When Yves Bissouma trudged off the Craven Cottage pitch at half-time on Sunday he probably had an inkling of what might be coming next.
For the Mali international had been told by Ange Postecoglou that he would not be coming back on for the second half in his previous Premier League start for Tottenham against Bournemouth. So it was that Bissouma's fate was sealed yet again as 19-year-old Lucas Bergvall was sent on in the 28-year-old's place at Fulham.
Footballers always back themselves and they need a reasonably-sized ego to make it to the top level of the game, but even Bissouma would have had little complaint after a performance marked by mistakes at the weekend.
During an otherwise dull first half by the River Thames, Bissouma looked at times like he was taking to the turf in a meaningless pre-season friendly and at others controlled the ball like a nervous teenager with little awareness of where anyone was around him, either in a Spurs shirt or a Fulham one.
The experienced Premier League player lost five of his seven duels and was poor in possession whenever Spurs attempted to burst up the pitch.
He kept playing panicked passes which were either too powerful, misplaced or put team-mates under pressure. On one occasion, he advanced down the left-hand side of the pitch and a simple forward pass would have sent Destiny Udogie on a raid down the flank. Instead Bissouma knocked the simple, short pass behind the left-back and out of play.
This is not a one-off display either. The Yves Bissouma who made a big name for himself at Brighton and seemed to be a steal for Spurs at just £30million in 2022 appears to have left the building. Other than the odd unplayable performance in a Spurs shirt, he's making himself unplayable nowadays in a very different way.
On Sunday Postecoglou was asked why the Mali international has been taken off at half-time in recent games.
"I just feel Biss can sometimes let the game drift by him. He needs to be a little bit more dominant in the way he gets on the ball. At times I think the game gets away from him and today we needed more in that position," said the Spurs head coach.
"I needed him to play though, because he hasn't played a lot. At the same time you've got to perform. It's fair to say, Biss and a few others are probably lacking a bit of confidence. That's affecting him but we're at the point of the season now where we need guys to get out there and put those things to one side and perform."
He added: "It's not about getting through to him or a lack of effort. I just think with players sometimes they go through these spells and he needs to find a way to break through that and we need to find a way to get that out of him."
It comes in a season when Bissouma should have been desperate to prove himself after starting the campaign by being suspended by the club after filming himself inhaling nitrous oxide - known as laughing gas - from a balloon and then posting it on social media, despite it being deemed a criminal offence from 2023.
"I've been in the game for a long time. When a situation like this arises, I've tried to look at them in a couple of ways," said Postecoglou back in August. "First there as a person, and it's Biss, and he's made a poor decision. There are still sanctions involved, and some of those are educational. He is a footballer with responsibilities.
"He won't be available on Monday. We've suspended him from Monday's game. He needs to build that trust back with both me and the group. The door is open for him and we can help him realise the decisions he makes impacts the group."
When asked how Bissouma can build back that trust, Postecoglou replied: "Behaviour, mate. It's that simple. It's about making better decisions. He was very apologetic to me, the club and everyone involved, but that's just part of it."
The most disappointing part of it all is that Bissouma had found someone in Postecoglou who had his back, yet he has never repaid that support. For all the talk of adoring the Australian and seeing him as an uncle-type figure, the midfielder has repeatedly taken a step back every time he has seemed to be progressing with the head coach.
He has the ability to dominate matches and when Bissouma plays well, so do Spurs. When Postecoglou first arrived, he called on Bissouma to become more of a leader to the young players in the group.
"I was lucky because Biss was here from the first day I arrived. Many of the boys were playing international football, and I kind of grabbed him. The way he was training… at the time, the first three or four sessions, we mainly had young guys," Postecoglou told TalkSPORT a month into last season.
"I said ‘you can be a leader in this group’. I already knew of his ability, and the way he was training, I could see he got a lift with that. He was late the next morning, and I said 'to be a leader means to be on time', and he has been good since then.
"So, there is always lessons to be learned, but I think with him and all the other players, it is about creating an environment and framework to say, 'well you should not have any excuses'. I am not going to allow you to have any excuses, and not be the best you can be. In that context, the rest is up to them."
Bissouma would later claim that his car had a flat tyre which resulted in his lateness but regardless of the reason it was yet another example of him not being able to do what was asked.
He is a popular figure in the squad and does take players under his wing like Pape Matar Sarr and Wilson Odobert, who he pushed towards the crowd to get the recent congratulations after the win against AZ. After that game, Bissouma made a point of going over to Troy Parrott to console the former Spurs youngster.
Yet Bissouma has not made his own impact at Spurs, other than the opening 10 matches or so of the Postecoglou tenure.
Antonio Conte had not been the biggest fan of the Mali international and told football.london a month into the player's first season at the club: "The only player that is struggling a bit with the tactical aspect is Bissouma, but also he is improving a lot in every aspect. I am sure when we start again and play 12 games, for sure he is another player I can count on but I try to take the best decision for the player because I want to protect the player."
Bissouma would start only 10 games in the Premier League that season, not helped by a broken ankle in February. In Postecoglou's first campaign he managed 26 starts in the league, but three different suspensions caused problems for him as his discipline became an issue - then followed up by that club suspension to start the current season.
In this campaign, Bissouma has started only 14 Premier League games and at 28, he already looks a player of the past compared to 19-year-olds like Bergvall and Archie Gray.
Spurs are reportedly expected to begin contract talks with Rodrigo Bentancur and with just over a year left on Bissouma's deal, it's difficult to see the club committing to the player for a longer period unless there is a big U-turn in what he is producing.
That means this summer represents a last chance for Tottenham to get some return on their £30million investment but few of the bigger sides will have seen much in Bissouma to warrant taking the risk. The player himself may not want to step down to what he might deem a smaller side.
For both Bissouma and Tottenham, there needs to be a change. Exactly what form that takes will be shown in the final months of the season.
Postecoglou falls into a trap, Pochettino's vow and the Bissouma problem - click here to listen to the latest episode of Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham