Postecoglou responds to Gareth Southgate's Tottenham concern and explains Yves Bissouma form

Ange Postecoglou has explained Yves Bissouma's drop in form for Tottenham Hotspur and also responded to England manager Gareth Southgate's concern about the club's post-season friendly in Australia.

Bissouma was one of the club's best players at the start of the Premier League season before picking up a red card at Luton Town, who Spurs welcome on Saturday afternoon. From that point on, the midfielder's form dipped and he was sent off again at Nottingham Forest, resulting in a four-match ban, having also been suspended for another match beforehand after collecting five yellow cards.

The 27-year-old struggled at the Africa Cup of Nations after suffering a bout of malaria just before the competition and was dropped from the most recent Mali squad with coach Eric Chelle saying there were other players who fit his diamond midfield system better than the Spurs man.

«I think it's probably indicative of our season,» Postecoglou said of Bissouma's drop in form. «He has been very good at times but he hasn't really got a flow. He got suspended, he went away to the Africa Cup of Nations. It's very, very hard for any player to maintain certain levels if you've not got consistency in game-time and consistency in flow.

»I think he's been better the last few weeks. Because it was so disruptive in the middle of the year, like a lot of others, he wasn't getting up to the levels that he showed earlier in the year. The challenge for him is to work his way through that. I still think he's been a really important player for us this year and when he is playing at the levels I know he can play, it makes us a much more difficult team to stop."

When asked whether Bissouma was frustrated by the way his season has gone, the Spurs boss responded: «I