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Michael Owen has told Premier League productions that he was ‘astonished’ that Jose Mourinho left Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Tanguy Ndombele on for 70 minutes yesterday.
Ndombele has regularly been taken off by Mourinho when Tottenham have been in the lead this season.
However, the Frenchman was actually given over an hour on the pitch yesterday.
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And Owen has suggested that he was stunned that Mourinho didn’t take Ndombele off earlier, such is his defensive mentality.
“I think it’s the manager,” Owen said. “When they go 1-0, 2-0 up after 50 minutes, look how many times Ndombele gets brought off. It’s virtually every game.
“Today he lasted about 70 minutes and Glenn and I were quite astonished.
“All the time Mourinho will go 1-0 up and take his attacking midfielder off.
“If you keep doing that, that just sends a subliminal message to a player that ‘right we’re defending’.
“That seed just plants in your mind time after time after time. They have to free themselves of that and, you know what, once in a while, put a centre forward on.”
Even with Ndombele on the field Tottenham dropped far too deep and allowed Fulham to gain a foot hold in the match during the second half.
They were eventually made to pay by the Cottagers, as Scott Parker’s side claimed a point, after Ivan Cavaleiro headed home a late equaliser.
Ndombele was actually off the pitch at that time, and after he was withdrawn, Spurs seemed to struggle to connect defence with attack.
Tottenham have now dropped down to sixth in the Premier League table, and they are struggling to keep pace with the league leaders, as they have dropped far too many points from winning positions.
The post ‘Astonished’: Owen couldn’t believe Mourinho didn’t sub Spurs player off sooner last night appeared first on HITC.
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