The English Football Thread

[Atomiswave 6,072]

Fucking hell....Moura doing decently for them under JM.....2-2 the cunts.

[Vesper 28,864]

fuck

3 2

pen

smdh

[Vesper 28,864]

just what we need

those cunts on a stormer comeback to add momentum

[Atomiswave 6,072]

There practically no contact ffs

[Vesper 28,864]

Mou stole that game

great subs

[Fulham Broadway 16,863]

Son Hueng Min is one of the biggest cheats playing in the Premier League

[Vesper 28,864]

Just now, Fulham Broadway said:

Son Hueng Min is one of the biggest cheats playing in the Premier League

Son and Salah

[Milan 17,854]

Just now, Fulham Broadway said:

Son Hueng Min is one of the biggest cheats playing in the Premier League

I said so months ago already - his so called cute face won't fool me. He IS a dirty bastard.

[Atomiswave 6,072]

Just now, Fulham Broadway said:

Son Hueng Min is one of the biggest cheats playing in the Premier League

He fucking is mate....but in media he aint that sort of player.......that sort of player my ass.

[Fulham Broadway 16,863]

No wonder Liverpool are interested in him

[Fulham Broadway 16,863]

Every time he falls over he looks despairingly at the ref holding up an imaginary card. Grade A cuntishness

[Vesper 28,864]

[LAM09 6,752]

Devil's advocate -

I get the whole noise around him and rightly so, to an extent. Saying that, don't forget about the non calls during his first season.

[Laylabelle 9,359]

41 minutes ago, Vesper said:

Mou stole that game

great subs

Always used to feel confident first go anyway that what he did would have a impact

[Vesper 28,864]

21 minutes ago, LAM09 said:

Devil's advocate -

 

I get the whole noise around him and rightly so, to an extent. Saying that, don't forget about the non calls during his first season.

 

many shit calls all season

that has nothing to do with his horrendous diving record

[LAM09 6,752]

many shit calls all season

that has nothing to do with his horrendous diving record

I never said two wrongs make a right. Just saying that things changed after his first season and the calls magically started going in Liverpool's favour as a result.

 

 

Coincidence?

 

 

I don't think so.

 

[Atomiswave 6,072]

13 hours ago, Vesper said:

Ohh mate.....so infuriating. And he gets away with it all the time and no media disses him for it. Im so glad that everywhere you look people have awakened that epl is bent as fuck. As you said its too obvious now, even some of the hardcore none believers now can smell the shit around this pathetic League.

[Vesper 28,864]

Mesmerising, maddening Ndombele remains as much of a conundrum inside Tottenham as he is to those outside

https://theathletic.com/1586811/2020/02/06/mesmerising-maddening-ndombele-remains-tottenham-conundrum/

In the early stages of Tottenham’s 3-2 win over Southampton on Wednesday, Tanguy Ndombele did the sort of thing that has you involuntarily laughing to yourself. In fact, he did it twice within a few seconds. First he tempted Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg towards the ball only to nick it away at the last millisecond. Then, with Hojbjerg out of the picture, Ndombele made Oriel Romeu look similarly stupid with an equally audacious drag-back.

As can be the case with Ndombele though, it came at a cost. Romeu committed a tactical foul and, in falling to the ground, Ndombele hurt his back. He did his best to run it off but seemed to be moving at half-pace at points until the break.

So it has been for Ndombele since joining Spurs: the verve mixed in with the vulnerability. He is a player who is utterly compelling to watch — seemingly possessing the ability to bend time to his will when he is on the ball — but who physically still seems some way short of being a regular option for Jose Mourinho. A riddle wrapped up in a mystery inside a Cruyff turn.

In last night’s FA Cup fourth round replay win for instance, he created the opening goal by booting a loose ball into the back of the net via Southampton’s Jack Stephens, but had to be substituted after 61 minutes with his reserves well and truly depleted.

And this is the crux of the Ndombele debate at present: is he a lavishly talented player who requires patience as he navigates his debut season in English football, or does he need a kick up the backside to get himself into shape? The Athletic understands that it is as much of a conundrum within the club as it is for their fans on social media.

To recap, this was only the 23-year-old’s second appearance, and first start, since he limped off after 25 minutes of the 1-0 loss away to the same opposition on New Year’s Day with a hip problem. After the match, Mourinho described Ndombele as being “always injured”. Six days earlier, Mourinho had said of Tottenham’s £55-million record signing missing the 2-1 Boxing Day win over Brighton: “He was not injured but not feeling in a condition to play.”

In between all that, Ndombele produced a man-of-the-match performance — including a stoppage-time rabona cross — in a 2-2 draw at Norwich City.

Publicly calling Ndombele out did not go down well with some members of the squad, The Athletic understands. Those uncomfortable about it felt Mourinho would have been better off dealing with the issue privately and that it should have been more of a discussion between the head coach and Tottenham’s medical staff.

Others at the club, however, were supportive of Mourinho’s position and felt concern at Ndombele’s lack of conditioning and general fitness levels.

After all, this was not the first time Ndombele has had these sort of issues. When he was with Amiens in 2016, he had to be sat down by the club’s director of football, John Williams, and told that he was “not really fit, overweight”. Ndombele then worked hard to get himself in the shape required for an elite-level footballer.

More recently, Mourinho’s predecessor Mauricio Pochettino had been worried by the Frenchman’s condition. “For him it’s difficult. We cannot expect too much,” Pochettino said on the eve of the season starting.

In total, Ndombele has started 42 per cent of Spurs’ games this season, completed the 90 minutes just five times, and in his 22 appearances so far have averaged only 54 minutes per game.

All of which suggests he is a bit of a luxury player not to be relied upon.

And yet…

To watch Ndombele in action is to become a believer once more. Against Manchester City on Sunday, he was only on the pitch for 20 minutes, but still found time to create Son Heung-min’s decisive goal with a sumptuous turn and pass, and humiliate Rodri with an outrageous step-over and drop of the shoulder.

He is a player who generates so much buzz that even some fairly rudimentary stretching before the Southampton game was quickly packaged into a two-minute video for Twitter. Shortly after, he entertained the crowd by indulging in a few no-look passes just for the hell of it.

Once the game started, he was both mesmerising and maddening — a flicked pass on the volley here, a loose ball there. His first contribution was to lose Romeu with a balletic turn, only to instantly give possession away with a sloppy pass.

Ndombele even appears to run differently when in and out of possession — the grace when on the ball giving way to a meandering lollop when off it. He is so relaxed that he was comfortably the last man out on to the pitch for the second half, and his 61 per cent pass completion — the second-lowest of Spurs’ outfielders — underlines that this is not a player too concerned with keeping things ticking over just for the sake of it.

By the time the second half was under way, Ndombele looked close to running out of steam — making good on Mourinho’s pre-match assertion that he would not be able to last the full game. His head coach added afterwards: “I knew he couldn’t play 90 minutes.”

To try and help the situation, Ndombele has been placed on a bespoke fitness programme, taking in nutrition, sports science and individual training work. This is a sensible step, according to injuries analyst Ben Dinnery.

“Coming from Ligue 1, like Ndombele has, is a huge physical step up,” Dinnery he says. “Acclimatising to the Premier League is tough. The demands on the body are different, and all these changes he’s having to get used to could be going against the grain of some traits he’s been brought up with and played all his career with. Suddenly there are differences — even with Pochettino and Mourinho — and it’s about being able to tolerate and cope with that.

“Ndombele is young, and comes with a big price tag, a big reputation. He wants to prove himself — but it’s always going to be difficult because if you’re not in peak condition, you’re more likely to pick up knocks and niggles. It becomes a vicious cycle where you keep getting close to getting fit but then forcing it.”

Spurs will hope they have been patient enough to have ensured Ndombele will soon start to shake off these niggles. And when he does, he will surely be worth persevering with.

Football is supposed to be fun, and players who can make you laugh and smile as regularly as him don’t come along very often.