Tim Sherwood has blasted the fitness levels of Tanguy Ndombele and claimed that he was ‘shattered’ after only 57 minutes of Tottenham’s 3-0 defeat to Chelsea on Sunday, as he told Premier League Productions (19/09/21 at 5:25 pm).
Nuno Espirito Santo handed Ndombele his first Premier League start of the season, despite his lack of form and fitness going into the match and Chelsea’s quite ruthless and unbeaten start.
The first 20 minutes were what Spurs fans wanted to see from their players because they started on the front foot, with speed and aggression.
But during the second half, when Thomas Tuchel brought N’Golo Kante into the fray, things changed pretty quickly for the home side and they couldn’t stop the threat coming their way.
Their London rivals ran riot, and in truth, they were lucky to just concede three, with Ndombele being subbed midway through the second half for Oliver Skipp.
Sherwood didn’t hold back in his criticism of Ndombele, who is ‘letting the side down’, and how even ‘Dier was telling him’ to get out to Kante before he could score his deflected goal.
“Ndombele absolutely blows up,” said Sherwood. “Not fit enough.
He added later on: “Kante picks it up, absolute acres of space, he can do whatever he wants. It’s not the best of strikes, it gets a deflection off Dier and it flew past Lloris.
“But if you look at Ndombele, he is shattered. He can’t move. Dier is telling him ‘get in there, you need to get oppose Kante there’. He can’t get there. He physically can’t get there.
“57 minutes gone, that’s not right. Don’t play the kid. If he’s clearly not fit then don’t play him because he’s letting the side down.
“He can’t lift his legs off the ground. And Kante takes a pop shot, it’s lucky and the spin takes it past Lloris. But defensively, it’s very poor. You can’t leave that space there at the centre of your goal and 25 yards out.”
This isn’t the first time that Ndombele has been questioned about his fitness, or lack of fit.
In terms of sharpness, it’s understandable if he didn’t have that in the locker because he has hardly played this season.
But for his fitness to be questioned again, after Jose Mourinho did the same when he was in charge, is something that will be a serious worry.
Ndombele is Tottenham’s club-record signing and it seems likely and likely that all that money is going down the drain.
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