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Player Watch - Tanguy Ndombele

Thenewcat

Well-Known Member
Aug 8, 2019
2,970
10,275
think we are being a bit harsh on him

we were like a headless chook last night and he was being played out of position, he's not match fit, we know this

it wasn't to long ago we were saying the same thing about GLC and some were contemplating not signing him after his loan then he got fit and had a good run of games and surprise surprise, we saw what he could do and he is one of our best players

if Ndomble can get fit and have a similar run in his proper position I've no doubt he will be just as good
There’s a difference between recovering from injury and base fitness not being good enough. I have never questioned Lo Celso’s fitness. The two cases aren’t the same at all
 

The Opinionated Lurker

Well-Known Member
Jun 9, 2019
720
2,554
Can’t wait for Tanguy to prove some in here wrong. Fans simply can’t be pleased; the same people who cry out that the midfield’s lacking in quality are the same ones who say we should look to sell Tanguy ? next season he’s gonna dominate the league imo
 

Zippy1980

Well-Known Member
Mar 23, 2018
3,313
6,707
Can’t wait for Tanguy to prove some in here wrong. Fans simply can’t be pleased; the same people who cry out that the midfield’s lacking in quality are the same ones who say we should look to sell Tanguy ? next season he’s gonna dominate the league imo
I agree if he looses 3 stone and get his resting heart rate below 100 beats per minute. Don’t think anybody is saying he is not great on the ball, it’s his fitness that is the problem.
 

Nick-TopSpursMan

Well-Known Member
Aug 4, 2005
4,000
18,942
Worth bearing in mind a massive amount of our fans wrote Lo Celso off in recent times....

Every player is different, every player adapts at different speeds. Some players take much longer to build fitness than others. Look at Hazard for example, he gains weight very quickly and always took much longer than other players to build fitness at Chelsea (I know this for a fact due to connections at Chelsea).

His fitness at the moment is not good enough but let's give him time to sort it. If by this time next season it's still not good enough then questions need to be raised. But many, many players have taken a year to adapt to the PL and its relentless intensity.
 

HildoSpur

Likes Erik Lamela, deal with it.
Oct 1, 2005
8,958
28,085
People are a bit frustrated by him at the moment because you can clearly see his talent - he is a potentially world class player.
 

Thenewcat

Well-Known Member
Aug 8, 2019
2,970
10,275
Can’t wait for Tanguy to prove some in here wrong. Fans simply can’t be pleased; the same people who cry out that the midfield’s lacking in quality are the same ones who say we should look to sell Tanguy ? next season he’s gonna dominate the league imo
I’ve seen very few saying he should be sold and almost none who can’t see his potential. He isn’t fit enough. If he gets fits enough then that will be brilliant and I think he will be a real force, but it won’t prove us wrong, because right now his fitness is an embarrassment
 

spursfan77

Well-Known Member
Aug 13, 2005
46,679
104,956
Can’t wait for Tanguy to prove some in here wrong. Fans simply can’t be pleased; the same people who cry out that the midfield’s lacking in quality are the same ones who say we should look to sell Tanguy ? next season he’s gonna dominate the league imo

I don’t think people are saying sell him. Just that it wouldn’t be a surprise if he was sold. They’re two completely different things.
 

dagraham

Well-Known Member
Sep 20, 2005
19,115
46,080
I don’t think people are saying sell him. Just that it wouldn’t be a surprise if he was sold. They’re two completely different things.

Absolutely this.

Hopefully he can sort his fitness out and improve his work rate, because if anyone thinks that a player like we’re seeing will survive long term in a Mourinho team hasn’t been paying attention.
 

mpickard2087

Patient Zero
Jun 13, 2008
21,886
32,512
He has completed 90 mins a lot during his career though so unless you are suggesting for a giggle he decided that he would fuck off the cardio since joining your point is bollocks.

He has had a number of issues which they have been trying not to exacerbate. His special training program is probably building up strength in certain areas to make him less likely to get repeating injuries.

Our whole team has looked knackered all season as they have played an awful lot of football over the last couple of years and have been met with gruelling training camps. Ndombele needs time, that’s time to build strength and stamina back up, to get match fit, to learn how Mourinho wants him to play, and have confidence that he can fully throw himself about without picking up yet another injury.

If that’s lad looks the same way in a year, come back and we can talk, until then people need to stop being cock jackets about him. The irony is that half the people criticising his fitness are probably mouth breathing before they get to the top of a flight of stairs

I'm not interested in what he has done previously, I am only focused on what has happened at Spurs. We now have over 6 months worth of evidence.

Tell me what I have said that is untrue?

He rocks up to pre-season, uninjured. During these pre-season games he is demonstrably absolutely knackered after 15 mins. At least one of the games (the back to back schedule in the Audi Cup I believe), he is the only one in the squad who gets 'rested' after such a short turnaround, Poch says he is doing 'special training'.

He then features sporadically throughout the autumn, between injuries, doing largely the same. Pick any game you want it is the same pattern. Has an ok start with the ball, shows some at times serious quality, as the first half goes on the familiar sight kicks in though - bent at the double trying to catch his breath, no longer doing defensive work, stops looking for and getting the ball, and out of the game. Clearly knackered. All (way) before half time.

The only game that is different is the Norwich game, where with the ball he got better as the game went on, though defensively and running back it was still exactly the same where he couldnt do the work. Still, progress I'll readily concede. However very much the anomaly.

He's then back last night, after 'special training' under yet another manager, who says his fitness is a problem, and it's like no progress at all from pre-season. An ok start to the game, after 20 minutes he's done for.

People can try and obfuscate and explain away and take it off on a different tangent or say the man on the street isn't able to cast judgement on him, if they want. But this isn't simply a case of someone not quite up to speed with the PL or not quite doing a 90 minutes. Not quite doing 45 mins would be progress at the moment! And that 'the whole squad is knackered' argument is pure baloney. These guys might not be firing on all cylinders and look a weary group in need of revolution, but none of them are a spent force after 20 mins, every single one of them is fitness wise levels above him on what we see, week in week out.

I feel it needs saying again, I (and I think everyone) fully agree their is a guy with serious ability there who potentially is a super footballer. But I'm not going to be wishy washy and ignore what is going on. As I have asked repeatedly now, and no one has ever had an answer for me which says it all, name me another player at Spurs (or any pro footballer) who you have ever seen bent over after 20 mins gasping for air, and then every couple of mins afterwards, can no longer run and is done for? Game after game. I don't think you can. If that doesn't concern you, then fucking hell. Fuck off it's not worth talking about, 6 months down the line at that, and fans left scratching their head about it. Something is wrong, whether it's within his control or not. I just hope the club is getting to the bottom of it because we all want to see him showcase the full extent of his abilities ASAP and get the player we thought we were getting.
 

Mark_147

Well-Known Member
Aug 24, 2011
1,807
3,019
I don’t think people are saying sell him. Just that it wouldn’t be a surprise if he was sold. They’re two completely different things.
[/QUOTE
I don’t think people are saying sell him. Just that it wouldn’t be a surprise if he was sold. They’re two completely different things.
Who's going to pay 63m for him in his current form, and I can guarantee Levy won't be taking a loss.
 

spursfan77

Well-Known Member
Aug 13, 2005
46,679
104,956
I'm not interested in what he has done previously, I am only focused on what has happened at Spurs. We now have over 6 months worth of evidence.

Tell me what I have said that is untrue?

He rocks up to pre-season, uninjured. During these pre-season games he is demonstrably absolutely knackered after 15 mins. At least one of the games (the back to back schedule in the Audi Cup I believe), he is the only one in the squad who gets 'rested' after such a short turnaround, Poch says he is doing 'special training'.

He then features sporadically throughout the autumn, between injuries, doing largely the same. Pick any game you want it is the same pattern. Has an ok start with the ball, shows some at times serious quality, as the first half goes on the familiar sight kicks in though - bent at the double trying to catch his breath, no longer doing defensive work, stops looking for and getting the ball, and out of the game. Clearly knackered. All (way) before half time.

The only game that is different is the Norwich game, where with the ball he got better as the game went on, though defensively and running back it was still exactly the same where he couldnt do the work. Still, progress I'll readily concede. However very much the anomaly.

He's then back last night, after 'special training' under yet another manager, who says his fitness is a problem, and it's like no progress at all from pre-season. An ok start to the game, after 20 minutes he's done for.

People can try and obfuscate and explain away and take it off on a different tangent or say the man on the street isn't able to cast judgement on him, if they want. But this isn't simply a case of someone not quite up to speed with the PL or not quite doing a 90 minutes. Not quite doing 45 mins would be progress at the moment! And that 'the whole squad is knackered' argument is pure baloney. These guys might not be firing on all cylinders and look a weary group in need of revolution, but none of them are a spent force after 20 mins, every single one of them is fitness wise levels above him on what we see, week in week out.

I feel it needs saying again, I (and I think everyone) fully agree their is a guy with serious ability there who potentially is a super footballer. But I'm not going to be wishy washy and ignore what is going on. As I have asked repeatedly now, and no one has ever had an answer for me which says it all, name me another player at Spurs (or any pro footballer) who you have ever seen bent over after 20 mins gasping for air, and then every couple of mins afterwards, can no longer run and is done for? Game after game. I don't think you can. If that doesn't concern you, then fucking hell. Fuck off it's not worth talking about, 6 months down the line at that, and fans left scratching their head about it. Something is wrong, whether it's within his control or not. I just hope the club is getting to the bottom of it because we all want to see him showcase the full extent of his abilities ASAP and get the player we thought we were getting.

Spot on. I've never known anything like it in professional football. Maybe he's got a brother...
 

Khilari

Plumber. Sort of.
Jun 19, 2008
3,461
5,287
I feel it needs saying again, I (and I think everyone) fully agree their is a guy with serious ability there who potentially is a super footballer. But I'm not going to be wishy washy and ignore what is going on. As I have asked repeatedly now, and no one has ever had an answer for me which says it all, name me another player at Spurs (or any pro footballer) who you have ever seen bent over after 20 mins gasping for air, and then every couple of mins afterwards, can no longer run and is done for? Game after game. I don't think you can. If that doesn't concern you, then fucking hell. Fuck off it's not worth talking about, 6 months down the line at that, and fans left scratching their head about it. Something is wrong, whether it's within his control or not. I just hope the club is getting to the bottom of it because we all want to see him showcase the full extent of his abilities ASAP and get the player we thought we were getting.

Gotta say he was massively off the pace from about 35min onwards. Rubbish tracking back, very little pressing (he wasn't the only one) and almost no ability to sprint.

We have quite a small sample size to work off but he actually looked less fit yesterday than his first few matches at Spurs. Something else is going on because he looks really badly out of shape.
 

daryl hannah

Berry Berry Calm
Sep 1, 2014
2,674
7,717
He played 3900 minutes of football (over 49 matches) in 18/19 season in ligue 1. So he can definitely do back to back 90 mins looking at his minutes stats.


must be an injury.

edit: just hope it's not his fucking knees.
 

dudu

Well-Known Member
Jan 28, 2011
5,314
11,048
He played 3900 minutes of football (over 49 matches) in 18/19 season in ligue 1. So he can definitely do back to back 90 mins looking at his minutes stats.


must be an injury.

edit: just hope it's not his fucking knees.

Injury to what?

PLayers regularly play through injury/pain and aren't blowing after 15 mins. I played squash last night with an injured knee after not playing for two weeks having had a 7-day long flu last week. I busted a gut for 60 mins lunging for every ball I could conceivably get to.

What really frustrated me last night is a few times he made poor passes or got robbed trying to beat a man in a silly area and he pointed to others not being in the right place and stuff.
 

chelmyid

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2010
435
1,568
The worrying thing also though is he’s not the only one of our players that looks really unfit what the hell did poch do to them in the summer?

It’s weird this all seems to have come from when poch employer his son as the fitness coach?

we used to be the fittest team in the league but it looks like poch is regime has burned out a few players and initially looks like it’s broken Tanguy.

dier
Jan
Rose
Even winks at times
Dele
Wanyama
Plus more like physically shot at times!
Agreed
And read contes comments about eriksen not being fit enough at the moment and mourinhos comments about the team not being able to press for more than 30mins etc - very strange indeed
 

Colonel Dax

Well-Known Member
Jul 24, 2008
2,946
12,289
Injury to what?

Probably a mental issue. He had an injury, lost some fitness and form and combined with moving to a new country and adjusting to a more physical and intensive league is struggling to cope. He seems like a quiet / introverted guy so that doesn't help. Hopefully in time he'll sort things out.
 
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dudu

Well-Known Member
Jan 28, 2011
5,314
11,048
Probably a mental issue. He had an injury, lost some fitness and form and combined with moving to a new country and adjusting to a more physical / intensive league is struggling to cope. Hopefully in time he'll sort things out.

One would hope so.

Every human is different and if he is struggling mentally with that side of things then I hope he is seeing someone to sort it out. It can be much harder to move on from a mental issue than a physical one at times.

That being said, the only person stopping him from being able to move on is himself. No one else can drag him out of that state of mind and with the best will in the world, we can afford to rely on someone who isn't mentally prepared to work and think like an elite sportsman.
 
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