateo Kovačić as insurance and let go of Kalvin Phillips. In fact, I think you can look at that personnel choice at City as an indicator of what’s happening in the game with respect to the “6” position.
Spurs bringing in Yves Bissouma for around £25m in this market looks like quite the bargain, though Bissouma has come under a lot of criticism from Spurs supporters since his immaculate start to the season has given way to a string of suspensions and inconsistent performances. Whether for Conte or for Postecoglou is immaterial (even if Bissouma is better used and better suited to Ange), because Bissouma’s value to Spurs is like Rodri or Kovačić’s value to City, and here I’ll explain why.
Traditionally we think of the “6” role as a “holding midfielder,” “defensive midfielder,” or (in EA Sports parlance), “CDM.” Ollie Skipp is one of those and Declan Rice is one of those (though Rice’s technical ability allows him to surpass that role in certain ways). João Palhinha is one of those.
But recent developments in pressing out of possession and in build-up in possession have started to shift the “6” role away from the traditional conception of the defensive midfielder and toward something else. In the Premier League especially, where even sides such as Liverpool, Arsenal, and Spurs can expect a high and dynamic press from sides such as Bournemouth and Everton, a massive premium on a rare and difficult skillset is emerging: that of the modern “6.”
You can think of the modern “6” less as a defensive midfielder—though they have to do that too—and more of a pressure valve against a high and dynamic press and a spark plug in build-up. It’s an especially challenging role, both physically and mentally, because it means checking deep into one’s own territory, sometimes just a few paces in front of the keeper, to receive the ball back to goal and under immense pressure. Not only does a player in this role have to be physically strong on the ball and shrug off contact; they have to be hyper-aware of their surroundings and technically tidy on the ball to hold possession deep in their own territory, to turn defenders, wriggle out of double-teams, and pick the right pass with the right weight on the ball. Any kind of mistake an any of the above could mean turning the ball over in a very dangerous situation, conceding goals. For this last reason it’s one of the most mentally taxing roles a player can take on.
If you have a player who can do this, though, you can control the game even from your own end of the pitch, and you can ignite attacks from deep that enable your more forward midfielders and wingers to progress the ball rapidly through the lines once you’ve messed up your opponent’s shape by breaking the press. Rodri is a master of this, completing more passes under pressure than any other midfielder in the league (maybe in the world?), remaining tidy on the ball, with the physical strength to hold off challenges.
If you understand the value of this skillset, you can see why, for example, Pep had no need for the more defensive-minded, ball-winning Phillips and took a flyer on Kovačić, who’s a master at dribbling through the press.
You can also understand why a player like Mousa Dembélé—well, there’s only one—was so ahead of his time, and why today he gets more recognition for his value and ability than he did outside of those he played with and played under in the past.
But what about Bissouma? One reason Bissouma came to Spurs so highly rated is how unique his skillset is and how suited it is to the modern “6” role. Bissouma has been better defensively, covered more ground, in the past, so this is still something he needs to address in his role for Spurs. But he has exceptional close control, deceptiveness, physical strength on the ball, and composure, all traits necessary to play that pressure-valve, deep playstarter role that the modern Premier League demands.
You see debates from time to time about whether Bissouma or Rice is the better “6.” One way of answering that question is to understand how Bissouma has the higher upside for the modern “6” role, while Rice is a more traditional type of defensive midfielder who also has technical ability to stay tidy on the ball. With Bissouma’s recent inconsistency, you have to give the nod to Rice; but if and when Bissouma regains form, I think there’s no better modern “6” in the Premier League bar Rodri, who’s miles clear of everyone in this respect.
Just glancing at Spurs’ most recent match against Wolves—a 1-2 loss in which Bissouma factored heavily, losing possession in the attacking third on a corner, then failing to track his man, who scored the matchwinner—a lot of the hard stuff Bissouma does goes unnoticed. Apart from that (catastrophic) loss of the ball, he completed 66/70 passes and pulled off his only dribble attempt.
If you look at the defensive side of his game, you see a player who won most of his tackles and duels, plus made 3 interceptions and 4 ball recoveries. And this was a pretty poor match for Bissouma.
Zooming out and taking a look at his (admittedly checkered) season thus far, Bissouma is outstanding in categories essential for modern “6” play: He’s in the 91st and 92nd percentile for successful passes and pass accuracy (respectively) and among the most successful dribblers for his position, showing the ability to keep, move, and progress the ball. As you can see from the number of touches he’s had (87th percentile), he doesn’t shy away from the ball, and he’s been dispossessed only 26 times, which makes him better at retaining possession than 94% of players in his position.
Defensively, we can see that Bissouma is among the best in tackles and duels won as well as interceptions (he’s 95th percentile overall in defensive actions), but has room for improvement in other areas (possession won in final 3rd is key to Ange’s setup, for example, so you’d expect his counterpressing-adjacent numbers to look a bit better).
For all of these reasons, I think Spurs fans should be optimistic about Bissouma as a prototypical modern “6.” Not bad at £25m either.