Tottenham Hotspur boss Jose Mourinho has told Football.London that he didn’t think Tanguy Ndombele offered the right intensity against Arsenal.
Spurs took the lead against their bitter rivals as Erik Lamela executed a stunning rabona, but that’s as good as it got for Tottenham.
Martin Odegaard fired home the equaliser with the aid of a deflection, and Alexandre Lacazette’s second half penalty proved to be the winner.
Spurs were cautious and uninspired for far too long, and a late rally wasn’t enough to rescue a point against their rivals.
Mourinho wasn’t happy with the performance, and midfielder Ndombele is now coming in for criticism once again, having endured run-ins with Mourinho in the past.
The Frenchman wasn’t at his best against Arsenal, and was hooked in favour of Dele Alli on 62 minutes, just five minutes after Gareth Bale was substituted for Moussa Sissoko.
Mourinho has now claimed that neither Ndombele nor Bale offered the intensity that Tottenham needed, making repeated references that Ndombele didn’t provide that Spurs needed.
“Intensity. Gareth and Tanguy, we need more intensity in that game,” said Mourinho. “We need to press more. We need to get more depth. We need to be more intense in the game. We needed initially Sissoko to give us that intensity in midfield that Tanguy was not bringing,” he added.
Mourinho hasn’t quite found the right role for Ndombele yet; he isn’t a number 10, and doesn’t seem to be right for a deeper role in big games either, so getting the best out of the Frenchman is once again a major talking point after Sunday’s game.
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