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”