Former Tottenham midfielder Danny Murphy offers thoughts on Tanguy Ndombele

Add as preferred source on Google

Former Tottenham midfielder Danny Murphy has given his view on summer signing Tanguy Ndombele after his performance against Brighton on Saturday.

As per TalkSport, Murphy declared himself a fan of the Frenchman but said he lost his positional discipline at the Amex Stadium as a holding midfielder.

He said: “They’ve lost a few fundamentals, the easiest to get back. Running, pressing, tracking runners, winning tackles, desire. What helps with that is a settled formation. He should go back to two holding.

“I think Ndombele was meant to be doing that at the weekend with Dier but he’s not a holding midfielder, he just flies out of position. He’s a good player but he’s an attacking midfielder.”

TBR’s View – Ndombele’s arrival could have been the catalyst for the ill-fated diamond formation

Ndombele is a fantastic midfielder but it’s perhaps tough to pin down his best position, and that has provided a tactical conundrum for Mauricio Pochettino.

Perhaps he could play as part of a deeper pair in a 4-2-3-1 system, but as Murphy eludes to, he tends to bomb forward, which can lead to his midfield partner becoming exposed.

Bombing on from the right of a narrow diamond makes sense on paper, but it hasn’t done much for Tottenham elsewhere this term.

Can he play as the number 10? Maybe not, but a 4-3-3 with his and Moussa Sissoko’s energy either side of Harry Winks could work, with Son Heung-min and Lucas Moura out wide. It might be worth a try.