When Jose Mourinho goaded Sky Sports reporter Patrick Davidson into asking him about Tanguy Ndombele after our disappointing 1-1 draw with Burnley in March, Tottenham fans started to fear the worst.
There always seems to be one player per club that the Portuguese falls out with and it’s often the maverick talent who goes on to success somewhere else. We’ve only just got Ndombele; we haven’t seen anywhere near his best. Don’t ruin this for us already, is what some of us were thinking.
Several pundits and former players criticised Mourinho for being so openly scathing about a young player new to the Premier League, but it seems that Jose’s unique style of motivation has worked on the Frenchman.
According to Football London’s Alasdair Gold, Mourinho and his coaching staff have been thrilled with Ndombele’s response and application during lockdown, and the midfielder looked leaner and brighter while scoring in Friday’s 11 vs. 11 practice match at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
And these Spurs fans reckon Jose knew what he was doing all along…
Oh wait weren’t we meant to believe he was ‘bullying’ Ndombele though? Haha. Man management at its finest. Tanguy needed that kick up the arse 👍🏼
— 🇮🇱 (@N17Yids_) June 6, 2020
— Khaleel (@Mroy____) June 6, 2020
“Mourinhos a bully”
— Dylan🏴 (@SpursMa70313861) June 6, 2020
Hopefully this is true cos if he actually starts working he’ll become the prems best CM
— ًَ (@J0RDANFT) June 6, 2020
Wouldn’t choose anyone else to his Jose’s ‘man’. The potential tanguy has is insane, and if anyone can get it out of him its Jose
— Luke (@lukeC00YS) June 6, 2020
This is what a kick up the ass from Mourinho can do. Certain people told me it was a negative thing 😭 https://t.co/rNcZxTJvmA
— MK🎓 (@TongeeNdombeIe) June 6, 2020
While a positive report from Gold, it is obviously too soon to say whether Tanguy has turned things around. The proof will be in these next nine games…
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