True. But that was to a large extent down to the fact that we simply didn't need him, nor did we play a style of football that would ever get the best out of him. Soldado and N'Dombele, by contrast, were signed as a matter of urgent priority to fill gaping holes in the team. We needed both of them to hit the ground running and neither of them did. To put it another way, had Tanguy not been in such a state we wouldn't have needed to spend so much time and money in January chasing Gedson (although I'm a fan of the Portuguese), and could've allocated said time and money to strengthening positions of more urgent priority such as ST and FB. That we have 7 CMs in our first team squad even after Wanyama's departure speaks volumes. No team that takes itself seriously needs that many.
He does this to protect Jose Mourinho, first and foremost. He is the polar opposite of Poch in this regard, regularly throwing his players under the bus just to save face. This is his way of saying "look, I know he's your record signing, but the fact I haven't got anything of note out of him isn't my fault."
If I was a pro baller....yes I’d get my head down and prove my worth It’s the psychology of sport or he could go and weep in the changing rooms and get onto social media to have a little moan and feel enslaved and be littled like is the way nowadays. Too many millenial ****ers in the game now
Nothing else has worked so far so why not? Feels as if Ndombele has come here, earned his big pay cheque and is now kicking back. Guy has ridiculous talent but his fitness levels are a joke. I’m a fat **** who sinks a good number of pints on a weekend whilst topping it off with a kebab or vindaloo and I can run for longer than Ndombele at the moment.
and he is right...I don’t blame him for refusing to accept another stick to be beaten with as things stand Ndombele is an embarrassment with his fitness his eye for the pass and play is fine...but his fitness? ...woeful
Tbh nothing makes me wonder about our medical team anymore. This is proper CK tin foil hat territory, but ever since they botched Jan's concussion in the CL, I've started asking questions that no one seems to have the answers to. How did Tanguy pass his medical, when this was an issue raised by French physios barely 4 years ago? Why was Son allowed to play on for 87 minutes after breaking his elbow? Why are our players so often out injured for months on end when other players in other teams make miraculously speedy recoveries? Why are we on course for the second season running to record one of the highest ever frequency of injuries to games played ratio? I don't trust them.
So we're back to the Unai Emery approach to football: name eleven players in your starting xi, make a complete bollocks of the first half, then make major changes at half time to try and unbollocks it
When Jose does this it's for a players own good, some of them need reminding of their responsibility to the club and what they are getting paid ridiculous amounts of money for. If they are so soft that they sulk instead of knuckling down then they are finished in a Jose team. Quite rightly so too.
Alright, today's bright spark (following on from Skipp's 'bright spark' performance against Norwich) was Eric Dier. Two games in a row he's now looked like, well... Eric Dier, not Eric Dier's great grandad. Just an FYI, I'm not gonna include Lo Celso as a bright spark anywhere as he's literally the only player I feel is worth my season ticket money at the moment so it's pretty much a given he'll play well.
I'm not gonna pretend to say Jose's public outbursts in the past have always been for the best but his calling out of Ndombele is bang on in my opinion. The guy needs to work harder, both in terms of on the pitch performance and off the pitch to get his fitness up. Absolutely huge talent with some unreal ability but right now is well and truly earning the title of expensive flop. Our local journo, Alasdair Gold, nailed it with this comment on one of his tweets: "As a little extra aside on Ndombele I think the fact Lo Celso is bossing it, despite not having that pre-season the Frenchman did and missing a couple of months early on with a hip injury, is doing his fellow 23-year-old no favours. Showing the application, work rate and quality."
Although I think Ndombele's fitness should be questioned (rightly), I just don't understand how anyone can think the approach Mourinho's taken in publicly criticising him is appropriate. Maybe it's me reading too much into it, but there does seem to be quite sinister undertones in the way he talks about the players who aren't performing as he pleases. He initially spoke to Sky insinuating that he wasn't going to talk directly about the player, then proceeds to moan about him and take digs at him whenever he felt it was appropriate. Whether you think he's right or not, whether you think there's too many "snowflakes" in football or not, you have to ask yourself whether his approach is effective man-management in the current climate of football. Tact isn't Mourinho's strong suit and it shows.
Has it crossed your mind that jose sees the player in training every day and may just have spoken to him personally and in front of the squad over the last four months? When someone is getting paid thousand of pounds a week and can't even be bothered enough to get themselves fit enough to run for 90mins you need to shame them into it. Jose did the same with Luke Shaw who came out and admitted it was true, Shaw still looks to carry extra weight but is more than fit enough to complete a full game plus ET if needed now.
Record signing and joint highest paid player at the club yet can’t get fit enough to play more than 30 mins of a sufficient level of football, I don’t care what day and age it is, they absolutely deserve to be called out. His laziness impacts the team. It means others have to do more running, it means the defence will likely be more under the cosh, it means the attack sees less of the ball. If it was simply bad form, like Lucas at the moment who can’t score or assist for ****, a public bollocking wouldn’t be the best option but a professional footballer who can’t get into shape deserves every bit of criticism, takes the piss out of the club, teammates and fans. He still picks up £200k every week. If I decided to turn up for work for half a day every day, not only would I not get paid a full days work but I’d probably be sacked.
First half: ****. Second half: Largely very good. Officials: ****ing awful. Don't ignore everything in the first half, then start chucking cards around like confetti after the break, you fat ****. Utterly lazy. Five at the back doesn't work. Stop it. Actually going at teams forces them to work and make mistakes, despite our lack of a cutting edge. VAR is a joke and the rules are utterly inconsistent. It won't work with the current twats running it.
Why can't he achieve all that by doing it to his face in private? Maybe Ndombele regrets moving and doesn't fit Jose's football. Mourhino calling him out in public aint giong to help that.
I just said on another thread he probably does. He spends 5 days a week training with the players, he probably tells them what they need to do face to face then maybe in front of the squad, after 4 months when it doesn't get through he goes that bit further. Remember Luke Shaw? he is now on record as saying Jose was right in his treatment and you can't say his fitness hasn't improved a lot (maybe not his body shape).
"I'm biased, obviously." Why the **** are we listening to you, then? **** off. He's out of shape, he's not putting in the effort and he looks fat. He doesn't look remotely interested and players that joined at the same time or after him have put in far more effort. Lo Celso and Fernandes have shamed him with their attempts, even when they haven't come off.
