- Jul 30, 2004
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Arrogance does not mean the absence of asking questions.
The OED defines arrogant as: (of a person, attitude etc) aggressively assertive or presumptuous, overbearing - Arrogance - (Noun).
From what I have seen of Tanguy N'Dombele, I would not describe him as aggressively assertive or overbearing, indeed I'd say that on the pitch he is nowhere near assertive enough, and often appears to be looking for places to hide, but I'd suggest there is more than a hint of presumptuousness. He presumes he does not need to be match fit to perform. He presumes that it is unfair that he should be put through gruelling fitness programmes (as when he wanted to leave the Club when Pochettino put him through hard graft). He presumes that it is unfair that his friends may be sold to other clubs. He presumes that he does not need to close down either players or spaces when he is in a competitive match. He presumes that if he can't get through a physical challenge it must be because he is fouled, and he presumes he can either lie down or sit with his arms in the air rather than tracking back to retrieve the ball. That is not assertive, it is whingeing.
Frankly from what I have seen so far, Tanguy N'Dombele is a prodigiously talented waste of space.
The solution is not to explore any and every avenue to support him more than he has been to date, it is for him to make himself undroppable.
If he stays then a massive improvement will be needed. He may turn it around, but it is up to him to do so.
To your argument. You presume that you know these things about him, his motivation, his strategy on the pitch, his feelings about how his teammates have been treated. You presume to know his mind, soul, heart because you've seen him play football in a way you don't like and you've heard some gossip?
Tell me who is arrogant?
With regards to thinking you know the answers because you saw it on the internet, the OED definition does not deal with the origins of the word or how it was made.
The 'a' of anything is its absence: amoral, asexual, apolitical.
Rogare it the latin for 'to ask'
The term 'arrogance' was coined to explain those people so deluded and self righteous that they presume to know all the answers and stop asking questions. Like people who google a word to see if they can win a lost argument through semantics.