Tanguy Ndombele has revealed that Jose Mourinho’s criticism of his performances last season didn’t exactly get to him and that he simply just took the words on board and went to work.
The Frenchman joined Tottenham for a record-breaking fee last season and he was expected to help the club kick on after reaching the final of the Champions League in the previous campaign.
He didn’t start his time in England well and when the club fired Mauricio Pochettino, he had to deal with the very demanding Jose Mourinho.
The pair fell out and Mourinho even publicly criticised him after a game against Burnley in which he was hauled off after half time.
The Special One had suggested that the former Lyon midfielder wasn’t pulling his weight and he hoped that this campaign would be better.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Ndombele admitted that those words were harsh, but he said, they didn’t motivate him or hurt him.
He said: “His words didn’t hurt me. They didn’t necessarily motivate me either.
“It was just something that I assimilated and took on board. Of course it’s not something that you like to hear, those sort of words, but that was last season and we are looking to the future.”
Forgiven but not forgotten. I personally think Tottenham people were way to hard on him considering his age and the circumstances. Jose was just frustrated coz he needed him desperately, them times ndoms mind wasn’t on it. His mind was filled with other stuff. He was proper unsettled (not only in his mind) People going on about his big wages like that meant anything to him. No real mates no family no real home..not understanding the lingo is a big frustrating thing (nothing worse than not being able to join in a conversation. (Trust me I know) Living in digs as it were (albeit posh digs comfort eating) is still $h!t, was probably doubting the move. anyway he’s settling now. Ndom. Enjoy this great city son. Find new friends outside of work. A rednapp arm woulda been great. He’d a made sure he had his afternoons/ evenings filled and stuff like that.
This for me is a classic case of Mourinho exerting his authority on the squad. “Record signing? Yes of course I’ll drop him if he doesn’t work hard”. It looks like this might have backfired as Tanguy is probably not the sort of character to respond well to this type of stimulus – he’d probably enjoy a Redknapp arm round the shoulder more.
I hope they have ironed this out now because it’s clear Tanguy can be an exceptional player, and one we badly need.