Tottenham fans will come to expect a hell of a lot more from their club-record signing in the next few months and years than what they got from Tanguy Ndombele last night. The French midfield maestro was hardly in his best form as the Lilywhites threw away a 2-0 lead in Athens, but hope is not all lost.
The £65m man, price as per the BBC, was quiet n the middle pof the park in the club’s Champions League opener, but there is certainly some context behind his below-average performance on the continent. First and foremost, it was his first start after a thigh injury that saw him miss games against Newcastle and Arsenal, as well as the international break with France.
However, the fans were still keen to see what he can do, and he failed to deliver against minnows Olympiacos. The Greek side did well to respond to a 2-0 deficit and recover to take a point, but the Lilywhites did not help themselves, and Ndombele was part of that.
The former Lyon man, who so famously bossed Manchester City at The Etihad last season with his former club, was given a 5/10 rating by Football.London for his display in the Greek capital, although he wasn’t the worst performer in Spurs’ blue on the pitch, as Davinson Sanchez and Christian Eriksen secured lower ratings.
It simply has to be remembered, though, that this is a young footballer with immense talents stepping into a new climate, a new club and a new culture, and it will take time to see the best from him, but when we do see his best, it will be an incredible thing to watch, as we saw in that aforementioned game against Man City.
That performance against the would-be domestic treble winners was just one of a number of quality performances in the Champions League last season, as the Frenchman averaged 2.4 tackles, 0.8 key passes and 2.9 dribbles per game on his way to scoring twice and winning man of the match twice in his eight appearances in the competition (WhoScored).