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Ndombele’s comments about Pochettino may answer questions over form

mawspurs

Staff
Jun 29, 2003
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Tottenham Hotspur broke their transfer record in the summer, paying a reported (talkSPORT) £55 million to sign Tanguy Ndombele from Lyon. But it has not been the debut season in North London that the midfielder would have been hoping for.

Source: The Boot Room
 

Ronwol196061

Well-Known Member
Apr 9, 2018
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Not sure what took place. I think a lot of filling in the blanks. Meanwhile we are all left on only what we see. As far as NDombele goes. Poch indicated that there was a problem. Later down the road Mourinho indicated based on Pochs experience and his own that there is a problem.
There is. NDombele is brilliant.A great talent.
It's not good enough though.
First of all the PL demands more comprehensive players. He doesn't have to be the world's best defender but has to help.Im not sure this is going to work.
 

Johnny J

Not the Kiwi you need but the one you deserve
Aug 18, 2012
18,124
47,897
Lol. Looks to me like we have another Paulinho on our hands. He may succeed elsewhere but not in the high tempo PL. Massive massive mistake of a signing and probably contributed to Poch's departure.
Paulinho didn't really have much skill, especially for a Brazil international.

Ndombele is pure raw talent. I don't think I've ever seen street football on his level. You can tell he's a natural talent - he does things you'd see on FIFA. If we can get him fit and disciplined, he'll be a world superstar within a year. I really think he's that good.
 

newbie

Well-Known Member
Jul 16, 2004
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If Ndomele wants to become one of the best players in the world he will be, if doesn’t decide to get fit, and fight for his team he will throw it all away!
 

Smokinhotspur

Well-Known Member
Jun 11, 2012
510
953
Not sure what took place. I think a lot of filling in the blanks. Meanwhile we are all left on only what we see. As far as NDombele goes. Poch indicated that there was a problem. Later down the road Mourinho indicated based on Pochs experience and his own that there is a problem.
There is. NDombele is brilliant.A great talent.
It's not good enough though.
First of all the PL demands more comprehensive players. He doesn't have to be the world's best defender but has to help.Im not sure this is going to work.
Paulinho didn't really have much skill, especially for a Brazil international.

Ndombele is pure raw talent. I don't think I've ever seen street football on his level. You can tell he's a natural talent - he does things you'd see on FIFA. If we can get him fit and disciplined, he'll be a world superstar within a year. I really think he's that good.

We easily understand and accept that players possess different levels of technical ability however, when it comes to the fitness side of the game we sometimes assume that as long as players invest the required effort, they should be able to achieve the condition needed to play at the top level. This is just not true as some players naturally find it difficult to achieve and sustain the required levels of fitness and endurance needed to succeed at the top of the game.

Which brings us to Ndombele. Given he was signed early in the window and able to get in a full pre-season, there is no way he should be suffering so many niggles and be in such poor condition at the business end of the season. With the knowledge of his past problems with fitness and weight, there appear to be some fundamental issues present which mean he will probably always struggle with this side of the game. The irony is that his superb technical ability is likely due to the over compensation he has had to develop over the years to mask the physical deficiencies in his game. Van der Vaart is another player I would put in this category, a superb technician but rarely able to complete 90mins in the PL. Dembele is another who despite improving significantly on the physical side under Poch, still struggled to maintain the required fitness levels and cited this as the main reason for stepping down to the Chinese league.

The question then is knowing how increasingly physically demanding the PL is especially in CM, how and why was the decision made to break the bank for a player with such glaring question marks over the physical side of his game! We have a go at Levy for lack of activity in the transfer market at crucial moments and rightly so, however on this one there has been a massive fuck up on the football side as somebody should have been raising a red flag at this signing. We could not meet Fernandes' (Bruno) valuation in the same summer but instead did our money on Ndombele - it just doesn't make sense.

Going back many years now, our track record with record transfers is really poor when you think about Rebrov, Soldado and now Ndombele. A common thread that runs through these players is superb pedigree/technical ability but question marks over physicality. I suspect Poch wanted to get as close to a Dembele clone as possible and took what now appears to be a reckless gamble on Ndombele. His comment about potentially having to wait 2 years for him to fully adapt is laughable when you see what Fernandes is instantly delivering at United. Hope we get a decent DoF to put in the right checks and balances going forward as this type of mess has gone on for far too long now.
 
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Ronwol196061

Well-Known Member
Apr 9, 2018
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While I am still a hopeful NDombele fan I salute your excellent post its right on the money.
For me, I was brought up on the Double team, seen many great talented players we have had with flair and have been waiting for a game changer who can work the ball as good as NDombele does.
The world has changed and the PL is much more demanding from even the time of Ginola. So NDombeles talent alone is not enough.
He has to do a ton better no matter what, the defensive work is important. We also need a top notch DM so the weight isn't totally on his shoulders but I do, as it us, agree totally with your post
 

spursfan77

Well-Known Member
Aug 13, 2005
46,680
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Lol. Looks to me like we have another Paulinho on our hands. He may succeed elsewhere but not in the high tempo PL. Massive massive mistake of a signing and probably contributed to Poch's departure.

Paulinho has been the most cowardly player I’ve ever seen on a football pitch. Not sure Ndombele comes close.
 

spursfan77

Well-Known Member
Aug 13, 2005
46,680
104,956
Similar mentality tbf

I havent really seen ndombele hiding in the passing lanes so he doesn't have to receive the ball yet or turning his back on shots or in defensive walls. I'm already in the get rid camp but if that were to start I think others would be joining me.
 

Shadydan

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2012
38,247
104,143
I havent really seen ndombele hiding in the passing lanes so he doesn't have to receive the ball yet or turning his back on shots or in defensive walls. I'm already in the get rid camp but if that were to start I think others would be joining me.

It's more the not up for the fight, not tracking back, jogging as opposed to sprinting, going and staying down under challenges...they're all traits of a player who doesn't have mentality to play at this level, just like Paulinho.
 

Lumiere

Well-Known Member
Aug 9, 2017
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Lol. Looks to me like we have another Paulinho on our hands. He may succeed elsewhere but not in the high tempo PL. Massive massive mistake of a signing and probably contributed to Poch's departure.
They're chalk and cheese, Paulinho did have the physicality to cope with the PL, he just wasn't very skillful.
 

Japhet

Well-Known Member
Aug 30, 2010
19,232
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Paulinho has been the most cowardly player I’ve ever seen on a football pitch. Not sure Ndombele comes close.

He always looked to me like a player who didn't want to get a single scratch on him with the World Cup approaching.
 

Chimbo1

Well-Known Member
Dec 14, 2006
553
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Don’t write him off too early, look at how MS turned it around with quarter of the talent! Just needs a bit of time to settle in properly
 

Canukspurs

Active Member
Jan 27, 2019
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I agree 'Chimbo 1'; "time", unfortunately is what spurs don't have, but getting rid of could be a huge mistake.
, !
 
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