José Mourinho regained his charm as Tottenham chases the title, but Spurs insiders fear implosion

Sometimes relationships are as much a matter of time as it is a romantic destiny. And maybe that’s the way it is for José Mourinho and Tottenham.

You can imagine the announcement of lonely hearts: a super talented but ultimately fragile soccer team is looking for an experienced and serious man to help them achieve life’s ambition.

Mourinho doesn’t seem like a natural candidate for the club’s aesthetic ambitions forged by Bill Nicholson’s push-and-run philosophy.

And the team whose name has become an adjective to indicate soccer’s fragility, ‘Spursy’, seems like an unlikely fit for a serial winner who despises vulnerability and appreciates solidity. But maybe they just needed each other right now.

Perhaps these players at this point in their careers are receptive to the relentless focus on results over style? And maybe Mourinho just needed to be loved and respected again?

“There is a spring in his step and a glint in his eye,” says a source from the training camp. “It’s like he’s got his mojo back.”

“I think he is happy to be back in London, to be with his family,” said a separate source. “It couldn’t have been easy staying in a hotel in Manchester. But he seems satisfied here. I think the club has embraced him, whereas at United there were always people who were annoyed that he was there. ”

In the first weeks of his appointment, he did his best to hug the staff and know the names of the people. One point that is often overlooked amid the caricature of the aggressive and moody Mourinho is that he has extraordinary charm when necessary.

But it’s not like it has changed shape. Tanguy Ndombele and Dele Alli will testify that the same cold focus on trophies can have players brutally discarded. However, Ndombele’s appearances this season suggest that there is a path to redemption.

“He’s ruthless,” Eric Dier said recently. “ Now I am 26 years old and I also need to be ruthless in my performances. When you’re younger it’s a little different, but I enjoy the way it copes. He’s very honest, very direct, even if you don’t like it, and I like to have that clarity. ‘

Hugo Lloris laughed, a bit embarrassed, when reminded that the recent Amazon Prime documentary was peppered with regular reminders from Mourinho that he wanted the team to be ‘a bunch of jerks’.

Lloris, captain and world champion with France, is as far from it as you can imagine. But, eight years at Tottenham, constantly answering questions about when a trophy will arrive, can make a man receptive to Mourinho’s ways.

“It doesn’t mean you’re not a good guy off the field,” Lloris said. “You can be a good guy off the pitch, but when you’re on the pitch you have to do everything. And everything also means having this personality to be naughty, to get the winning taste.

‘You have to know how to win the ugly way. And that kind of victory makes you even stronger. Because you know how to win on a bad day. ‘

Speaking to Harry Kane earlier this month, trophy themes clearly dominate his mindset at the age of 27. A generation, like Lloris, Dier, Toby Alderweireld, Erik Lamela and Son Heung-min, grew up with him and were the heart of Maricio Pochettino’s team.

“There are a lot of us on this team that have been here for a period of time and we haven’t won anything, so we are always as hungry as ever,” Kane said. We all know that it takes a lot to get over the line and we just have to find a way to do it.

“It is not as easy as having a good team and winning a few games to fight for the title.”

Not that it has been easy from the moment Mourinho arrived a little over a year ago. A source who has watched the process from the inside says: ‘It was always going to take some time to adjust after Pochettino left because he was five years with those players.

But the same players are buying José because he is a winner. And that’s what they want at this stage in their careers. ‘

Not everyone is happy. There were some complaints about the Amazon documentary, which was dubbed ‘Joseph Goes to Hollywood’ in boot camp, such was the relentless focus on the manager. But that was a decision of the documentary team, not of Mourinho.

“The vast majority are happy right now and the spirit is there,” says a source from training camp.

It seemed evident last week at the cricket games the club posted on social media. We learn that Kane has rudimentary hitting technique, Dier is an acceptable wicketkeeper, but that Joe Hart, before the Shropshire schoolboys, is a good bowler. More importantly, it gave the impression of a united team, laughing and playing together.

Mourinho’s performances at press conferences are pushing the club forward rather than dividing it, as it often seemed to be the case at United. Training ground was full of ridicule at Manchester City last week and the implication (no evidence, it should be said) that Pep Guardiola had somehow pressured Raheem Sterling to miss England’s game against Iceland.

Similarly, on Friday, he enjoyed pushing his former player Frank Lampard for today’s game by drawing attention to Chelsea’s spending. Players appreciate his ability to dictate headlines, at least when the focus is not on them.

And Mourinho has been unusually satisfied with his club’s transfer business. They seemed to be in their element for the summer, having to play the market with relatively limited funds, although they still made £ 75 million by signing Sergio Reguilon, Matt Doherty, Joe Rodon and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and bringing in Gareth Bale and Carlos. Vinicius on loan.

There is great satisfaction with the acquisition of Hojbjerg for £ 15m, a player Mourinho helped identify to balance the midfield. At the end of last season he was in and out of the Southampton squad, but it seems key for the squad sitting at the top of the table.

Perhaps he is Mourinho’s archetypal player. “I want to be the best teammate that I can be,” he said when asked about his growing reputation. “It is important to me that the team is successful, that I am trying to improve my teammates and that I am working hard every day to achieve my team’s goals. I promise you, it is fuel for my fire. ‘

There is a musculature in his midfield when he has Hojbjerg, Ndombele and Moussa Sissoko. And “solidity” is the word that is repeated most often in training field to describe the team now. Defensively, the set-up is clear and the expectations well communicated.

Some at Spurs wonder if playing behind closed doors has done Mourinho good in these early days. Spurs fans, raised on the wisdom of Danny Blanchflower: ‘The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It’s about doing things in style and going out and beating others, not waiting for them to die of boredom ‘- he would have fretted as he remodeled the side.

It has allowed you a clear space without external pressure to make your mark. And his instructions now sound from the bench clearly heard by his players. They have quickly become a team in his image.

However, the key to a great start has been the top three, especially Son and Kane. Tottenham have scored 21 Premier League goals this season, 16 of them scored by those two. Ndombele is the only midfielder to score, which tells you something about the priorities of that department.

“The three forwards are working great,” says the Spurs source. And they like Steven Bergwijn there because he works so hard. Also Giovani Lo Celso. With Bale and Lucas Moura, they are well supported, although there is a possibility that Kane and Son will need to rest at some point.

“I think the main change was in our mentality because I think we realized that it is time to fight for a trophy and the club made very good signings in the summer,” Lucas Moura said last week. “That is what we try to show in each game, that we want and have the desire to win something in the season.”

After the collapse against West Ham, when that word from the Spursys resurrected after they conceded three times from the 82nd minute onwards and ended up drawing 3-3, a players’ meeting was called to fix things. The feeling is that against Burnley, Brighton and West Brom have now shown that resilience. And against City they showed another way to win.

Of course, there is a note of caution expressed within all of this. “Let’s see where we are after the next five games” is a common refrain at Spurs. Tottenham have Chelsea (away), Arsenal (home), Palace (away), Liverpool (away) and Leicester (home) before Christmas. Then the title credentials will be better evaluated.

And then there is the Mourinho factor. “History shows that it could explode at any moment,” says a source. Everybody knows. However, if they become the home fastball in March and are still among the contenders for the title, the prospect would be intriguing. Can you imagine how much he would love that? says another source.

At the Spurs, they have been without trophies long enough to avoid getting ahead. But they are in the quarterfinals of the League Cup and will have to play in the Europa League in the spring, which, as Mourinho never tires of pointing out, has competed twice and won two.

There is a long winter to sail before then. But if he can keep this team among the contenders, that would only silence José’s skeptics. If he could do something more spectacular, it would surely be his best win yet.