Player Watch - Tanguy Ndombele

[ClintEastwould]

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

It’s relative. I’m not saying he was Messi but comparatively speaking to the rest of the players on the pitch including them Norwich players he was the best.
I do agree he needs to work in his fitness but he looked fine to me after 97 mins.

 

[JUSTINSIGNAL]

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.

He was poor first half though - no aggression, lack of discipline positionally and partly at fault for their opening goal by going to ground and selling himself needlessly. He was great second half but let’s not go overboard. He’s clearly a massive talent but we were playing bottom of the league.

 

[dtxspurs]

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

Fitness aside he plays like that every time he's on the pitch.

 

[southlondonyiddo]

Fitness aside he plays like that every time he's on the pitch.

So what are you saying? Fitness is the most important part of the game. Without that you’ve got nothing...

 

[Ronwol196061]

The impressive stats behind Ndombele's performance against Norwich - Spurs Web - Tottenham Hotspur Football News

Despite Tottenham dropping two important points against Norwich City on Saturday, the away side can take several positives from the display. One of those was the performance of Tanguy Ndombele, who put in what was arguably his best display in a Tottenham shirt since signing for a club-record fee...

www.spurs-web.com

 

[pelayo59]

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

So we can only rate players vs top6? Also, they won against Man City.

 

[Shadydan]

Most positive thing for me was the guy completing 90 mins and not looking like he's run a marathon.

 

[Ronwol196061]

So what are you saying? Fitness is the most important part of the game. Without that you’ve got nothing...

Let me get this right,what are you saying?

 

[southlondonyiddo]

Let me get this right,what are you saying?

What I am saying blud is that without fitness you might as well go play tiddlywinks fam

You can be the most skilful player in the world but if you can’t run around for the entire time you are on the pitch then your a liability. Top teams cannot carry a player for periods of the game

Also not being able to play consecutive games etc etc is a waste of time too

 

[rsmith]

Reasons to be cheerful:-
- looking at the compilation clip, not one single backpass! This changes the entire dynamic of the team
- like Moose, he is becoming the go to pass recipient. he always makes himself available and rarely wastes the ball
- he thinks quicker than any other midfielder I can remember. Thus it will take a few games for the forwards to get onto his wavelength.

 

[Shadydan]

I think the fitness thing is mental as opposed to physical, still can't get my head around the fact that he completed a full 90 when he's looked absolutely fucked after 20 mins in previous matches...that is no way down to physical fitness it's down to mentality and believing that you have the physical requirements to perform at this level.

 

[Primativ]

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.

Yes there are similarities with regards to the way they protect the ball and beat the press by dribbling passed players, but Ndombele is a much more progressive passer than Demebe ever was. The one thing that stopped Dembele from reaching the very pinnacle of the game in his position, was the fact that the guy couldn't make a forward pass to save his life, and offered no goal threat whatsoever. Ndombele easily outshines MD in those areas already, which is why Ndombele's potential is far more exciting as he can be the complete CM.

 

[wrd]

Yes there are similarities with regards to the way they protect the ball and beat the press by dribbling passed players, but Ndombele is a much more progressive passer than Demebe ever was. The one thing that stopped Dembele from reaching the very pinnacle of the game in his position, was the fact that the guy couldn't make a forward pass to save his life, and offered no goal threat whatsoever. Ndombele easily outshines MD in those areas already, which is why Ndombele's potential is far more exciting as he can be the complete CM.

Yeah for sure, how the game set up and with two slow forwards we didnt get to see that side of Ndombele's game this time around aside from that early chance where he set Kane away. Because of that I felt we got to see him showcase his dribbling and ability and also how well he can beat the press this game and it was fantastic to see.

 

[Ronwol196061]

What I am saying blud is that without fitness you might as well go play tiddlywinks fam

You can be the most skilful player in the world but if you can’t run around for the entire time you are on the pitch then your a liability. Top teams cannot carry a player for periods of the game

Also not being able to play consecutive games etc etc is a waste of time too

I dont think that is true. I think we can accommodate a player like that if his positives outway the negatives.
Some players cant head the ball,some (including great ones) are one footed,lots of imperfections with players who are great at some things and weaker at others.
It's about managing the team to get the best out of the team not finding 11 robots.

 

[ClintEastwould]

Anyone want to be a dear and paste the text

Ndombele did something no-one else has this season – he drove Spurs forwards

Despite a frustrating result, the birthday-celebrating Frenchman gave a glimpse of a more promising future in midfield...

theathletic.com

 

[pelayo59]

Anyone want to be a dear and paste the text

Ndombele did something no-one else has this season – he drove Spurs forwards

Despite a frustrating result, the birthday-celebrating Frenchman gave a glimpse of a more promising future in midfield...

theathletic.com

Spoiler: full text

There were three minutes left at Carrow Road on Saturday night and Tottenham were chasing a winner. Tanguy Ndombele pushed his first touch beyond Todd Cantwell, burst after it while shaping as if to cross with his right, dragged the ball back leaving Cantwell helpless on the floor, then recovered his balance and wrapped his right foot around the back of his standing left leg, delivering a perfect rabona cross into the box for Harry Kane to attempt an overhead kick.
It was classic Ndombele, the player known as “el Feinto” as a boy in the Guingamp academy, who made his name with his shuffles and skills, now finally showing a glimpse of what he can do for Spurs.
It felt like an announcement. This was a man making his second start under Jose Mourinho, completing 90 Premier League minutes for only the second time, a player who did not feel ready to face Brighton and Hove Albion on Boxing Day but who here, two days later, gave comfortably his best performance in a Tottenham shirt.
If this was a trial for Ndombele, then he passed it. If this was a test of whether Spurs were right to break their transfer record and pay Lyon £55million for him, then he passed that too. So far he has only had a minor role under Mauricio Pochettino and Jose Mourinho, having to convince not one manager but two that he is fit and responsible and disciplined enough for English football.
Having cost so much and played so little, Ndombele has obviously faced his share of criticisms. And not all of those criticisms are unfair. He has clearly struggled with the physical adaptation to English football, which is why he has been hooked early on so often. There is a huge leap between Ligue 1 and the Premier League. You simply have to do much more to win a Premier League game and the physical commitment required has sometimes looked beyond him.
Ndombele is not by instinct a defensive midfielder. Covering space and tackling are not his natural game. An old team-mate from ESA Linas-Montlhery told The Athletic he never used to make the defensive effort as a boy because he was too good to need to. And at times this season he has been exposed by being in the wrong place at the wrong time: Bayern Munich targeted the spaces where Ndombele was meant to be in the 7-2 win at Spurs.
Norwich are not exactly Bayern Munich but this could have been a difficult game for Ndombele. Mourinho trusted him with a hard job, at the heart of Spurs’ three-man midfield, with Giovanni Lo Celso and Christian Eriksen pushed up in front of him. “We played without a positional midfielder,” Mourinho explained afterwards. “No Harry Winks, no Eric Dier.”
So Ndombele had to do all the defensive work, dealing with the clever movement of Emiliano Buendia and Marco Stiepermann. And it didn’t come easily to him. With the game’s first attack, Buendia drove forward, Ndombele made a lazy attempt to push him and Paolo Gazzaniga had to dart out to block the through-ball. Clearly he sometimes over-commits without winning the ball, and at a cost: when Buendia robbed Juan Foyth, Ndombele tried to tackle him, lost his position, letting Mario Vrancic run through and beat Gazzaniga to score.
So if you want to pick holes in Ndombele’s performance, he gives you the opportunity.
But if you look at the bigger picture you will see a performance of unusual bravery, character and skill. It was Ndombele’s job to build the play from the back, something Spurs have struggled to do when it is Dier and Moussa Sissoko in there. But he always wanted the ball, even under the close attentions of Stiepermann. And one of the features of the afternoon was Ndombele skipping or rolling away from Stiepermann, taking the risk but pulling it off. The one time it went wrong was not his fault either, as he span Stiepermann and collided with Christian Eriksen, allowing Stiepermann to get a shot on goal.
The longer the game went on the better Ndombele got, defying the claims he doesn’t have the legs for 90 minutes. There is something thrilling about him, in his ambition and imagination and rawness. He hasn’t played very much senior professional football – he was on the brink of getting released by Amiens just three years ago – so his street-football skills, honed on the terrains rouges of the south Paris suburbs, haven’t been coached out of him. That gives his play a simple directness that many of his peers lack.
That is what most impressed Pochettino about Ndombele and convinced him to spend £55m on him in the summer. Every touch went forward. Every pass went forward. At times this season he has shown glimmers of that — his goal against Aston Villa, or Southampton, his Anfield cameo — but this was the most complete performance yet. Stiepermann, Buendia, Cantwell: it didn’t matter, Ndombele would find a way to wriggle past them and set Spurs on their way.
There is an easy comparison to be made with Mousa Dembele, who he has effectively replaced, but that is not the whole story. Dembele gave Spurs a serene power in the middle of the pitch, a man to hold on to the ball under any circumstances, allowing his team to regain their shape. Ndombele is less smooth but maybe more dynamic, more vertical, more about bursting forward, breaking the lines, driving his team up the pitch.
In the second half Mourinho switched from a 5-3-2 to a 4-2-3-1, putting more emphasis on Ndombele and Eriksen to start attacks. Spurs dominated, and without a second preventable Norwich goal they would surely have won the game. So while the result was poor, Mourinho was thrilled with Ndombele and midfield partner Eriksen after the game.
“For me they were phenomenal, they played very, very well,” Mourinho said. “There was always fluid football to the attacking players. The passing, the movement, turning, never playing backwards passes. Getting the ball, looking forward, getting between the lines, getting the ball to the wingers. Fantastic quality of football.”
Hearing Mourinho list those skills that Ndombele and Eriksen brought to the team, it did make you wonder whether a penny has dropped. Because there have been too many games recently when neither Ndombele nor Eriksen has started and Spurs have looked clueless in possession. Whether against Brighton, Chelsea or Wolves, the by-passing of Dier, Winks and Sissoko has left Spurs relying on long balls to Kane and Alli. But this game was different, mostly.
Eriksen was excellent again, running the game in the second half, playing passes none of his team-mates would see. Mourinho has found himself in the same situation as Pochettino, wanting to move the team on but realising that in fact he cannot live without his best midfielder. While there is a view in the dressing room that Eriksen will move next month, he would naturally get a better deal as a Bosman transfer in the summer. But until he goes, he gives Spurs skills that no-one else does.
Eriksen represents Spurs’ past and is still the best of their present, but Ndombele, on his 23rd birthday, gave a glimpse of a different future.

 

[Ronwol196061]

Spoiler: full text

There were three minutes left at Carrow Road on Saturday night and Tottenham were chasing a winner. Tanguy Ndombele pushed his first touch beyond Todd Cantwell, burst after it while shaping as if to cross with his right, dragged the ball back leaving Cantwell helpless on the floor, then recovered his balance and wrapped his right foot around the back of his standing left leg, delivering a perfect rabona cross into the box for Harry Kane to attempt an overhead kick.
It was classic Ndombele, the player known as “el Feinto” as a boy in the Guingamp academy, who made his name with his shuffles and skills, now finally showing a glimpse of what he can do for Spurs.
It felt like an announcement. This was a man making his second start under Jose Mourinho, completing 90 Premier League minutes for only the second time, a player who did not feel ready to face Brighton and Hove Albion on Boxing Day but who here, two days later, gave comfortably his best performance in a Tottenham shirt.
If this was a trial for Ndombele, then he passed it. If this was a test of whether Spurs were right to break their transfer record and pay Lyon £55million for him, then he passed that too. So far he has only had a minor role under Mauricio Pochettino and Jose Mourinho, having to convince not one manager but two that he is fit and responsible and disciplined enough for English football.
Having cost so much and played so little, Ndombele has obviously faced his share of criticisms. And not all of those criticisms are unfair. He has clearly struggled with the physical adaptation to English football, which is why he has been hooked early on so often. There is a huge leap between Ligue 1 and the Premier League. You simply have to do much more to win a Premier League game and the physical commitment required has sometimes looked beyond him.
Ndombele is not by instinct a defensive midfielder. Covering space and tackling are not his natural game. An old team-mate from ESA Linas-Montlhery told The Athletic he never used to make the defensive effort as a boy because he was too good to need to. And at times this season he has been exposed by being in the wrong place at the wrong time: Bayern Munich targeted the spaces where Ndombele was meant to be in the 7-2 win at Spurs.
Norwich are not exactly Bayern Munich but this could have been a difficult game for Ndombele. Mourinho trusted him with a hard job, at the heart of Spurs’ three-man midfield, with Giovanni Lo Celso and Christian Eriksen pushed up in front of him. “We played without a positional midfielder,” Mourinho explained afterwards. “No Harry Winks, no Eric Dier.”
So Ndombele had to do all the defensive work, dealing with the clever movement of Emiliano Buendia and Marco Stiepermann. And it didn’t come easily to him. With the game’s first attack, Buendia drove forward, Ndombele made a lazy attempt to push him and Paolo Gazzaniga had to dart out to block the through-ball. Clearly he sometimes over-commits without winning the ball, and at a cost: when Buendia robbed Juan Foyth, Ndombele tried to tackle him, lost his position, letting Mario Vrancic run through and beat Gazzaniga to score.
So if you want to pick holes in Ndombele’s performance, he gives you the opportunity.
But if you look at the bigger picture you will see a performance of unusual bravery, character and skill. It was Ndombele’s job to build the play from the back, something Spurs have struggled to do when it is Dier and Moussa Sissoko in there. But he always wanted the ball, even under the close attentions of Stiepermann. And one of the features of the afternoon was Ndombele skipping or rolling away from Stiepermann, taking the risk but pulling it off. The one time it went wrong was not his fault either, as he span Stiepermann and collided with Christian Eriksen, allowing Stiepermann to get a shot on goal.
The longer the game went on the better Ndombele got, defying the claims he doesn’t have the legs for 90 minutes. There is something thrilling about him, in his ambition and imagination and rawness. He hasn’t played very much senior professional football – he was on the brink of getting released by Amiens just three years ago – so his street-football skills, honed on the terrains rouges of the south Paris suburbs, haven’t been coached out of him. That gives his play a simple directness that many of his peers lack.
That is what most impressed Pochettino about Ndombele and convinced him to spend £55m on him in the summer. Every touch went forward. Every pass went forward. At times this season he has shown glimmers of that — his goal against Aston Villa, or Southampton, his Anfield cameo — but this was the most complete performance yet. Stiepermann, Buendia, Cantwell: it didn’t matter, Ndombele would find a way to wriggle past them and set Spurs on their way.
There is an easy comparison to be made with Mousa Dembele, who he has effectively replaced, but that is not the whole story. Dembele gave Spurs a serene power in the middle of the pitch, a man to hold on to the ball under any circumstances, allowing his team to regain their shape. Ndombele is less smooth but maybe more dynamic, more vertical, more about bursting forward, breaking the lines, driving his team up the pitch.
In the second half Mourinho switched from a 5-3-2 to a 4-2-3-1, putting more emphasis on Ndombele and Eriksen to start attacks. Spurs dominated, and without a second preventable Norwich goal they would surely have won the game. So while the result was poor, Mourinho was thrilled with Ndombele and midfield partner Eriksen after the game.
“For me they were phenomenal, they played very, very well,” Mourinho said. “There was always fluid football to the attacking players. The passing, the movement, turning, never playing backwards passes. Getting the ball, looking forward, getting between the lines, getting the ball to the wingers. Fantastic quality of football.”
Hearing Mourinho list those skills that Ndombele and Eriksen brought to the team, it did make you wonder whether a penny has dropped. Because there have been too many games recently when neither Ndombele nor Eriksen has started and Spurs have looked clueless in possession. Whether against Brighton, Chelsea or Wolves, the by-passing of Dier, Winks and Sissoko has left Spurs relying on long balls to Kane and Alli. But this game was different, mostly.
Eriksen was excellent again, running the game in the second half, playing passes none of his team-mates would see. Mourinho has found himself in the same situation as Pochettino, wanting to move the team on but realising that in fact he cannot live without his best midfielder. While there is a view in the dressing room that Eriksen will move next month, he would naturally get a better deal as a Bosman transfer in the summer. But until he goes, he gives Spurs skills that no-one else does.
Eriksen represents Spurs’ past and is still the best of their present, but Ndombele, on his 23rd birthday, gave a glimpse of a different future.

Fantastic article Clint and
Pelayo Thanks!

 

[dagraham]

We’ve already seen plenty from N’Dombele in short spells this season, so I don’t know why the Norwich game has been seen as some sort of revelation.

He’s clearly the most talented CM we have. Now it’s just about his fitness and play off the ball, so hopefully that can come sooner rather than later.

 

[Ronwol196061]

We’ve already seen plenty from N’Dombele in short spells this season, so I don’t know why the Norwich game has been seen as some sort of revelation.

He’s clearly the most talented CM we have. Now it’s just about his fitness and play off the ball, so hopefully that can come sooner rather than later.

Well this wasn't a short spell was it....

 

[dagraham]

Well this wasn't a short spell was it....

No it wasn’t. As I said the key is the fitness to play 90 mins.