Thread: Why Tanguy Ndombele’s ability will make him top 3 midfielders in the world

Before we start, all stats used are per 90 minutes (P90) in all games from CL and players leagues.

Ndombele last season (18/19) was heavily regarded as one of the most promising midfielders talents in the world last season and for me this still stands. Today I will analyse his season.

In this thread I will talk about:
- Attributes Ndombele possesses and needs improving
- How Ndombele compares to other players (using graphs and etc)
- My personal opinion on the player and what Spurs and himself need to do

Attributes Ndombele possesses and needs improving:
The main attribute Ndombele possesses is his ability to dribble and seamlessly get past players like they weren’t there. Ndombele completes 3.85 dribbles P90 with a success rate of 78.57%. This is very good!

Let’s compare to similar players. Partey completes 2.1 P90 with a success rate of 86.96% and Kovacic completes 4 dribbles P90 with a success rate of 85.96%. Ndombele clearly belongs with these elite dribblers and for a player of his age to be rank this high is impressive indeed.

Here’s a video of how good his dribbling is. Notice how easily he glides past players.

Here’s how he ranks in the league.

Ndombele is a positive footballer meaning he is always looking to go forward with his passes. He always looks to go forward and progress the team with his dribbling more than his passing.

His 4.62 balls into the final 3rd is quite low but considering most of his progressive play is with his dribbling, it’s understandable. He is also a very handy player as he is very quick in transition as well. He has a lovely through ball on him as well.

He plays 1.4 key passes P90 which is 0.6 above Jorginho and 0.2 above Henderson. This shows he drives well with the ball and end product is showing at the end of it.

Another ability that isn’t touched on enough is how good Ndombele is when his back is faced towards the goal and how well he receives whilst turning with it. This is very underrated as it does only catch the team off guard but it can lead to a lot of goals.

This is also down to how good his positional awareness is when playing. Combine this with his first touch and you have a lethal combination. Overall, a very very well rounded midfielder.

Let’s look at what he needs to improve. There’s one MASSIVE concern with Ndombele that is holding him down and the title of the thread may have given it away. Notice how I said “ability”, that’s because his mentality is worryingly bad.

One game that defines this mentality of his is the Burnley (away) game. His work rate is very poor. He is frustrating at times with the attitude he shows when playing.

This is mainly down to his lack of fitness as well. Then again it still shows his lazy. Even near the end of the season he looks tried nearly every game. This lockdown will be massive for Ndombele’s fitness. As a football fan, I hope he has worked on it massively.

Another improvement Ndombele needs to make to his game is he needs to learn when to release the ball and not be wasteful with it. He has lost possession from either a bad touch or miss placed pass 4.4 times P90. In comparison, Henderson loses it once P90.

One last improvement I’d suggest is his long balls. There is a lack of passing range shown in Ndombele’s game. He only completes 1.47 long balls P90 which is poor compared to Jorginho’s 4.42 P90. I’d expect more from his standards. I’d put it down to confidence.

I can tell this from first hand as Kovacic had a similar first season with lack of confidence he didn’t try the risky passes enough and was too shy on the ball.

How Ndombele compares to other players (using graphs and etc):

Here are a few graphs comparing Ndombele to some of Europe’s best midfielder.

My personal opinion on the player and what Spurs and himself need to do:

Ndombele has bags and bags of potential and if I’m being honest it hasn’t been a bad season like people are saying it is, more of a frustrating one. He has shown his ability this season.

He hasn’t shown the mentality it takes to be top 3 midfielders in the world though. Ndombele needs to stay at Spurs this season. I believe he is walking away from the prospect of being a top midfielder if he gives up after facing his first bump in his career.

Spurs need to play him in that 8 role with Le Celso imo. Or pivot with a destroyer with Le Celso at 10. Jose is the man to change this mentality of Ndombele. He is like a hybrid of Essien/ M Dembele and Toure. Ndombele decides his own future. Right now it’s a little bump.

End of Thread!

Likes and RTs appreciated!