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What was once an “embarrassing” scoreboard by José Mourinho’s standards is now completely out of his control at Tottenham.
The problem with engaging in constant psychological warfare and nefarious mind games for decades is that you eventually end up incessantly punching yourself in the face just to feel something. When everything you say is kept in a permanent public record, contradictions are inevitable. The more incendiary the initial message, the greater the resulting hilarity when it inevitably fails.
The passage of time does nothing to mitigate that, as José Mourinho kindly confirmed On Wednesday. As he himself admitted more than 16 years ago, what happened at Goodison Park in the fifth round of the FA Cup was a debacle that did not belong in the sport.
“Five-four is a hockey score, not football”, he mocked in November 2004, his new Chelsea team posted 0-0, 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 4-0 and a positively exotic pair of 4-1 in their first 13 Premier League matches .
“In a three-on-three training match, if the score goes to 5-4, I send the players to the locker room because they aren’t defending well. So getting a result like that in an 11v11 game is a disgrace, ”he added, dismissing Arsenal’s nine-goal win in the North London derby the day before.
Few would blame him for saving time and recycling those quotes to sum up the FA Cup fare at Goodison Park. Tottenham, with their born winner and trophy guarantor, is out of the running in the fifth round. Everton and Carlo Ancelotti reach the quarterfinals.
Both teams deserved to pass. Both teams deserved to be eliminated. Gylfi Sigurdsson carefully encapsulated a disconcerting 120 minutes – three wonderful assists and a penalty between what could be generously described as scoring Davinson Sánchez from the corners.
The central half, suffice to say, scored twice from set pieces.
Tottenham couldn’t or simply couldn’t be bothered to track their former player’s movement throughout the night. Sigurdsson enjoyed the freedom of Merseyside to provide the smart move for the Dominic Calvert-Lewin tie, to pass Richarlison to make it 4-3 and find Bernard with a lovely chip that ultimately decided the tie.
His return to prominence has been a welcome development for the Toffees, Abdoulaye Doucoure and Tom Davies, providing a wonderful platform in midfield from which the Icelander could elevate this game even further. The arrival of players like James Rodríguez really aggravates or discourages others through competition. In Sigurdsson’s case, it has pushed him.
It would be remiss not to mention the specific defense cases that the Mourinho of yesteryear might have considered “shameful.” Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg was shockingly guilty, so determined was he to pass out from behind that he did not notice Doucoure’s urgent and pressing presence. 1-1. A total of 447 seconds and a defensive collapse later, the deficit was 3-1. Sánchez completely loses Richarlison’s career. 4-3. Two players score Richarlison as Bernard runs into the area without scoring while Matt Doherty plays him. 5-4.
An optimist would point out that Tottenham scored four goals, two with Harry Kane on the bench and only one with him in between. The visitors were excellent in the first half hour, playing fast, wonderful, one-touch football. It was refreshing. It was promising.
A pessimist might suggest that the ensuing defensive slump makes all of the above moot. Mourinho will return to an unambitious and totally cautious style in direct response to the kinds of individual and team errors that he cannot control or legislate otherwise.
There is a balance, of course. It is possible to be adventurous in attack without exposing the defense and stable in defense without isolating the attack. This insistence that the two are mutually exclusive is counterproductive. Mourinho’s only focus will be on all five and not four, when a more trustworthy and holistic manager would still take care of the first and at the same time take advantage of the second.
Here’s the rub: in Tottenham’s seven Premier League games after drawing 3-3 with West Ham in October, only once were there more than two goals. Mourinho will react to this, but not in the way some might naively hope.
Matt stead
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