Jose Mourinho reveals why Tanguy Ndombele was taken off at half-time

Tottenham Hotspur head coach, Jose Mourinho, handed Tanguy Ndombele his first Premier League start of the new season this afternoon against Southampton.

The Frenchman certainly impressed in the St Mary’s sunshine despite a woeful defensive display from the Lilywhites in the first-half.

Tottenham looked to be going into the break 1-0 down thanks to a deadly Danny Ings finish, before Ndombele set away a clinical counter-attack with seconds left to go.

The midfielder won the ball back in the centre of the pitch, pulled out a roulette to get past his man, then slid a perfectly-weighted ball in behind for Harry Kane.

However, despite his positive performance, Ndombele was then replaced at half-time by Jose Mourinho who instead sent Giovani Lo Celso out to occupy the attacking-mid role.

The head coach has now revealed that this was a tactical decision and not forced by injury, pointing towards Ndombele’s fitness and the fact that he was on a yellow card.

Mourinho said (Dan Kilpatrick): “Ndombele was not injured but we all know his condition is not yet top. GLC was very tired, we decided to play Tanguy & we decided Gio would come into the game in the 2nd half. The yellow card put Tanguy in a difficult position.”

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