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Ex-Spurs Player Tanguy Ndombele

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Something very strange is going on but it's a tad worrying. Whilst not overly excited about Nuno coming in I was confident that he'll have us play a better version of Jose ball, because he's more "now" than the dinosaur and he'll have us fitter.

Early signs of this were all on show, we were pressing teams, very aggressively from our midblock and lots of tackles and turnover as a consequence. But with every passing game this has got collectively worse (I think Dele is the only midfielder posting consistent defensive numbers tackles and pressures etc). but the midfield mid-block is now turning into a low-block and also becoming very passive, again.
There was a ton of encouraging things during the City match that weren't just opposition related that seem to have gone out the window already. It's really weird.
 
We didn't create a single thing after he went off!!!! NOTHING.

This was his first game for nearly 5 months, he did more than OK within this context. Without him, we are fucking shite, no midfield control, creativity absolute zero. Every single one of our chances last night he was involved in and/or started.



It wasn't a brilliant performance, it was an OK performance, but one of our better players on the night for sure.

We started well because he controlled the midfield. Immediately after we scored they were better, they took control of the midfield, I thought he and the other midfielders couldn't live with the oppo's aggression and quick tempo they set after we scored.

With the oppo now having most of the ball the game passed him by in midfield, he found himself too high or too deep, he couldn't get in the faces of the oppo (non of our midfield did, not just him).

2nd half we stepped up a tad, and we competed in midfield better than we did in the first half (or did this happen because the oppo wasn't as aggressive and as quick as they were in the period after we scored????).

People seriously need to stop focussing on what he can't do for now (without the ball) because seriously without him on the ball we are gash. He's genuinely the only hope we have to create something from midfield, there isn't a single midfielder in our squad who can create. I'd sacrifice anyone of our midfielders to ensure that he's playing, otherwise, we will be watching paint dry for a season.

Agree however I’m honestly not sure he is a centre midfielder - he doesn’t give us control but I agree with you other than that.

I would start him for the next ten or so games 100%, but possibly higher up the pitch
 


But please tell me more about Dele doing half marathons and Winks’ great attitude

People bring up his defensive work rate, but I think his work rate in possession is where things need to improve.

He's an average defender, better than most give him credit for, but his main job in the team is to progress the ball forward either by dribbling or line-breaking passes. However, in order to do that, he needs to basically get on the ball every time we gain possession. He was showing for the ball a lot in the first 15 minutes when we had the bulk of possession, but when Rennes were in the ascension and we lost control he wasn't available as much.

This is why pushing him further forward makes no sense to me - we need him to take the ball off the CBs and be that option for them. When Bergwijn went off injured and Nuno pushed Ndombele up a bit we basically had no ball progression at all. After half he dropped back more and Hojbjerg pushed forward, and Ndombele started getting on the ball again.

This was his first match in 5 months and he was good and basically everything we did moving forward he was involved with. A 4-3-3 with two other midfielders supporting him makes a ton of sense and should get the most out of him. If he and Lo Celso manage to not injure themselves for a stretch we could actually see what Poch was hoping to do with the midfield 2 years ago.
 
The dodgy penalty was Wolves of course in the other 1-0 we didn't really deserve to win (when the shit Adama Traore ripped them apart at will). That made everyone think everything was great.

The only side we've noticeably outplayed was Watford and that was a struggle...maybe Pacos the 2nd time, but they're shite.
 
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