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Player Watch - Tanguy Ndombele

Everlasting Seconds

Well-Known Member
Jan 9, 2014
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I miss the days when everyone on here was being amateur psychologists by judging Eriksen's body language and whether he was fully engaged or not, those were simpler times but so long ago.
article-2593232-1CB6026D00000578-53_636x382.jpg

The player to the left in this picture didn't care. He was leaning up against a wall for crying in the night.
He's the only one left of all within this picture frame.
 

SpartanSpur

Well-Known Member
Jan 27, 2011
12,552
43,063
It's all up to the player - it should be easy to earn our support. All Ndombele needs to do is a few sprints and show some bloody effort, and trust me fans will we cheering and applauding him on. Unless you're stupid, fans will want to see him succeed because that means the team will succeed.

Exactly - it's pretty much how GLC went from 'Jose is unconvinced' to key player in a couple of months. The pathway couldn't be any clearer for Ndombele. It's up to him.
 

SpartanSpur

Well-Known Member
Jan 27, 2011
12,552
43,063
GLC only got a chance because of an injury to Sissoko otherwise I doubt he would be here come summer.

Regardless of how he got his chance he took it, that's the point. I got the impression he almost lost his chance with Jose at Bayern (A), where I suspect he got a similar talking to that Ndombele has been given in recent weeks. He responded.

Ndombele has probably had even more opportunities and the results are not good so far.

Must be exhausting trying to twist everything in life to be either pure luck or Mourinho's fault.
 

EastLondonYid

Well-Known Member
Jan 26, 2010
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''If you don't have to drag yourself off the field exhausted after 90 minutes, you can't claim to have done your best."

Spoken by our greatest ever manager.......he would be turning in his grave watching a 60m player strolling around.
 

chelmyid

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2010
435
1,568
We dont know if there are any mitigating circumstances ,what Jose says to him. How defensive he wants him to play. I know it doesnt change the situation much but we have heard a lot if Jose but almost nothing from NDombeles perspective
There are zero mitigating circumstances for lack of effort - apart from perhaps injury and if that were the case I would bet a lot of money Jose wouldn’t be calling him out publicly.
Black and white terms - He is being highlighted for a lack of effort (the polar opposite to Gio when he was struggling for football etc) and it’s just in my opinion. He is being paid a kings ransom to professionally perform and the first part of any performance is effort and commitment
 

chelmyid

Well-Known Member
Aug 25, 2010
435
1,568
I know I'm a little late to the table on this but personally I find it a bit much to criticize a player publicly who's only 23, recently moved to the club/country, has struggled with Injuries and has had to deal with a change of manager and thusly change of tactics/philosophy. I find it really bad man management. Sure, if he was shocking, talk to him in private. But it wasn't exactly an easy task that game. He was started alongside Skipp who's only played a handful of matches. I agree he needs to up his game, but he's not alone. We have too many players who have looked just as lost and unfocused. What Jose said could have been worse, but he shouldn't have said anything at all about a player in his situation.
How do you know he has t already talked to him in private?
As I’ve said, new country, new language, new surroundings etc - none of that is an excuse for lack of effort
 

rez9000

Any point?
Feb 8, 2007
11,942
21,098
The noise around Ndombele has not been good. What the truth is I don't know. Is he lazy or just struggling with adapting to a new country, new situation and new league? Is he carrying an injury or is he fit and if so is he really match fit? Is he just being picked on by the manager, who has a reputation for being a bit of a bully? Certainly as fans we see skill on the ball yet what we perceive as a lack of application. Having surmised all that we shouldn't forget that it can take players a long time to adapt. People have short memories but the first two years Dembele was with us he was next to useless however when he got injury free, got match fit we saw a hugely different player. Son, Lucas and many others took a good while to start to shine. So I choose to cut Ndombele some slack and not make him the latest in a long line of scapegoats from the terraces
Every one of the players you cited applied themselves. They may have been poor to begin with, but they tried, they put the effort in on the pitch. You said it yourself, Ndombele isn't applying himself. You can't excuse a player on the basis that others have struggled as well when they put in the effort and he hasn't.

And I wouldn't say anyone is scapegoating him. First off, the term scapegoat usually carries the idea that the person being scapegoated bears no responsibility. Second, the criticism is about his application, not about the effect of that other than the possibility that his teammates won't be happy about it. I've not seen anyone saying that he's responsible for any negative outcomes we've experienced recently. You can't scapegoat someone for something they've actually done. :)
 

rez9000

Any point?
Feb 8, 2007
11,942
21,098
I'd love for us all to get behind him- he's immensely talented and even of he wasn't he's our player and we should support him through it imo. If it doesn't work out it doesn't work out. Look at how Sissoko turned it around.
He doesn't appear to be trying. It's a two-way street. If you give your all, fans are generally very forgiving. I hate to sound like a broken record, but I have to once again cite the example of Steffan Freund. Didn't always do good things on the pitch, but always gave everything. And we loved him for it, because he showed he was willing to put in the work to get us what we wanted. When Ndombele does that, I'll be his staunchest backer, but he has to show that he's willing to work and I've not seen that yet.
 

hughy

I'm SUPER cereal.
Nov 18, 2007
31,840
56,924
''If you don't have to drag yourself off the field exhausted after 90 minutes, you can't claim to have done your best."

Spoken by our greatest ever manager.......he would be turning in his grave watching a 60m player strolling around.
"A game is not won until it is lost"

Spoken by our second greatest ever (caretaker) manager. Absolutely no relevance to what you said, but a brilliant quote nonetheless.
 

rez9000

Any point?
Feb 8, 2007
11,942
21,098
Still making it up as you go along I see.
The thing is that fedupBob still doesn't understand that he's missed the point. Let's say that what he says is true that GLC only got a chance because Sissoko got injured - he still applied himself when he got that chance.
 
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