‘The man from yesterday’ Mourinho perfect for Tottenham’s title tilt

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It has taken him a year and a day, but José Mourinho’s transformation from the man of yesterday is almost complete. For the coach, with these Spurs, 2021 could be a special one indeed.

The Tottenham manager, just after his first anniversary at White Hart Lane, will spend Saturday night at the top of the Premier League table after his players presented him with the gift that he cherishes perhaps more than any other: a tactical triumph over Pep. Guardiola and his first pair of consecutive victories over his archrival.

When he was fired by Manchester United, it was widely assumed that Mourinho was finished. The game had changed, but the Portuguese had supposedly not moved with the times. So it will make Mourinho’s satisfaction even more conceited by the fact that he has worked his way back to the top of the league with hardly any change.

This victory it was proof of that. Guardiola, as he always does, went to White Hart Lane firmly sticking to his action plan insisting before the game that his Manchester City team was ‘perfect, very good’. Given that City could finish the weekend in the lower half of the Premier League table, they obviously are not. And Mourinho, just as he did with the residents of the city, He identified all his insecurities and took advantage of each and every one.

Son-Heung min, so deadly on the left flank so far this season, switched to the right to capitalize on another City weakness that Guardiola stubbornly refuses to address. Failing to recruit a center-back last year may not have cost them the title, but it was certainly a factor in their failure to prevent Liverpool from disappearing over the horizon. They needed a left-back this year, but Guardiola, a manager who generally enjoys little more than splurging on full-backs, was content to cope with the unreliable Benjamin Mendy and Joao Cancelo. The Portuguese defender has improved this season, but his performance last season marked the lowest of the bars. Mourinho, on the other hand, identified a great improvement in Sergio Reguillon.

Cancelo was just one of the defenders caught for Son’s first game. Which highlighted another chink in City’s armor: their inability to find a suitable selection midfielder to replace Fernandinho.

The game had five minutes when City disconnected after giving away a free kick in their own half. Tanguy Ndombele received the ball and turned, almost reluctantly, seeing that there was no pressure from an opponent. Rodri had fallen off and off while Bernardo Silva didn’t smell danger, his half-press was coming from the wrong side. Ndombele, a player who benefits from Mourinho’s tough love, threw a delicious ball over the top, which Son pounced on after being played by Cancelo, whose first step in the wrong direction suggested that he too hadn’t felt the danger.

Son’s shot through Ederson’s legs, the first of two times he went insane, another weakness identified by Mourinho’s staff? – was perfectly executed, but Harry Kane should also receive assistance. Because it was his movement that gave Son the huge hole to run through.

READ MORE: Mourinho and Son: In the business of success

Mourinho hasn’t changed, but he seems to have caused that in Kane. England’s best No. 9 kept City center-backs in the lead as he set up a clinic for any No. 10 contender by persistently falling deep to receive the ball and driving willing runners away from him. Son was one, Steven Bergwijn the other. For a striker who was deemed not fit enough to stay with the Netherlands team during the recent break, Bergwijn ran to the ground, moving forward to support Kane while aware of the threat of Kyle Walker rushing into the opposite direction.

The ploy with Kane shouldn’t have taken Guardiola by surprise but Rodri either didn’t see it coming or was unable to respond. A year and a half since he became City’s record signing, it is still clear whether he can fulfill his purpose of replacing Fernandinho. It’s a tough question, of course, but without a midfielder by his side, Rodri often seems lost.

The Spanish will not be the only rival to be overtaken and surpassed by Mourinho’s midfield. It took Ndombele a year, but Mourinho’s stick seems to have had the desired effect. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg has settled in straight away and looks like one of the bargains of the season at £ 15 million, less than a quarter of Rodri’s price, while Moussa Sissoko has become inescapable again.

While the four behind were cleverly trained and determined to repel whatever City threw at them, with Eric Dier standing out, it was the first six who embodied the ‘smart c * nts’ that Mourinho has been shaping for a year, the ‘bastards’ What you need to be to win In Mourinho’s eyes, at least.

Manchester United’s ‘stupid c * nts’ refused to trade for Mourinho, but these Spurs players, with just one medal between them, are far more prepared to be malleable and accept the coach’s methods. For that reason, Mourinho does not need to change the way he was supposed to when he replaced Mauricio Pochettino.

This season he is playing exactly to his strengths. With Tottenham’s rivals for the title, many who assumed they wouldn’t have to worry about Spurs seemingly as incapable of defending as the rest of the Premier League, perhaps the ability to get wins the way Mourinho enjoys will be the one. largest spread between all parties are currently positioning themselves for a boost in 2021.

Spurs and Mourinho have already shown that they can learn on the job. “I didn’t like my team,” Mourinho said on the first day of the season after they half-chased Everton at White Hart Lane. It was at home also that gave a three-goal lead to West Ham, which scared the coach and his players to cheer up and toughen up. In their four subsequent Premier League matches, they have conceded once, and while their strength has come at the expense of some creativity, their current balance is one that Mourinho has honed with his title-winning teams before.

That does not mean that Tottenham win the title. Their credentials will be put to the test when they face Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Leicester and Wolves in five of their next six matches. But a year after finding the Spurs 14th and sinking, Mourinho has shown that he is far from done. In fact, your greatest achievement may be yet to come.

Ian Watson



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