Conte orders Ndombele to work harder and put the team first at Tottenham
Antonio Conte has warned Tottenham’s record signing Tanguy Ndombele to adapt quickly to his demands and learn to play “for the best of the team”.
The France midfielder has shown only flashes of his ability since joining from Lyon in 2019 for £55m, starting 45 Premier League matches, and is under his fifth Spurs manager, including the caretaker Ryan Mason. Ndombele has been used in a variety of midfield roles and Conte believes that harnessing the 24-year-old’s talent could be crucial to reviving Tottenham’s fortunes.
“I have seen that many managers struggled about his position,” Conte said. “For sure, Tanguy has the quality but at the same time he has to understand that there is a team and he has to play into the team. It means that it’s important to keep order and to do what the position is asking you to do. We are working very hard with Tanguy – he has to work much more than the others because he has some talent but he has to put this talent into the team, for the best of the team, not for the single player.”
He added: “In my football I have an idea and in the idea there are tasks for the players. Every single player has to know what he has to do. Otherwise if every single player has to go and run around the pitch I think it would be a mess.”
Conte, who is awaiting further scans to discover how long he will be without Cristian Romero after the defender limped out of Argentina’s draw with Brazil, spent the international break working with Ndombele and the rest of the squad who remained in north London. With Oliver Skipp suspended for Sunday’s game at home to Leeds, Harry Winks and Dele Alli are others who could benefit from a week under the Italian’s microscopic glare, even if Conte appeared less than impressed with his midfield options. “Not many choices but we have to go,” he said.
Conte, having seen Tottenham fail to muster a shot on target for a second successive Premier League match in the draw against Everton, is aware his team must show more intent but warned his evolution could take time.
“We have to improve,” he said. “My ideas have to go into the minds of my players, offensively and defensively. To arrive in a club in the middle of a season is never easy – honestly I don’t like to do this. But the opportunity to be the Tottenham coach has changed a bit my plan.
“I can tell you that now I’m happy. But we need a bit of time. We are working very hard to improve this process as quickly as possible but we need a bit of time and a bit of patience. But I’m happy because I’m seeing great ability from the players and this is very important to reduce the time for them to understand the ideas.”
Conte has banned tomato ketchup from the Spurs training ground as part of the attempt to improve “every aspect of his players”.
“I consider good nutrition and healthy food is very important,” he said. “You have to prepare yourself in the best way. At the start they don’t understand but slowly they do. I’m going slowly, slowly because priority is on the pitch. We want to improve every aspect of my players. The game is only the final part of the work. You have to prepare body, heart and mind. I had an important experience as a player that I try to bring to coaching.”