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Player Watch - Tanguy Ndombele

Shadydan

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2012
38,247
104,143
I find it absolutely staggering he's gone from pulling out of the Brighton match through injury to completing 97 mins against Norwich, looks like he needed the public kick up the arse from the manager.

Funny those who were unhappy with Jose after the Brighton match for calling him out but something had to be done and it looks like it's worked.
 

Ronwol196061

Well-Known Member
Apr 9, 2018
3,925
3,646
Nice to see NDombele get through a full match. It will be Interesting to see if he can back up v Southampton. In yesterday's formation he was probably supposed to be our most defence minded midfielder. I don't think this is his go....he is more an 8 than a 6. His best work was dribbling through the middle ...I don't think he has the discipline to do the defensive donkey work....front foot is his preference

Its taking Mourinho time but hopefully he gets it. We need a World Class DM behind ND
 

Japhet

Well-Known Member
Aug 30, 2010
19,232
57,388
I bet he'd be great playing in a 3 man midfield besides another creative player and then with someone like Skipp covering behind. Sure we would like him to be able to dominate in a 2 man midfield but lets give the guy a season before asking him to be peak Dembele.

A 3 man midfield of Ndombele, quality DM and Lo Celso would be brilliant IMO. TN and GLC both have the ability to join in further forward so it could be pretty fluid switching from 3 to 2 in CM at will. Been dreaming of this for too long now though and think Jose has the awful pivot (with the players we have) cemented in his thinking.
 

JCRD

Well-Known Member
Aug 10, 2018
19,153
30,013
I didnt really watch the game yesterday, I was stuck in Winter Wonderland... good bratwurst. Anyways I digress, so if Ndombele was so 'great' or 'good' how come wer didnt win? I dont mean that question in a shitty way, i mean did he create chances? were we wasteful? or was Ndombele more of a Dembele in breaking the press etc?

Basically what was his role?
 

wrd

Well-Known Member
Aug 22, 2014
13,603
58,005
I didnt really watch the game yesterday, I was stuck in Winter Wonderland... good bratwurst. Anyways I digress, so if Ndombele was so 'great' or 'good' how come wer didnt win? I dont mean that question in a shitty way, i mean did he create chances? were we wasteful? or was Ndombele more of a Dembele in breaking the press etc?

Basically what was his role?

Very similar to Dembele where he was breaking the press from their forwards, midfield a lot and creating space by dribbling past or turning past players. He would then give it to our more forward players in Eriksen, Lo Celso, Kane, Dele but they couldn't break the Norwich defence down bar a few moments.
 

CornerPinDreamer

up in the cheap seats
Aug 20, 2013
3,716
8,088
Agreed, i was thinking how much like Big Moose he is in coming out of scraps with the ball still under his control.

I miss Moose..
 

Japhet

Well-Known Member
Aug 30, 2010
19,232
57,388
I didnt really watch the game yesterday, I was stuck in Winter Wonderland... good bratwurst. Anyways I digress, so if Ndombele was so 'great' or 'good' how come wer didnt win? I dont mean that question in a shitty way, i mean did he create chances? were we wasteful? or was Ndombele more of a Dembele in breaking the press etc?

Basically what was his role?

He's very good at dropping a shoulder and beating his man. He also has good feet and good balance so he can get past players quite easily. Reminds m a bit of Gascoigne in that respect. We haven't had players who can do this for a very long time, although Dembele was very good at out-muscling opponents. He also finds nice passes between the lines and I think in time he'll dovetail really well with Lo Celso. The problem yesterday, IMO, was that our front 4 were a bit erratic and coughed up a lot of decent possession as well as that part of the pitch being very congested.
 

Ronwol196061

Well-Known Member
Apr 9, 2018
3,925
3,646
Very similar to Dembele where he was breaking the press from their forwards, midfield a lot and creating space by dribbling past or turning past players. He would then give it to our more forward players in Eriksen, Lo Celso, Kane, Dele but they couldn't break the Norwich defence down bar a few moments.

I loved Dembele.He was tough and had fantastic ball control,did dribble etc too but I thought he was a bit too conservative and often just laid the ball off. Maybe it was Pochs plan but NDombele hits passes a lot quicker and dribbles quicker too and looks for space where I think Dembele looked for control and ultimately hit a simple pass
 

JCRD

Well-Known Member
Aug 10, 2018
19,153
30,013
Very similar to Dembele where he was breaking the press from their forwards, midfield a lot and creating space by dribbling past or turning past players. He would then give it to our more forward players in Eriksen, Lo Celso, Kane, Dele but they couldn't break the Norwich defence down bar a few moments.
He's very good at dropping a shoulder and beating his man. He also has good feet and good balance so he can get past players quite easily. Reminds m a bit of Gascoigne in that respect. We haven't had players who can do this for a very long time, although Dembele was very good at out-muscling opponents. He also finds nice passes between the lines and I think in time he'll dovetail really well with Lo Celso. The problem yesterday, IMO, was that our front 4 were a bit erratic and coughed up a lot of decent possession as well as that part of the pitch being very congested.

Cheers guys. I hope he actually has a run of games now though... will be crucial for the second half of the season particularly where we play most of the teams around us at home...
 

popstar7

Well-Known Member
Jan 14, 2012
3,036
9,367
I think he's got everything to be our lynchpin for the next three or four seasons. The way he can pick up a loose ball 20-25 yards from our goal, shake off tackles and break forward is pure Dembele. What he has that Dembele didn't quite have is the threat in the opposition half. He can spot a run and find the man, he can carry it 20 yards without anyone getting near him and do something useful at the end of it. For a manager as focused on transitions as Mourinho that should be catnip.

I think he’s a threat around the box too, although he seemed happy enough to mostly lay it off to other attackers yesterday.
 

Spurs_Bear

Well-Known Member
Jan 7, 2009
17,094
22,286
I didnt really watch the game yesterday, I was stuck in Winter Wonderland... good bratwurst. Anyways I digress, so if Ndombele was so 'great' or 'good' how come wer didnt win? I dont mean that question in a shitty way, i mean did he create chances? were we wasteful? or was Ndombele more of a Dembele in breaking the press etc?

Basically what was his role?

This will be good...
 

dtxspurs

Welcome to the Good Life
Dec 28, 2017
11,234
46,574
The fickle nature of our fans is embarrassing! Liverpool signed a 50m midfielder in Keita and he is only now showing the goods, they spent 40m on Fabinho who took over a year before he became a first team player but yeah let’s say that Lo Celso and Ndombele aren’t great based on about 100 mins of football!

Players take time to get used to this league, the intensity, the pace, the fact that every team is a good honest hard working side, there is no easy game. Also add to the fact that they are 22 and 23 respectively which is still young and they are in a new country.

I thought Ndombele played really well yesterday and pair him with the right player then I believe we have one of the best around.
Its irrelevant to the general discussion but that isn't a true statement. He started basically every league game from the end of October last year on.
 

Wadec

Well-Known Member
May 14, 2014
1,761
5,434
Gonna put this out there, he is the most talented player in our squad. Not the best yet, but most talented.

With the right team around him he is going to be incredible.
 

KaribYid

Well-Known Member
Jul 2, 2012
1,308
7,830
He really does remind me of Moussa. Less physical of course but a much better range of passing. Once he gets a prime Sandro/Wanyama/Dier next to him like Mouse had throughout his years here, that's our central midfield sorted.
 

scat1620

L'espion mal fait
May 11, 2008
16,280
52,490
I find it absolutely staggering he's gone from pulling out of the Brighton match through injury to completing 97 mins against Norwich, looks like he needed the public kick up the arse from the manager.

Funny those who were unhappy with Jose after the Brighton match for calling him out but something had to be done and it looks like it's worked.
Totally agree. And now we need him to keep himself in a condition where he can be on the pitch for a full 90 match after match for the majority of the rest of the season. He's certainly got the talent we need in the middle of the park, but we paid the big bucks for him so that he could show that talent every week. Now he needs to make sure that he's available to stand up to that not-unreasonable schedule, and hopefully Jose's comments from after the Brighton game are the catalyst for appearances like the Norwich game to be the norm rather than the exception.
 

ajspurs

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2007
22,987
31,167
The thing I liked about Ndombele yesterday too was that he mostly just made the right pass and in the right amount of time. We have so many players who dwell on the ball too long and don't move it on quick enough but Ndombele is just more football intelligent than most of his teammates.
 

southlondonyiddo

My eyes have seen some of the glory..
Nov 8, 2004
12,599
15,012
C’mon how can anyone one watch that and not think he was anything other than the best player on the pitch yesterday. Phenomenal player but nah it was just one rabona.


Let’s not go overboard. The last time I checked Norwich had 13 points from 20 games!!

Looks like he did very well but he’s got a long long way to go in the gym and training ground to get up to speed with the physicality and pace of the Premier League before he starts to regularly dominate (which we desperately need him to do) games v mid table sides let alone the top 4 contenders
 
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