Jose Mourinho

[Mbulelo Mabizela]

I have no problem with the way we are playing.

Bored of seeing us have 75% posession and losing by 1 goal like we did under Poch and AVB. The FA Cup Semi against the <removed>s being a prime example.

We play with intent when we have posession. Not farting about with it in our own half inviting pressure.

Watching 11 men put in 100% and defending how we are is beautiful. Not enough of it in "modern football".

 

[Steve73]

It's interesting listening to binary views on football styles.

Let's not forget that the overwhelming majority of successful teams over the last 20 years across Europe have played in various tactical ways but have generally had higher possession stats than the majority of their opponents. This is a fact.

I'm all for tactical pragmatism executed very well (as we saw on Saturday) and I'm extremely happy we're top and getting results but in a way I worry more about the West Brom and Burnley type games than I do the City or Chelsea ones. Jose loves a bus park, stifle, counter punch game, he's less adept tactically being on the front foot as we've seen at times this season.

I do miss the footy we played the season we came second to Chelsea, at times we were fucking brilliant and had obstinate teams blown away by half time. I still maintain that if Chelsea had had any sort of European footy that season we would've won the league. It's still the best footy I've seen consistently from any Spurs side and my first live game was in '83.

As we saw Saturday, Jose has added some professionalism to us in the way we break up play, slow the game down, kick the ball away and take it into the corner to wind things down. It's not surprising after the West Ham game especially and it's something the team needed to learn.

But the idea this is the only way to skin a cat isn't true, look at Bayern and their scintillating footy, Barcelona and Madrid in recent times, City, Liverpool. They play fantastic footy and win, it IS possible. They're also brilliantly organised in a similar way to us on Saturday.

There'll always be different styles and if we win the league under Jose I'll be going mental along with everyone else but I'll never believe that this way was the only way. I don't buy the Spursy bollocks, I think Poch was great (but lost his way for various reasons), I think Jose has an amazing record, he's a winner, he can drag the group along with him and he's incredibly smart. But let's not rewrite history and start talking bollocks about not liking 70% possession and sideways and backwards passing - we played some fucking amazing footy under Poch and that shouldn't be consigned to the bin as a reaction to a new manager and a different style. Without Poch and what he did for us we would never have attracted Jose in the first place. That should never be forgotten.

 

[Datzlo]

I also see now why Mou came to Spurs. He would have what he hadn't had in a long time. A squad full of players that would listen to and execute his vision without their overinflated egos getting in the way. He really got a raw deal at Chelsea and ManU in that regard with some of the inmates running the asylum over there.

I think that's absolutely spot on. What the Chelsea squad especially did was the most childish, unprofessional thing I have ever seen in football. They embarrassed their club and their fans, and the only reason they had such a good season under Conte was because they were so pathetic the year before they didn't qualify for any European football and got to run up a huge lead from Sep to Nov playing only once a week with the same XI.

With us, he's not dealing with a bunch of wankers who signed for the money. He's dealing with players who, until the last 9 months of Poch's tenure had an immense amount of camaraderie, and were assembled under Poch for their character as well as skill. We have so many leaders in our team, so many humble egos willing to graft for their success, that Jose must be absolutely loving it.

Perfect fit.

 

[Datzlo]

Watching 11 men put in 100% and defending how we are is beautiful. Not enough of it in "modern football".

And that just shows how timeless it is. Tactics will evolve. Formations will rise and fall, but the graft of 11 men working their arses off will always be the magic ingredient.

 

[Modder1440]

Coaches like Poch, Pep, make players play to their system. Jose makes system that suit his players. With the players that Pep has, I believe Jose will play like Pep does, possession football/play from the back/high press/high line

Jose will instead:
1. Toby and Dier are our best defenders but not pacy. They will get caught if play high line. Sanchez is error prone. Hence defend compactly and defend deep, play long to avoid City high press.
2. We do not have a Silva or KDB, but will have a top passer in Kane and a group of very pacy wingers. Use Kane like he is now used.

Poch will train his players to play his philosophy, regardless of the types/quality of the players his has. Just like Bournemouth, Leeds

 

[skyfarer]

Yeah, I agree that our CBs are not suited for a high line (remains to be seen if this changes with Rodon, since he's pacier and used to a high line, but I suspect not since we haven't changed for Sanchez). I also think one of our most important players in Ndombele can't handle an intense press for 90min, but can maximize his energy for 60, and maybe some of our longer-served players are simply exhausted from the Poch era. We also have no classical playmaker who can operate in compressed spaces like Eriksen, Harry is creative but more of a "quarterbacking" playmaker who spots (and exploits brilliantly) runs from deep. So it doesn't surprise me that the team is better suited for sitting deeper and countering at pace.

I'd still like us to get better at figuring out what to do when we do have more of the ball, more fluidity and movement and one-touch passing, but being able to dominate the ball *and* consistently create good chances is one of the hardest things to do in football Hence why those teams are elite, with highly technical players on top of good coaching + workrate. You can press super hard and use a high line but that doesn't guarantee controlling the game, like Southampton and Leeds in this graph here:

What's interesting about this graph is that despite being labeled a counterattacking side, we actually seem to be somewhere in the middle with no particular identity yet, which would make sense if we're adjusting our tactics to each team rather than keeping to a consistent philosophy. (It could also just be that we've faced relatively weak teams and it'll even out over the season to more counterattacking, but I dunno.) We've also been decently aggressive with our press, it's just that it tends to be from a low block; what we need to get better at imo is playing out of their press and keeping the ball better against those weaker sides we're expected to dominate play against. I think that's why some of us were so uncomfortable with those performances against Burnley/Brighton/WBA while Man City was perfectly dandy, despite worse stats - it was very clear against City that conceding midfield in order to defend the critical space was the game plan and we executed it to a tee, while it's just confusing to see us sit back against bottom half sides (and I don't think that's what we actually wanted to do, it just panned out that way for a few solid stretches of time).

 

[Brian Fantana]

My relationship with Poch went like this

1) Spurs linked with Poch as coach. NO WAY. He's AVB Mk2. 4231 obsessed with posession and high lines, will get found out.
2) Initial 6 months - See above.
3) Finished 5th, unspectacular. Usual mullerings by City, Liverpool, Chelsea, United, and even Stoke.
4) 15/16 start slow, loss, 3 draws, looking pretty poor tbh. We then pick up and work up to 2nd and start looking like we're a force. Do the double over City included a 4-1 home win. Stuff Untited and get revenge on Stoke.
5) Wobble at the end of the season, in line woth Poch historically. No wins in the last 4 and a truly scary 5-1 thrashing by 10 man relegated Newcastle.
6) 16/17 season - unbeaten at home, blew away almost all that came in front of us but just finished behind a freakishly good Chelsea team. We're going places, Poch is the love of my life, I was wrong
7) 17/18 Moved to Wembley with high expectations.
8) Had a fairly solid season despite moving to Wembley. Finished 3rd and looking foward to 18/19
9)18/19 No signings, no one. Rumours that Poch couldn't find players better than what he had. Didn't like that at all. That's not how squads work. Lost 20 games in all competitions, had a disastrous start to the champions league group stage and had to pull a miracle out of the hat.
10) Despite not knowing where our next home game would be most weeks, we worked up to 2nd and like a possible title challenge was on the cards and then by January we come down with the decorations. Finish with 7 losses out of 12 and some horrible, turgid football.
11) Champions league final!!!!! How did THAT happen!
12) 19/20 - 0-1 at home to Newcastle is one of the worst football matches I have ever seen. We can't play against teams who defend. We have no answer, no plan. Eriksen is playing despite saying he wanted to leave and being truly woeful. His time looks up to me. Performances are unwatchable often even when we win. Battered to death by Bayern, should go, doesn't, battered a few days later, needs to go, doesn't. Just leave, go, resign. You don't want to be here, You've lost the squad. This goes back further than this season. By the time he's sacked, we haven't won away since the wheel was invented and the PPG was relegation form.

But the worst thing was the cult fans who absolutely couldn't see 10 and 12 were really, really poor and the club was on a downward cure at an alarming rate. They were furious he was sacked and now they're all hiding under a rock waiting for a reason to come out. They may have a long wait, as despite all the tools and weapons Poch had, despite the high tempo football and the media love in, he wasn't top for more than a week and didn't win a game for 4 subsequent matches, Every chance we had at winning something we bottled. 2 or 3 chances to go top during our 2 best seasons, bottled.

We are better now and they (cult fans) know it.

That’s exactly how I have seen it. There can’t be anyone who didn’t appreciate what Poch did for us but Mourinho is our manager now and had to be backed from day one. But any bad results and the naysayers will be back or those idiots who say they won’t celebrate if we win a trophy this season because Mourinho is our manager. Don’t worry about that.

 

[Darnswim]

Incredible video. Some here would benefit from watching this.

 

[Matt1882]

I am admittedly stuck in a conundrum.

I love the results, I hate how we get them.

Even the thrashings of SH and Man U left me wanting more as the counter and ball over the top seems to be our only option.

BUT NO DOUBT ABOUT IT, JOSE HAS TURNED THE CLUB AROUND.

I was first in line to send him down river, but the players have bought in and finally we see his mentality taking ahold.

Do I like the model? No, I really hate it and find us to be a boring outfit to watch, but winning isn't always about 70% possession or quick 1/2s around the box.

We have a recipe and it seems to be working just fine.

What we're doing now is infinitely more entertaining than having 85% posession and losing at home to Newcastle without having a shot on target. That's where we were. It wasn't isolated. We became easy to play against. To me. it's not even debateable. We became awful. Passing for passing sake. Keep passing and maybe a gap will open. That was it. It was awful. You can't live in 2016, by the 2nd half of 18/19 season the football, bar a few CL games, had deteriorated rapidly.

he left porto to challenge in bigger league, so far he had the longest stint among all chelsea manager, they are a sacking club anyway which is similar as Madrid. While Manchester were a shit storm to begin with.

That was his first proper job and no one in their right mind would have turned down the roubles on offer at Chelsea.

I know Mou is a legend but I always thought that maybe he had inherited the seeds planted by Poch and was now reaping its fruits. But the way he has transformed Kane into an undefendable, multi-headed beast of a player shows how wrong that thinking was. Also letting Dele and Rose drop off the face of the earth if they're not going to buy in took major balls that I don't think Poch had in him.

I also see now why Mou came to Spurs. He would have what he hadn't had in a long time. A squad full of players that would listen to and execute his vision without their overinflated egos getting in the way. He really got a raw deal at Chelsea and ManU in that regard with some of the inmates running the asylum over there.

Last summer, I said a big club would tell Eriksen to F off or rot. I wouldn't have let him kick a ball for Spurs after he said he wanted to leave and wouldn't sign a new contract. Poch didn't have the balls for that. I suspect off camera, Mourinho told him to go. Possibly even sold the idea of Inter to him from his own experience there. Now he's ostricised Dele and Rose. Big club mentality.

I find our plan rather boring, but it's winning us points and taking us to the top of the table, so what do I know? Not much I tell ya

The only boring games, truly boring games, I've seen since he came was against Everton. Twice. Won one lost one. Both horrid to watch. Oddly we won one with limited players and fitness didn't we?

It's interesting listening to binary views on football styles.

Let's not forget that the overwhelming majority of successful teams over the last 20 years across Europe have played in various tactical ways but have generally had higher possession stats than the majority of their opponents. This is a fact.

Leicester won the league with about 3 touches of the ball all season.

 

[White Van Jan]

That last 20+ matches of Poch i/c:

23-Feb-19	FA Prem	21,338	A	Burnley	L	1	-	2	Kane
27-Feb-19	FA Prem	40,542	A	Chelsea	L	0	-	2
02-Mar-19	FA Prem	81,332	H	Woolwich	D	1	-	1	Kane (pen)
09-Mar-19	FA Prem	31,890	A	Southampton	L	1	-	2	Kane
31-Mar-19	FA Prem	53,322	A	Liverpool	L	1	-	2	Lucas
03-Apr-19	FA Prem	59,215	H	Crystal Palace	W	2	-	0	Son, Eriksen
13-Apr-19	FA Prem	58,308	H	Huddersfield Town	W	4	-	0	Wanyama, Lucas (3)
20-Apr-19	FA Prem	54,489	A	Manchester City	L	0	-	1
23-Apr-19	FA Prem	56,251	H	Brighton and Hove Albion	W	1	-	0	Eriksen
27-Apr-19	FA Prem	60,043	H	West Ham United	L	0	-	1
04-May-19	FA Prem	10,630	A	Bournemouth	L	0	-	1
12-May-19	FA Prem	60,124	H	Everton	D	2	-	2	Dier, Eriksen

10-Aug-19	FA Prem	60,407	H	Aston Villa	W	3	-	1	Ndombele, Kane (2)
17-Aug-19	FA Prem	54,503	A	Manchester City	D	2	-	2	Lamela, Lucas
24-Aug-19	FA Prem	59,245	H	Newcastle United	L	0	-	1
01-Sep-19	FA Prem	60,333	A	Woolwich	D	2	-	2	Eriksen, Kane (pen)
14-Sep-19	FA Prem	59,812	H	Crystal Palace	W	4	-	0	Son (2), Van Aanholt (OG), Lamela
21-Sep-19	FA Prem	32,129	A	Leicester City	L	1	-	2	Kane
28-Sep-19	FA Prem	59,645	H	Southampton	W	2	-	1	Ndombele, Kane
05-Oct-19	FA Prem	30,610	A	Brighton & Hove Albion	L	0	-	3
19-Oct-19	FA Prem	58,754	H	Watford	D	1	-	1	Dele
26-Oct-19	FA Prem	53,222	A	Liverpool	L	1	-	2	Kane
02-Nov-19	FA Prem	39,001	A	Everton	D	1	-	1	Dele
09-Nov-19	FA Prem	59,781	H	Sheffield United	D	1	-	1	Son

Near enough a point a game. That's a relegation fight. Not one decent performance against one decent team.

I was at 7 of those matches, the 0-3 at Brighton was like watching something from 2004 in Glenn's very similar complete meltdown. The 0-1 v Barcodes and 1-1 v Blades was like the worst of AVB. We weren't "done" out of any points in any of those 24 matches. In fact we were very lucky to get anything at home to Leicester, home to Goons.

If we hadn't had that crazy and exhilarating run to the CL Final then that end of season PL would have been seen for what it was - appalling.

That's over half a season's worth of terrible football. A million miles from peak-Poch.

 

[OakgroveSpurs]

Was the bet/promise a clean sheet and pocketing Mahrez/Walker?

 

[ShutUpPatrik]

So that's where Mahrez went.

 

[Nabil Bentaleb]

Who doesn’t love a good presunto?

 

[Steve73]

What we're doing now is infinitely more entertaining than having 85% posession and losing at home to Newcastle without having a shot on target. That's where we were. It wasn't isolated. We became easy to play against. To me. it's not even debateable. We became awful. Passing for passing sake. Keep passing and maybe a gap will open. That was it. It was awful. You can't live in 2016, by the 2nd half of 18/19 season the football, bar a few CL games, had deteriorated rapidly.



That was his first proper job and no one in their right mind would have turned down the roubles on offer at Chelsea.



Last summer, I said a big club would tell Eriksen to F off or rot. I wouldn't have let him kick a ball for Spurs after he said he wanted to leave and wouldn't sign a new contract. Poch didn't have the balls for that. I suspect off camera, Mourinho told him to go. Possibly even sold the idea of Inter to him from his own experience there. Now he's ostricised Dele and Rose. Big club mentality.



The only boring games, truly boring games, I've seen since he came was against Everton. Twice. Won one lost one. Both horrid to watch. Oddly we won one with limited players and fitness didn't we?


Leicester won the league with about 3 touches of the ball all season.

I said the overwhelming majority, there will always be exceptions but they are exceptions. Leicester fell off a cliff afterwards.

 

[Brian Fantana]

That last 20+ matches of Poch i/c:

23-Feb-19	FA Prem	21,338	A	Burnley	L	1	-	2	Kane
27-Feb-19	FA Prem	40,542	A	Chelsea	L	0	-	2
02-Mar-19	FA Prem	81,332	H	Woolwich	D	1	-	1	Kane (pen)
09-Mar-19	FA Prem	31,890	A	Southampton	L	1	-	2	Kane
31-Mar-19	FA Prem	53,322	A	Liverpool	L	1	-	2	Lucas
03-Apr-19	FA Prem	59,215	H	Crystal Palace	W	2	-	0	Son, Eriksen
13-Apr-19	FA Prem	58,308	H	Huddersfield Town	W	4	-	0	Wanyama, Lucas (3)
20-Apr-19	FA Prem	54,489	A	Manchester City	L	0	-	1
23-Apr-19	FA Prem	56,251	H	Brighton and Hove Albion	W	1	-	0	Eriksen
27-Apr-19	FA Prem	60,043	H	West Ham United	L	0	-	1
04-May-19	FA Prem	10,630	A	Bournemouth	L	0	-	1
12-May-19	FA Prem	60,124	H	Everton	D	2	-	2	Dier, Eriksen

10-Aug-19	FA Prem	60,407	H	Aston Villa	W	3	-	1	Ndombele, Kane (2)
17-Aug-19	FA Prem	54,503	A	Manchester City	D	2	-	2	Lamela, Lucas
24-Aug-19	FA Prem	59,245	H	Newcastle United	L	0	-	1
01-Sep-19	FA Prem	60,333	A	Woolwich	D	2	-	2	Eriksen, Kane (pen)
14-Sep-19	FA Prem	59,812	H	Crystal Palace	W	4	-	0	Son (2), Van Aanholt (OG), Lamela
21-Sep-19	FA Prem	32,129	A	Leicester City	L	1	-	2	Kane
28-Sep-19	FA Prem	59,645	H	Southampton	W	2	-	1	Ndombele, Kane
05-Oct-19	FA Prem	30,610	A	Brighton & Hove Albion	L	0	-	3
19-Oct-19	FA Prem	58,754	H	Watford	D	1	-	1	Dele
26-Oct-19	FA Prem	53,222	A	Liverpool	L	1	-	2	Kane
02-Nov-19	FA Prem	39,001	A	Everton	D	1	-	1	Dele
09-Nov-19	FA Prem	59,781	H	Sheffield United	D	1	-	1	Son

Near enough a point a game. That's a relegation fight. Not one decent performance against one decent team.

I was at 7 of those matches, the 0-3 at Brighton was like watching something from 2004 in Glenn's very similar complete meltdown. The 0-1 v Barcodes and 1-1 v Blades was like the worst of AVB. We weren't "done" out of any points in any of those 24 matches. In fact we were very lucky to get anything at home to Leicester, home to Goons.

If we hadn't had that crazy and exhilarating run to the CL Final then that end of season PL would have been seen for what it was - appalling.

That's over half a season's worth of terrible football. A million miles from peak-Poch.

The Newcastle game was the one that really stuck with me. It was horrible. 1. I was fucking hungover 2. It was unbelievably hot, I’d never been to such a hot game in England 3. Ben Stokes had just won that test match on his own with an incredible innings, everyone was on a high before kick off. 4. We then watched a horrendous match where it was evident the game was up for Poch.

 

[Bazali]

I think that's absolutely spot on. What the Chelsea squad especially did was the most childish, unprofessional thing I have ever seen in football. They embarrassed their club and their fans, and the only reason they had such a good season under Conte was because they were so pathetic the year before they didn't qualify for any European football and got to run up a huge lead from Sep to Nov playing only once a week with the same XI.

With us, he's not dealing with a bunch of wankers who signed for the money. He's dealing with players who, until the last 9 months of Poch's tenure had an immense amount of camaraderie, and were assembled under Poch for their character as well as skill. We have so many leaders in our team, so many humble egos willing to graft for their success, that Jose must be absolutely loving it.

Perfect fit.

Hazard downed tools

Fat little cunt!

 

[Guido 🇺🇦]

Who doesn’t love a good presunto?

Made all the better with a drop of Malbec!

 

[Guido 🇺🇦]

This Tweet is promoted by Gov.UK!!!! Why?

 

[Fattynomates]

Oh you just love to read it.

I’m sensing a siege mentality here , I hope they keep talking spurs down in the media as that’s the pre match talk sorted!

 

[Claud601]