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Tottenham Hotspur had a good week.
Starting at the top of the Premier League, a draw and two losses have left them in sixth and six points adrift from Liverpool at the top.
And it is beginning to affect José Mourinho.
The Portuguese started the week having, in Jurgen Klopp’s words, enjoyed a kind of reinvention, at least on Instagram anyway.
The Special One was popular again and, with Heung-Min Son and Harry Kane in good shape, it seemed to have the firepower to make a dent in the title race. He was doing it all with a smile on his face.
But in the space of three games he has shown why he will struggle to topple the reigning champions of England.
And the frown returned.
Mourinho claimed that the best team lost at Anfield on Wednesday, having seen his team miss several important opportunities before Roberto Firmino’s last goal.
But after watching his team enjoy just 24% of possession against the Reds, as well as having eight shots to Liverpool’s 17, including just two to Reds’ 11 on target, it was a difficult claim to justify.
And he did it again after a loss to Leicester on Sunday, oddly justifying his stance by stating that the Spurs enjoyed the ball more and dismissing the Foxes’ goals.
“We went 1-0 down and then in the second half we scored an own goal when they told us that you [the media] love, possession, and we were in more creation and that was difficult.
“The reaction was positive. [Kasper] Schmeichel made a couple of important saves that could have given us life in the final minutes of the game.
“But in the end, it is a game that we lose with a penalty and an own goal. With the result, it seems that the opponent was in full control or that the opponent was better than us, but that is not the reality.
“Our performance was not good, but the game was not as they deserve to win or we deserve to lose.”
And after seeing his team draw with Palace earlier in the week, perhaps Mourinho is, in typical fashion, looking to mask the truth of the matter from his side.
In other words, the Spurs may not be good enough to go all the way in the title race. Or perhaps more to the point, not with the style of football that Mourinho currently employs.
Mourinho continues to be an excellent coach, that is clear.
And he has done an admirable job at Tottenham so far.
But the defensive tactics he employs now are unlikely to make a team title winners.
His Chelsea sides, while tight at the back, were still more than capable in front of goal.
With players such as Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Arjen Robben and Damien Duff in their ranks, they scored 72 goals in consecutive seasons to win consecutive titles in 2005 and 2006. Only Arsenal, in 2005, scored more goals than West Londoners.
In 2012, when Mourinho won La Liga with Real Madrid, his team scored a whopping 121 goals to clinch the title.
Two years earlier, Mourinho’s Inter Milan was the top scorer in Serie A, as they won the title and the same for Chelsea in 2015.
But in recent years, as the Portuguese has tried to turn the odds by making Manchester United champion again and then at Spurs, he has doubled down on his defensive focus.
At Spurs, he doesn’t have the financial power to outmaneuver his rivals and needs to find a different way.
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So he has turned to tactics and mind games.
But Mourinho denies the Spurs thing this week. He knows they were second best at Anfield and failed big tests at Palace and Leicester.
And as North Londoners join Chelsea, Everton and even Leicester to get into the pack behind the Reds, he too knows he’s swimming against the current to try to get them back in the title race.
With that understanding, the mask has slipped and the finger is pointing in all directions.
First Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool, then Leicester and the media.
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But Mourinho’s difficulties only underscore why Liverpool remain a huge favorite to regain their Premier League title.
This season there have been several suitors, Manchester United being the last.
And while the top six teams keep changing, one thing remains the same.
Liverpool are not leaving and with the light at the end of the tunnel regarding their injury issues, they may escalate things further after the turn of the year.
Mourinho won’t like that one bit.
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