Pundit Jamie Carragher has said that he does not expect midfielder Tanguy Ndombele to have a future at Tottenham Hotspur under Jose Mourinho.
Spurs travelled to Turf Moor on Saturday and were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw against Burnley, after a Dele Alli penalty in the second half made sure that we did not leave Lancashire empty-handed.
This wasn’t the headline grabber. After the final whistle, the Portuguese tactician was quick to rip into the £53.8m man after his performance saw him substituted at half-time. He went on to say that he thought his team had “no midfield” and refused to blame teenager Oliver Skipp for the first 45 minutes.
Carragher told Sky Sports that he thinks that the Frenchman’s days are numbered at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
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“Yes it was”, he said when asked whether Mourinho’s commented were warranted. “I said in the game after about ten minutes, Tottenham were a shambles.
“On the ball he was very good. He was the best in terms of passes completed and he very rarely loses the ball. But not one sprint in 45 minutes. Jose Mourinho spoke about not showing for the ball.
“He just seems to walk about and not move until the ball comes near him and he likes to tell other people what to do. He was just walking about. It was an awful performance by Spurs in the first half, he wasn’t the only one.
Carragher continued. “He either can’t run or he doesn’t want to run. He’s almost got the Yaya Toure shape about him. He’s jogging, walking like an old man.
“What Jose said about his performance was absolutely spot on.
“For me it’s to the owner, I don’t think there’s much future for Ndombele. Mourinho doesn’t like him. He must be very lazy in training and Jose’s just snapped and had enough.”
These may seem like very harsh words about Ndombele, but there was a perfectly good reason why he was pulled from the field of play last Saturday.
But after not making any defensive contributions in the form of tackles, interceptions or provide any key passes going forward (according to Sofascore), Mourinho was well within his right to criticise him.
This is a team that is fighting to get back into the top four, something that we financially depend upon since we have moved into our new stadium. The manager must not put up with any stragglers along the way and has to be firm with his players.
For me, Carragher is right. However, history tells us that whenever Mourinho has publically complained, he has always ended up worse off.
After calling out Pepe and the way he previously treated Iker Casillas at Real Madrid, that cost him his job. The same at Manchester United, with Luke Shaw and Juan Mata, as per Planet Football.