Ranking each Premier League team's most important player during build-up play in 2019-20 using data analytics: Part 4

#17 Tottenham Hotspur – Tanguy Ndombele – xGBuildup Per 90: 0.408

Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa - Premier League

Jose Mourinho has seen history repeat itself a few times now. He’s won the Champions League title twice, both times when his teams were touted as the underdogs. Everyone knows about Jose’s third-season syndrome. Unfortunately for Jose, he’s had another bizarre Déjà vu moment this season.

Just like he had at Manchester United in his last season with them, Jose has a mercurial French midfielder giving him sleepless nights. Ndombele hasn’t yet hit the ground running in the PL. He has played only 218 minutes under Jose Mourinho in the PL, out of a possible 1080. 15 players have played more minutes under Jose than he has.

Spurs hadn’t quite recovered from losing the ‘genius’ Dembele. Since the 2009/10 PL season, only Gareth Bale (in 2012/13 – 7.92) had a higher Whoscored rating in the PL than Dembele had in 15/16 (7.69). Ndombele, from the looks of it, was a like for like replacement for the Belgian conductor.

Ndombele started his professional career on the wing, a position that suited his acumen for pace and dribbling. At Lyon, he was moved to the centre of the park and has since made this position his own.

In the list of the 20 players in the PL with the highest xGBuildup for their respective teams, NDombele has played the least number of minutes. Nevertheless, his inclusion in the list is not without merit. He had topped this list with Lyon as well (last year) with an xGBuildup of 0.447 and he’s carried a lot of the qualities he displayed at Lyon with him at Spurs.

Ndombele is an ace dribbler, something even Dembele was known for. NDombele ranks 25th in the PL for most successful dribbles (more than 7 app.) and amongst those top 25, he has the 2nd highest % of Successful Dribbles/Total Dribbles (80%), bettered only by Kovacic.

His exceptional dribbling quality makes him adept at breaking the opponent’s press and if Mourinho is to succeed at Spurs, he will have to make sure he can form a working relationship with NDombele. Mourinho has been down this road with Paul Pogba (ironically, NDombele made his senior France debut by coming on as a substitute for Pogba in 2018) and he should know better than most who triumphs in this cold war.

---

#18 Watford – Etienne Capoue – xGBuildup Per 90: 0.258

AFC Bournemouth v Watford - Premier League

Let’s swiftly move from Tottenham’s future – NDombele, to Tottenham’s past – Capoue. Capoue started his fruitful career with Toulouse in France’s first division at the age of nineteen. In the following 4 years, he played a part in 87% of all the minutes that Toulouse played in, a commendable feat for a youngster, and a harbinger of things to come.

Spurs subsequently swooped in and bought him after his most productive season. Although he was used sparingly by Spurs, he did his part whenever called upon. Watford saw the potential in him and bought him when they got promoted to the PL.

62 players have represented Watford in the PL since 2015/16 but no one has been more of a constant than Capoue has been. He’s played the most minutes for Watford since they came up to the PL, even more than revered club legend Deeney. What’s more, only 15 players in the PL have played more than Capoue has since the start of the 2015/16 season.

Capoue displays a wide array of attributes that most managers would love, from a modern-day midfielder. He loves playing on the front foot – 2.3 interceptions per game, only 2 players in the PL have more. He has won the 10th most tackles in the PL (2.7 per game) and has the most on the Watford team.

Not only that but amongst all the players classified as non-attacking MFs (for ex. Emiliano Buendía from Part 3 does NOT come under this bracket) on Whoscored (with more than 9 app.) Capoue has won the 13th most number of aerial duels per game and has the 2nd highest % of Duels Won/Total Duels (66.67%). It should come as no surprise that he was named as Watford’s player of the year last season.