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Player Watch - Tanguy Ndombele

scat1620

L'espion mal fait
May 11, 2008
16,282
52,492
To think I was furious with Ndombele as recently as a couple of weeks ago, and now I couldn't give less of a shit about the lack of return we've had from him to date. Perspective is a great thing, shame (on my part) that the cost to get it is often far more than it should be.
 

dagraham

Well-Known Member
Sep 20, 2005
19,115
46,080
To think I was furious with Ndombele as recently as a couple of weeks ago, and now I couldn't give less of a shit about the lack of return we've had from him to date. Perspective is a great thing, shame (on my part) that the cost to get it is often far more than it should be.

Yeah agree. It’s human nature to take things for granted, no matter how much you try not to.

I couldn’t give a toss about football for now ( although I obviously look forward to it returning as much to signify things are normal again if nothing else).

I’d like to think when all this is over I can come out the other side with a new perspective, but I suspect that although that may well happen for a while, like most people it won’t be long until I’m back again taking it all far more seriously than I really should.
 

Locotoro

Prince of Zamunda
Sep 2, 2004
9,327
13,915
For info, Dibby's porn career, Rupstoh not getting his head around the Bassong suspension and E L Strict's Mystery Of The Champagne Hams are all scat-endorsed actually-funny SpursCommunity contributions and may be referenced freely without my opinion being lowered.
Sorry scat but deer face was hilarious(y)
 

Smokinhotspur

Well-Known Member
Jun 11, 2012
510
953
TBH, I couldn't care less if he can't last 90 minutes, as long as he's leaving everything on the pitch in the time he is on.

VDV couldn't manage 90 minutes either, but he'd do immense damage whilst he was on and work his socks off to do it.

Herein may lie the solution, play TN in the number 10 position. The workrate demands are lower, he can receive it in tight spaces and slide through killer passes to the wingers or striker.
 

Ionman34

SC Supporter
Jun 1, 2011
7,182
16,793
If Ndombele is hiding then Eriksen spent at least a season and a half hunkered down in fallout shelter most of the time, the better question is why a lot of our players chose to start hiding?
Let's not pretend this only happened when Ndombele signed, this was happening way before that. The entire midfield and CB's getting pulled all over the place to cover for poor and lazy FB's plus zero DM is where I'd stick a dirty great neon flashing arrow on any analysis video.

Another question would be if I can see that our FB's are a problem especially a certain RB and our opposition damned sure see it as they target it for over two seasons now then why the hell can Poch and José not clock it?

Personal opinion for a first season in the PL I think we'd have gotten more out of him playing him further forward.

Just my own opinion. By the way I'm not calling you out in particular I'm just responding to the MNF bit in bold catching my eye, I didn't watch it because Carragher is usually on and subtitles are broken on my TV.

Stay healthy ??
Can’t really disagree with you regarding Eriksen, but the circumstances are different don’t you think? One was a player looking to leave, had no real heart in what he was doing, and the other is a brand new player who you would expect would be looking to establish himself as an essential player.

Nor do I agree that there has been a general malaise in the midfield. Sissoko was working his socks off before injury, Winks has been too. Alli, for all his form issues, has been working like a Trojan on the pitch, and Lo Celso has been brilliant. I think it may seem that way to you because Eriksen was a key component, not only for his creativity, but for his work off the ball. He may not have been flying into tackles, but his intelligence in cutting down passing lanes in defence, then always being available for the ball in transition, was hugely key. Take that essential cog out and the rest of the “machine@ breaks down and quickly.

Lo Celso has shown, particularly when he has come on later in the game, that having that option can relieve a huge amount of pressure from the defence, as well as giving structure to the midfield.

Imagine if TD was doing this as well alongside him.

I really want this boy to succeed, firstly because he’s wearing the shirt and I want ALL of our players to be a success, and secondly because I championed him from the start. He has everything to be up there with the best in the World. Everything, it seems, but the will to get there.

Hopefully, he sorts his head out. TN at the top of his game is a game changer.
 

Spurs_Bear

Well-Known Member
Jan 7, 2009
17,094
22,286
To think I was furious with Ndombele as recently as a couple of weeks ago, and now I couldn't give less of a shit about the lack of return we've had from him to date. Perspective is a great thing, shame (on my part) that the cost to get it is often far more than it should be.
I mean...that quote belongs on the side of a bus.
 

buckley

Well-Known Member
Sep 15, 2012
2,595
6,073
If ever a player had a chance ( if motivated ) to get himself fit then the next three months will prove if this bloke is worth the effort .
 

pelayo59

Well-Known Member
Jun 28, 2019
1,035
4,588
Yeah, this rumour makes sense. They are interested if Fabian Ruiz would be too expensive so their back up option is even more expensive.
 

WiganSpur

Well-Known Member
Aug 31, 2012
15,974
32,682
See I don't agree with that assessment. Poch pretty much pioneered the high press in the Prem, which we found was countered by the low block with quick transition. I lost count of how many games were moaned about because we couldn't break teams down. The very fact that so many teams are taking the risk of playing out from the back, inviting opposition to press high so they can play through the press, counters what you are saying. Invite the high press so you can open more space behind with quick transition is what most teams are currently trying to do.

To do that, you need mobile midfielders, constantly in motion, finding space where they can receive the ball on the half turn to then break the press and get the ball upfield before their high press players can recover. At the moment we really only have 1 in Lo Celso. Winks doesn't appear up to it, Sissoko is injured, but is only really effective when carrying the ball, Skipp is an untried nipper and Ndombele, who isn't nearly as mobile as he needs to be. Couple that with lacking any forward players able to retain the ball, allowing the AM's to then receive a lay off for second phase attack, then you have a major problem in implementing the desired style of play. This is one of the issues that has me seriously thinking that Alli is limited to only being effective in 1 way. He's detrimental to swift transition as a deeper lying midfielder, he's unable to hold up the ball and bring others into play, consistently, with his back to goal. He's reliant on others bringing HIM into play or creating space for him to exploit. Without them he's relatively easy to marshal.

I honestly don't have an issue with how JM is looking to have us play, he's just missing the personnel atm.

It's also worth noting that, if and when we do get that sorted out, teams will be far more reluctant to press as high as they currently are for fear of being ripped through by that swift transition.

This is why I'm adamant that he needs time to get key players fit and bring in players he sees as fitting the mould. Ndombele would be perfect in the role if he had the same work rate as Lo Celso. Can you imagine how we'd break with those 2 playing at peak together? The knock on effect would be massive, a confident defence knowing they'd have at least 2 options ahead of them for an out ball, the front line confident that they weren't making searching runs for nothing, opposition not knowing whether to stick or twist?

Give it time, JM is not done yet.
Really hope Tanguy gets his shit together. As it would be so obvious the way forward would be 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 with GLC, TN and a new mobile DM next to them. You'd think it would be extremely difficult to get the ball off us if we had the right combination.

TN and GLC are also extremely good at playing accurate forward through balls, and with pace on the counter up front we have the potential to be lethal. The biggest issue by far we have is defensively though. We just can't soak up pressure at all, even for short 5-10 minute periods.

If we sort this defence out, this team will go far and fast because there is a lot of talent in this squad and they are very adaptable to be able to play in multiple ways depending on the situation.
 

buckley

Well-Known Member
Sep 15, 2012
2,595
6,073
If I was him I would get myself fit and try harder to show I was good enough for this league .
It seems like there is a lot of people on here willing to " go to bat for him " I wonder if these are the same people that don't have a good word for the likes of Winks and Dier etc I just don't get the backing given to someone who as of this moment in time can be called nothing but a massive let down . Never mind give him another season his class will out this is meant to be said in a sarcastic voice .
 

punkisback

Well-Known Member
Apr 10, 2004
4,410
7,278
If I was him I would get myself fit and try harder to show I was good enough for this league .
It seems like there is a lot of people on here willing to " go to bat for him " I wonder if these are the same people that don't have a good word for the likes of Winks and Dier etc I just don't get the backing given to someone who as of this moment in time can be called nothing but a massive let down . Never mind give him another season his class will out this is meant to be said in a sarcastic voice .
I back all three to be fair; I don't know why you've made that distinction! All three are spurs players, have never spoken ill of us and I will support them till the end!
 

Mr Pink

SC Supporter
Aug 25, 2010
54,774
99,336
Hope he uses this time to really improve his physical state.

He's got so much talent, guy is class.
 

SpursSince1980

Well-Known Member
Jan 23, 2011
4,732
14,442
Swap with Coutinho?

I can't believe I'm actually writing this... but if Barca offered us 50M for him... I'd be tempted to take the bait if I were the powers that be. Especially if it meant that the money goes straight back into player investment.

It's not so much that I'm giving up on the guy. I just wonder if there's just too much damage done for him to ever recover his confidence. He already seems so far gone in the last three or four appearances. His effort and focus has been horrendous. He's come across as a monumentally different character than the one we thought we were getting. And if we have an option to cut our losses and make back close to what we spent, that may not be the worse outcome for everyone involved. The flip side to this, is that we persevere, and he stinks up the place just as bad next season. We'd then be lucky to get 20m for the guy.

Tough call.

But that all said... I actually can't envisage a single team in Europe making anything close to a 50M bid for him. Far too much money on a player who has exhibited some rather disturbing red flags this season. Yeah, sure... he has the makings of a guy who could be one of the best around. Yet sadly, the mental part of his game is a complete and utter mess. Really not sure how you fix it.
 

punkisback

Well-Known Member
Apr 10, 2004
4,410
7,278
In this day and age, players like Bale, Modric, Berbatov would have been binned after a season. Ronaldo wouldn’t have made it here either.
Yeah he just doesn't seem to get the leeway that these guys are getting. He's not been horrendous at all and in quite a few games he has been our best player or made the best impact! However people are treating him as if we have signed George Weah's "Cousin". This is all because the board has self perpetuated it, what is someones opinion as a post gets stated and shared so many times that it becomes fact, such as his "bad attitude" or "200k a week wages". This is almost verging on Daily Mail v Raheem Sterling levels; FYI not saying that anything is racially motivated in this discussion! More that something small can get the crowds whipped up into a fervour and this perpetuates.
 
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