Why Ndombele could be a bigger problem than Spurs realised

[Gassin's finest]

Pff, Mark Noble does that every week.

 

[sebo_sek]

It’s not looking good for him imo, this isn’t the only time I’ve seen him act like this when pretending to track back. I can’t honestly believe that this is the guy Pochettino was so desperate to sign, he’s lazy, unfit and the very antithesis of a Poch player, let alone a Mourinho player.

He’s clearly got bags of talent, but that’s going to account to fuck all of he doesn’t pull his finger out and work hard.

The Poch sides of 3 years ago, yes. For the Poch side of last year or this, he seems perfect. Just as slow as our play.

 

[spurslenny]

I'm willing to give him at least until mid way through next season to draw a conclusion on him one way or other.
I agree his performances and demeanour look pretty damming at this stage, but there have been many examples of players with off field issues (be that family, acclimatising to a new city/country, or felt lack of love or acceptance from new team mates) who have underperformed on the pitch as a result.
He'd probably admit himself that he's not doing himself any credit thus far.

Time will tell I guess what sort of player we have.

 

[Buggsy61]

Still time for him to adapt and get his head straight (what is he 22/23), but despite his undoubted talent there are certainly some worrying signs. He does seem to go into his shell a bit when challenged and left in a heap, and I am sure opposition coaches will have noticed that and encouraging their midfield to let him know early that he is in a game.
For all Levy's frugality we never seem to spend really big money well. A lot of our record transfers have ended up as relative flops - Rebrov, Soldado, Lamela (that one will divide opinion!) to name a few so hope Tanguy does not follow in their footsteps.

 

[Spurs' Pipe Dreams]

It's attitude pure and simple, it's about wanting the ball and winning it back for your team.

He either doesn't feel at home yet and doesn't care about winning or losing, or he just doesn't care enough about football full stop.

Yeah, he's had a couple of niggly injuries but he's been in full training for well over a month and had a full pre-season. It's about attitude and both he and Aurier's attitudes stink, you wouldn't get that from Sissoko, Winks etc and I hope when we get rid of Serge, Ndombele bucks his ideas up or he will become a very expensive flop

 

[UncleBuck]

It's attitude pure and simple, it's about wanting the ball and winning it back for your team.

He either doesn't feel at home yet and doesn't care about winning or losing, or he just doesn't care enough about football full stop.

Yeah, he's had a couple of niggly injuries but he's been in full training for well over a month and had a full pre-season. It's about attitude and both he and Aurier's attitudes stink, you wouldn't get that from Sissoko, Winks etc and I hope when we get rid of Serge, Ndombele bucks his ideas up or he will become a very expensive flop

Spot on, even making allowances for settling in doesn't excuse a perceived lack of effort. First season at a new club surely you'd be busting a gut at the opportunity with a new club? Given the fact that he's only managed a few games you'd have thought he'd be raring to go when given an opportunity on the pitch to prove himself...

 

[Spurs' Pipe Dreams]

Spot on, even making allowances for settling in doesn't excuse a perceived lack of effort. First season at a new club surely you'd be busting a gut at the opportunity with a new club? Given the fact that he's only managed a few games you'd have thought he'd be raring to go when given an opportunity on the pitch to prove himself...

Lamela would be a good starting point imho. Injuries galore but always gives his all, sometimes to his detriment and silly yellows

 

[spursbhoy67]

The concern for me is our recruitment policy.

Who watched the player? How many times? How many people? Did the manager? Was their a background check on training attitude? Commitment to improving? What were the red flags? Who was he compared to? Did anyone look into his fitness history? His playing history? Distance covered? High intensity runs forward? Recovery runs? Etc. Etc.

I know in the past we had a good scouting system and depth charts for each position, but that does not seem to be the case at the moment.

The likes of Celtic, Wolves, Leipzig and Dortmund have moved ahead of us in terms of signing potential diamonds and all four clubs have players we could and should have signed at some point. Although that could be said of other teams too.

Having said that, who was responsible for signing Ndombele ahead of or even instead of Fernandes now of United?

 

[PLTuck]

The concern for me is our recruitment policy.

Who watched the player? How many times? How many people? Did the manager? Was their a background check on training attitude? Commitment to improving? What were the red flags? Who was he compared to? Did anyone look into his fitness history? His playing history? Distance covered? High intensity runs forward? Recovery runs? Etc. Etc.

I know in the past we had a good scouting system and depth charts for each position, but that does not seem to be the case at the moment.

The likes of Celtic, Wolves, Leipzig and Dortmund have moved ahead of us in terms of signing potential diamonds and all four clubs have players we could and should have signed at some point. Although that could be said of other teams too.

Having said that, who was responsible for signing Ndombele ahead of or even instead of Fernandes now of United?

We don't like that word round these parts

(but agree with your post)

 

[tcyrus]

I'm embarrassed !
and its got nothing to do with me

 

[cider spurs]

My old dog used to put more effort in when it was shagging my leg.

 

[tonester]

I think you make a lot of good points here. I don't know who is old enough to remember but Carl Hoddle, Glenn's brother also came through our academy and by all accounts was highly skilled, but his body wasn't suited to football and lacked serious mobility. Never came through and struggled even in the lower leagues.

Funny you should reference Carl! He played for Barnet for a few seasons and I saw him score a cracker from 30 yards once. But on the whole he was crap!

 

[southlondonyiddo]

I’d love to see him given at least 18mins tonight. Unless he hasn’t had enough recovery time from Sunday of course

 

[Chedozie]

My old dog used to put more effort in when it was shagging my leg.

You’ll be in the “dog” house, if she reads that!

 

[DCSPUR]

watch this video of him against Man City - he ran that game last year. Let's see if Jose can get him to that level.
Bet is yes:

 

[Chedozie]

The concern for me is our recruitment policy.

Who watched the player? How many times? How many people? Did the manager? Was their a background check on training attitude? Commitment to improving? What were the red flags? Who was he compared to? Did anyone look into his fitness history? His playing history? Distance covered? High intensity runs forward? Recovery runs? Etc. Etc.

I know in the past we had a good scouting system and depth charts for each position, but that does not seem to be the case at the moment.

The likes of Celtic, Wolves, Leipzig and Dortmund have moved ahead of us in terms of signing potential diamonds and all four clubs have players we could and should have signed at some point. Although that could be said of other teams too.

Having said that, who was responsible for signing Ndombele ahead of or even instead of Fernandes now of United?

When Levy signs a deal for over sixty (60) million, I’m sure due diligence is done and with Levy in mind I’d also think one of the reasons Ndombele was favoured over Fernandes wold be the age, Ndombele being 22/23 and Fernandes being 27/28.

From my memory, Waddle, Paul Stewart and Anderton all had very poor first seasons and proved to be great signings.

For the time being, we should remain open minded on the Ndombele front.

 

[davidmatzdorf]

watch this video of him against Man City - he ran that game last year. Let's see if Jose can get him to that level.
Bet is yes:

It's an illuminating collection of clips, especially as it's one match and against a Premier League side, but even there at 21, his running appears laboured. It's a strange contrast that I alluded to above: with the ball at his feet, especially in tight spaces, he's quicksilver, but when he has to make ground, he sort of lumbers up to moderate speed. As someone else wrote, he doesn't run like a 21/22 year old.

I have a prejudice in favour of players who prefer to make the ball do the work. I mentioned Riquelme above, but also Carrick and Pirlo are different examples and, of course, Iniesta. But many of that kind of player need to have a team built around their skill-set - they need someone to provide cover and to take pressure off them, so they can do magic things. I'm not sure that's practical in the PL in 2020 and I don't think it's Mourinho's way of doing things. His midfielders can be exemplary, but they aren't usually magicians.

 

[Chedozie]

It's an illuminating collection of clips, especially as it's one match and against a Premier League side, but even there at 21, his running appears laboured. It's a strange contrast that I alluded to above: with the ball at his feet, especially in tight spaces, he's quicksilver, but when he has to make ground, he sort of lumbers up to moderate speed. As someone else wrote, he doesn't run like a 21/22 year old.

I have a prejudice in favour of players who prefer to make the ball do the work. I mentioned Riquelme above, but also Carrick and Pirlo are different examples and, of course, Iniesta. But many of that kind of player need to have a team built around their skill-set - they need someone to provide cover and to take pressure off them, so they can do magic things. I'm not sure that's practical in the PL in 2020 and I don't think it's Mourinho's way of doing things. His midfielders can be exemplary, but they aren't usually magicians.

From those clips and what we’ve seen from him so far, he doesn’t run with the ball.

Poch spoke a lot about this last season, about it not being necessary to have fast players, to play quickly, when teams are defending deep, the fast movement of mind and the ball, being more important.

 

[millhouse]

Tom "Burger van" Huddlestone for example.

Tom "20" Huddlestones

 

[Shadydan]

We were watching him for well over a year and could have signed him the season before so I'm sure we did our due diligence having said that I don't think Levy would have gone anywhere near him if he wasn't under pressure from Poch to get his first choice in. If you recall we signed him pretty early in the window and smashed our transfer record which was unusual for us - not saying that this was on Poch but I think the culmination of the situation of not buying anyone in 2018 and the pressure we put ourselves under meant we HAD to get this one done.

Anyway he's our problem now, I said this before that his mentality isn't up to anywhere near where it should be, he's weak minded and needs to want to improve mentally and physically, so far it looks like he's declining and going into his shell which isn't good. I just think right now he's probably shell shocked if anything at the fact that he's playing in a vastly superior league for a big club and he's the club's record signing, I just think that mentally he cannot cope with that kind of pressure yet and he's not maximising his potential. I'm hoping that this co-indices with our form and our morale and when we improve as a team he will get a bit more settled.