Sissoko pulls strings as Watford reap benefits

Like much of what he does on the pitch, Moussa Sissoko’s move from Tottenham Hotspur to Watford was an under-the-radar affair. He cost just £3million – a tenth of the fee that made him Spurs’ record signing in 2016 – with a contract of just two years and head coach Xisco Munoz’s welcome was equivocal: “I think he will be good for us.”

On Saturday, Watford earned their first three points since the opening day against a dispirited Norwich City. The cultured Ismaila Sarr scored a brace, Emmanuel Dennis is looking the Premier League part and Tom Cleverley was affecting parts of the game that often bypass him.

Buzzing around them all, though, was Sissoko, 32, around whom Xisco is building his team. As goalkeeper Ben Foster, 38, noted after the game: “Experience matters as you get older. When the big occasion comes, you know how to deal with it. Age doesn’t matter when you have the know-how.”

Watford

Nominally on the left of midfield, without losing discipline, Sissoko was everywhere, whether tracking back to thwart Teemu Pukki’s advances, pushing forward to ensure Max Aarons could not reciprocate or cutting off the supply lines to Norwich’s nominal playmaker, Billy Gilmour.

A captain at Newcastle, at Spurs Sissoko was a dominant figure in a dressing room overflowing with alpha athletes. Moreover, he brings a different level of experience to his Watford team-mates, other than, perhaps, Danny Rose.

Sissoko’s five seasons at Tottenham were spent jostling around the top four and reaching the Champions League final, rather than casting a worried look towards the Championship. On Saturday, as he enabled Sarr, foraged for Cleverley and provided an outlet for Rose, it was as if relegation would still never cross his mind. Xisco was right: Sissoko will be good for them.