How Tottenham Hotspur’s biggest flop has been revived this season

In July 2019, Tottenham Hotspur, who were managed by Mauricio Pochettino at the time, signed French midfielder Tanguy Ndombele from Lyon in Ligue 1 for a reported fee of £55 million with added bonuses of nearly £9 million on top of the original fee.

The Frenchman was wanted by numerous top European clubs including Barcelona and Manchester United, so when Spurs secured his signature, it was hailed as one of the best signings of the season. However, the deal never quite worked out in the 2019/20 season and Ndombele was quickly branded a flop by the media, having made only 29 appearances in all competitive competitions, scoring merely 2 goals.

This season though has been a completely different story for the 24-year-old. Ndombele has greatly improved in almost all areas of his game, supposedly patching up his rocky relationship with Jose Mourinho according to reports, and has arguably been one of Spurs’ better performers this season.

This tactical analysis article will be written in the form of a scout report of Tanguy Ndombele from this season. It will be an analysis of how the French international has massively improved his game, as well as how he better suits Mourinho’s tactics this time around, moving into a far more attacking role within the side.

Last season’s problems

Nobody ever doubted Ndombele’s talent last season. His potential was clear to see at Lyon and Amiens, so fans and pundits alike knew that there was the making of a wonderful player hidden within. It just needed to be brought to the forefront.

One can distinctly remember an edition of Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football following a 1-1 draw between Burnley and Tottenham from two days prior to its airing back in March of last year, in which Jamie Carragher labelled Ndombele a ‘disgrace’ for his performance playing alongside Oliver Skipp in a double-pivot of a 3-4-2-1.

Perhaps ‘disgrace’ was a strong word to use but it was certainly one of the Frenchman’s worst performances since moving to London, particularly with his laziness when he did not have the ball.

Here is just one example of Ndombele’s passivity when his side were in possession of the ball from that game against Burnley. Sean Dyche’s side are extremely difficult to break down regardless of whether they apply a low, medium, or high defensive block in their 4-4-2 shape.

When in possession, the midfielders of the team that have control of the ball in their positional attack need to be constantly moving to find little pockets of space to progress the ball into.