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Tottenham Hotspur: Athletic journalists discuss Tanguy Ndombele situation

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On the latest episode of the View from The Lane podcast for The Athletic, Jack Pitt-Brooke, Charlie Eccleshare and James Maw have been discussing the latest goings-on at Tottenham Hotspur, as well as looking back on the 2-0 win against West Ham. 

One topic of conversation on the recent episode, which was titled: ‘Mourinho v Merson & West Ham reaction‘, was the ongoing situation with Tanguy Ndombele. The Frenchman was once again left on the bench for Spurs’ game against the Hammers, with Jose Mourinho opting to make just three out of a possible five substitutions; with the midfielder seemingly not even getting a chance to warm up during the game (per Football.London).

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There have been various reports suggesting first that the 23-year-old no longer wants to play under the Portuguese manager, whilst the Independent has suggested that Barcelona are keen to take the midfielder on a loan deal, which could potentially see Philippe Coutinho and Nelson Semedo head the other way.

This perhaps led to the discussion of the former Lyon man on the podcast, with Pitt-Brooke asking Eccleshare what Mourinho has said about the midfielder:

“He played it down and said that there are lots of other players who haven’t played as well, in the first couple of games. How often have we spoken about this dynamic throughout the season? Before the season started, during the lockdown, they have this training session together. Then Mourinho said that he’s been training well, he understands more [of] what’s required and now he hasn’t played in the first two games when there are five subs available. So yeah, it’s another plot twist. It’s one to be investigated and [we hope to] understand a bit more what’s going on here.”

Maw then offers his thoughts on the situation, saying:

“Clearly, there’s something not quite right there, given Spurs have made five of 10 possible substitutions in two games, coming in such quick succession, and after a long period of inaction, clearly a bit of rustiness around, you would expect a manager to be using as many of those substitutions as he possibly can.

“For the club-record signing to not get on the pitch in either game, it clearly suggests something isn’t quite right. Quite what that is, we don’t yet know, but it looks fairly ominous to me.”

TIF Thoughts…

It certainly seems strange that Mourinho wasn’t willing to give Ndombele some time on the pitch, especially in the latter stages against West Ham, when you could argue that the game was over and done with, thanks to Harry Kane’s late second goal. The Portuguese manager suggested that he had seen an improvement from the 23-year-old in training and that he would be ready to contribute in the first game, but as Maw suggests, his lack of minutes does seem quite ominous.

Do you think Ndombele will feature much in the remaining games?

Yes

Yes

No

No

It will be interesting to see if the Frenchman does feature much in Spurs’ remaining fixtures, and if he doesn’t, then perhaps it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him depart the club this summer.

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