- Sep 2, 2004
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I'm sure this will get a few of the residents riled up but he wasn't this bad under Poch. Mourinho's style of management has not at all helped with him and seems like he's shutting down. He played more under Poch, was more influential and tried much harder. Thinking back to the Man City game early in the season and he was a monster defensively at the end of the game making tackle after tackle to stop their attacks.
I've no doubt Poch was a huge reason we were able to convince him to join and now he's got this new guy who calls him out to the press.
2 goals, 3 assists in 14 games under Poch. 0 goasl, 1 assist in 13 games under Mourinho. Its the managers job to make the most out of what he has available. Our record signing, and imo possibly our most talented player, has gone backwards under him and he seems like he'd rather make a point than try to make it work. To up his fitness he needs to play, to me its clear as day Ndombele needs to be encouraged rather than called out to give effort on the field. Play him as a 10 with Lo Celso and whoever else behind him doing all the running, we're already horrid defensively its not going to make any difference.
I agree with your point on him playing better under Poch but how many of those games did we win compared to Mourinho's matches. The manager has to set up the team to win and not just to get the best out of one player I'm sure you'll agree. If JM sees that Ndombele creates a defensive liability through his lack of work rate on the pitch I'm sure no amount of assists will make him an attractive choice compared to Winks and Lo Celso.
I really hope he can turn it around but after seeing Paul Robinson's inside information on the topic I can really see why Mourinho has called him out.
When players are publicly criticised they deal with it one of two way: they buckle down and prove the detractors wrong or they turn on the critics and say "eff you, I'll do what I want". The Instagram post from Ndombele whilst potentially innocent does not indicate the mentality of someone with a point to prove. It's seems to be more of someone who's not interested in heeding the warning of his manager.
I hope I am wrong.