Former Tottenham midfielder, Danny Murphy, was puzzled with Jose Mourinho’s decision to single out Tanguy Ndombele for public criticism after his side’s 1-1 draw against Burnley last weekend.
Ndombele started the game but was withdrawn at half time after a lacklustre display as Spurs found themselves 1-0 down at the interval.
The Lilywhites’ performance in the second half was much-improved with Dele Alli bagging a deserved equaliser from the spot for the away side after Erik Lamela was bought down inside the box by Ben Mee.
Mourinho insisted after the game that Ndombele needs to showcase more effort and intensity in order to succeed in the Premier League and identified the 23-year-old as the main problem with Tottenham’s poor display in the first half (Sky Sports).
Murphy claimed that it was unfair to single out the Frenchman given how poor the whole team played in the first forty-five minutes.
Speaking to talkSPORT, he said: “I’m sticking up for Ndombele because I watched the game and he did not deserve to be singled out. He shouldn’t have dug him out.
“I was at the game and there were half a dozen Tottenham players as bad as him, and he did try and get on the ball a few times and do his stuff. It wasn’t just him, the team is struggling for confidence.
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“But if I heard Mourinho talking about me like that, I’d be alright with it, it wouldn’t bother me. I’d watch the game back and think: ‘Was I hiding? Could I have done more with the ball?’”
The former England midfielder insisted that he didn’t have a problem with the idea of managers criticising their players in public and insisted that it was up to the Spurs star to now respond to Mourinho’s words in the right manner.
Murphy added: “I’ve got no problem with the manager going out like that because if the manager slates you in the press he’s already slated you in the dressing room beforehand.
“What I would say is, I think the emotional reliance of footballers has dropped. I’m a bit sick of players being so protected around this kind of criticism.
“He’s saying it publicly, which is not ideal, but I’d use it as an ‘I’ll show you’. If you’re going to take it as ‘I’m the victim, why me?’ then you shouldn’t be at Tottenham anyway.
“He shouldn’t have done it, it’s not ideal, I hope he is trying to talk to him one-on-one and put his arm around him and help him if he does have problems, I agree with that.
“But everywhere we look now there’s this whinging, blaming mentality of everything is somebody else’s fault.
“Take some responsibility, take the criticism from Jose, knock on his door, have a chat with him, train hard, get back in the team and say to him: ‘I’m going to prove you wrong, give me another chance’.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Jose was quite composed when he criticised Ndombele which makes me think that it was a calculated move on his part to call the midfielder out publically in order to incite a response from him. It is worrying that Ndombele still looks nowhere near fit enough to complete ninety minutes in the Premier League despite being put on an individualised training program.
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