Is it Jose Mourinho or his Tottenham players causing the headache for Spurs?

Mourinho has had plenty to whinge about in recent weeks, now he needs to come up with answers
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Dan Kilpatrick @Dan_KP9 January 2020

Historically, Jose Mourinho would have relished the chance to end Liverpool’s relentless unbeaten run and there was no coach on earth better equipped for the challenge.

Like their manager, Tottenham’s squad also have form at spoiling the party, having inflicted a first defeat on Pep Guardiola in English football, ended Chelsea’s scintillating 13-match winning streak under Antonio Conte and handed Real Madrid a Champions League group-stage defeat for the first time in five years — all under Mourinho’s predecessor, Mauricio Pochettino.

But times change and Liverpool’s visit on Saturday could be an opportunity for the Premier League leaders to show Spurs how outdated their manager and squad have become.

It is seven weeks since Mourinho’s appointment and Spurs have won half of his 12 matches in charge.

After an initial bounce, recent performances have been every bit as dispiriting as anything served up under Pochettino and early optimism has quickly turned to unease.

Mourinho’s initial successes came largely through replaying many of his predecessor’s greatest hits — Eric Dier back in holding midfield and Dele Alli pushed forward — with some clever tweaks, and Spurs benefited from their new manager’s pragmatism.

But lately Mourinho’s own, more worrisome trademarks have begun to emerge. Pochettino’s possession-based game has been replaced with a patternless, direct approach and Jan Vertonghen pointedly blamed the New Year’s Day defeat at Southampton on using “long balls too quick”.

Mourinho, who clashed with Manchester United’s record-signing Paul Pogba at Old Trafford, has singled out Tanguy Ndombele for criticism, saying Spurs’s most expensive player is “always injured”.

The Portuguese, meanwhile, has blamed everything from officials and VAR to ball boys and, bizarrely, the weight of a match ball (against Middlesbrough last weekend) amid a run of one win in five matches, while he has publicly taken aim at a member of Southampton’s coaching staff — “an idiot” — and Chelsea’s Antonio Rudiger.

Mourinho even left his former favourite Frank Lampard bristling after a slight at the Chelsea boss’s tactics following the 2-0 defeat to the Blues on December 22. As the fixtures have piled up, Mourinho’s pragmatism has also waned and his selections have been increasingly chaotic, with square pegs in round holes. Spurs finished Sunday’s draw at Middlesbrough with Dele Alli, Christian Eriksen, Giovani Lo Celso, Erik Lamela, Heung-min Son and Lucas Moura all on the pitch.

In Pictures | Middlesbrough vs Tottenham | 05/01/20

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Despite his reputation as a conservative coach, Mourinho has been unable to improve the defence, which has deteriorated. Spurs have conceded 19 goals in 12 matches, keeping just one clean sheet and repeatedly conceding from basic errors. Mourinho’s critics will point to the slipping of his “humble” facade and Spurs’s mini-unravelling as evidence that the 56-year-old is a spent force, but there is also a case that he is simply settling into a new job in his own abrasive fashion.

Clearly, it has not all been negative. Spurs have halved the gap to fourth-placed Chelsea to six points since his appointment and he scored a notable success in persuading Toby Alderweireld to sign a new long-term contract. Alli’s continued rejuvenation has been welcome and even Moussa Sissoko started scoring before being ruled out until April following knee surgery this week.

Big blow: Mourinho lost Sissoko to injury during the defeat at St. Mary's
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Rightly or wrongly, Mourinho’s headline-grabbing comments at Southampton did exactly as intended in deflecting from his side’s wretched performance, and his public blame game and denunciations may simply be evidence of him stoking the old fires and working towards establishing the siege mentality that has served him so well at other clubs. The Spurs squad had plainly become too comfortable under Pochettino and some home truths may benefit the likes of Ndombele, whose fitness has not been good enough.

While the football has been substandard, Mourinho has had precious little opportunity to work on the training ground since his appointment, with this his first free week without a fixture or pre-arranged holidays.

His team selections, though erratic, may suggest a manager evaluating his options on the job, chopping and changing in a bid to find the right balance, which would explain the absence of a discernible style. Confronted by a worsening injury crisis and the reality of his squad’s limitations, many of his decisions have been against his better judgment, notably using Ryan Sessegnon at left-back and Sissoko in a two-man midfield. Perhaps we are simply witnessing the storm before the calm.

While Pochettino repeatedly called for an overhaul of his squad, Mourinho has talked up their quality and shown restraint in resisting the temptation to demand the board spends big this month. Mourinho’s reputation will always precede him but, like any manager, he needs time to implement his ideas before being properly judged.

While he may or may not be yesterday’s man, the bigger question for Spurs remains broadly the same as it was under Pochettino. Is the manager struggling because of his own limitations or simply unable to work miracles with an out-of-sorts squad?

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