One of the most frustrating players at Tottenham is Tanguy Ndombele. That he is a massive talent is undoubted but his lack of consistency and application is there for all to see and Antonio Conte is just as aware of that as the rest of us.
Conte is not one that suffers fools easily and he has more or less made it clear what he expects from the Frenchman and you can take it to the bank that he will not be giving the 24-year-old too many chances.
Ndombele has been a pain for all the Tottenham managers he has played under and it is very probable that if he does not convince Conte that he can be an asset, he will be shipped out, there will be no room for passengers.
This morning Conte was before the press for the pre-match press conference and Ndombele was one of many players the former Inter Milan manager was asked about.
This is what Conte had to say when asked about the player as quoted by Football.London.
“Yeah, I have seen that many managers struggle about this situation, about the position. For sure Tanguy has the quality. At the same time, he has to understand that there is a team and he has to play into the team”
“I think it means that it is important to keep order and to do what the position asks you to do”
“For sure with Tanguy we are working. We are working very hard. He has to work much more than the others, because as you say he has talent but he has to put this talent into the team for the best of the team, not for the single-player”
“In my football, I have an idea and in this idea, there are tasks for the players. Every single player has to know what he has to do. Otherwise, if every player just goes and runs around the pitch, I think it will be a mess”
Indeed.. Unless PSG have sacked him by then. They sacked Tuchel who won them everything and got them to the CL final.. So they sacked him for not winning it, quite shocking really.. Botchy has Messi there now too, really hope he wins it anyway.
You are talking about a whole lot of stuff Conte did not get into. He said he has a plan that is team oriented and he wants Tanguy to fit into the position and contribute to the team in that position while working harder for himself and the team. All that Levy in this moment has no bearing on the mess Conte is trying to get a pulse out of until January. My take is that he saw the enigma in Tanguy and may be working to have him fill one of the 2 positions long term at #10 or #8 since the holding mid has enough there to hold up. What I get from him is that managers along with Tanguy failed to impress each other on what role was best for him and the team. Now I think he is going to play him at the 10 spot where he was very successful building himself up and then Jose pull the rug, pairing him with PEH to accommodate Locelso when he should have kept Tanguy at the 10, and Gio to take the burden on of receiving the ball out the back. Levy is responsible for what came in, but managers also failed on the pitch. Jose was undone by I am the man attitude blaming the players for loses publicly. Conte basically said. This is what I have when I took the job. Now let’s get to work.
Gone next summer methinks.
Why would Poch want to return Spurs?
He’s calling Hojberg and Winks… Hobby and Winky.. LOL.
I cannot ever see Ndombele being a team player he has the worst attitude I can remember at Spurs.
Hope I am wrong obvs and he produces dozens of good games.
Conte is absolute quality. He has all the attributes that this club needs as a coach. The problem is and will remain until proven otherwise as to whether ENIC and Levy will enable him to deliver at the level he and the supporters aspire to. Comparisons have been made with this and the Mourinho appointment but I feel there are significant differences. Firstly Conte is currently at the highest level as a world-class coach. He has also achieved tremendous success as a player at that highest level. He commands the respect of players as a result. If he is not backed by ENIC and Levy he will walk and walk quickly as he will not be prepared to tarnish his reputation with this club if he feels they are obstructing him in his ambitions. If he does walk then Levy and ENIC have reached the end of the road with the supporters. There is simply no PR spin that will be able to put a gloss on such a situation. I sense Levy realises that and as such will back Conte and will want to be seen to back him. I believe we will see a number of players sold and new additions arrive during the January and summer windows. The objective for now until January will be to stabilise performances and keep us within striking distance of a CL spot. This season will be to try and grab that fourth spot for a CL place. To do that we will need additions in the January window and I would suggest a CB a creative CM and another striker. The 18-month contract term is short as a period in which to achieve that. I am guessing that both Conte and Levy wanted to have the option to part company at that time. Conte if he felt the purse strings and ambition was too restricted for future success and perhaps Levy thinking that he might have a fallback position with the supporters if Conte left and Pooch left PSG and returned.
I am liking Conte more and more..