Jose Mourinho

Mark_147 said:

Then why didn't we beat Brighton, Watford, Everton, Newcastle, Sheffield United under poch if it's just simply because we have better forward players.

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muppetman said:

Because when you are hoping your better players create something out of nothing it's not a guaranteed thing?

I think it's also clear that Poch had lost his mojo with the players but when making a change of manager, surely you are hoping to see a significant improvement from the players and I don't think we have. The players are trying a bit more and a few are enjoying themselves a bit more but we are still not performing as well as the squad suggests we should.

Early days and the games are coming thick and fast so Jose gets the rest of the season regardless but for a bloke who's meant to be one of the finest tacticians of all time it's not been a fabulous start.

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chelmyid said:

He’s had no time at all!!! Jesus give him a break. He’s trying to change something that has been installed in 90% of our players for 5 years.
I cannot fathom how people bang on about not a great start! What do you expect - 100% win rate with exceptional footie and all clean sheets?

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muppetman said:

However, for my grand a year I'm expecting to be entertained and that has been in fairly short supply

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Seafordian Spurs said:

Good post. Klopp really has had a long time (in football time) to get Liverpool where they are.

We can hope Jose is as dedicated but we need to hope that our owner shares Jose's plans the way Fenway and Klopp's ambitions aligned.

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muppetman said:

Because when you are hoping your better players create something out of nothing it's not a guaranteed thing?

I think it's also clear that Poch had lost his mojo with the players but when making a change of manager, surely you are hoping to see a significant improvement from the players and I don't think we have. The players are trying a bit more and a few are enjoying themselves a bit more but we are still not performing as well as the squad suggests we should.

Early days and the games are coming thick and fast so Jose gets the rest of the season regardless but for a bloke who's meant to be one of the finest tacticians of all time it's not been a fabulous start.

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BringBack_leGin said:

Lo Celso was right not to start, until yesterday he’s done nothing to suggest he’s a viable option,

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LeParisien said:

Did he do nothing to deserve us spending more than we have spent on fees for any other player? Has he been given two consecutive starts yet?

Thats a bad take. Maybe there were good reasons for not starting him but it’s not because “he’s done nothing to suggest he’s a viable option”. He banged la Liga last season and needs to play to find form.

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muppetman said:

I did say it's early days and he needs time but I do expect more from one of the greatest managers of all time. Results are obviously important and he has done well to get us winning again, my concern is that I haven't yet seen any evidence of his greatness.

I acknowledge it's early and he hasn't had a great deal of time with the players which is why he won't be really judged until probably a chunk of next season has been played. However, for my grand a year I'm expecting to be entertained and that has been in fairly short supply - the whole game against Chelsea was woeful and the first half against Brighton might actually have been worse.

He trades on his name and his reputation - many on here said they didn't want a "project manager" so yes Jose will get judged more harshly than one of those.

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adamsky said:

People saying they are happy with how things are going, how would you feel if we start Saturday with same team but Dier & Wanyama in CM due to suspensions? Would you be at all confident of a win?

Everyone can see that we need something else in midfield, is not necessarily the names but the profile of player. It would be one thing to have two workers in CM if our full back was a Trent Alexander Arnold and our number 10 was VDV type and winger a Pires type. Our creativity could come from somewhere else if this was the case. However, with what we have it is essential that someone who can look up and play a forward pass plays in the middle. If José doesn’t see this then I think it is fair enough for fans to be concerned.

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Shadydan said:

As long as we win I really couldn't give a fuck.

Get top 4, get to the summer and let the rest take care of itself.

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adamsky said:

My point was that I think it is less likely we will win. Can play 5 keepers and we would all be happy if we win.

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adamsky said:

My point was that I think it is less likely we will win. Can play 5 keepers and we would all be happy if we win.

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Shadydan said:

Whether we're less likely to win or not if we win then that's all that matters, I feel that people just get themselves worked up over things like this for no reason, creating negative scenarios just to have a moan, me personally I literally do not care, I'm resigned to a few months of shit football in order to fulfill long term goals.

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BringBack_leGin said:

You know full well that ‘nothing for us’ was implicit... but that wouldn’t have given you anything to argue with would it?

I like the kid a lot, I was one of the biggest supporters of his signing (and felt he was more important to sign than Ndombele) but once any player signs for Spurs, what they’ve done for anyone else means very little.

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adamsky said:

Not much point watching the games then, just check the results afterwards.

I would be more optimistic about our long term goals if José is recognising the shit we have been playing recently and doesn’t keep doing the same thing. I am not a football purist, I don’t need tika taka football, but I would like to see us able to compete. We got results in some of these games only because he has changed it, so I’d like to see us start with a team that gives us a chance.

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Ionman34 said:

I think he's addressing the first issue on the list, and that is confidence.

As has already been explained, he's inherited a disjointed team with some glaring holes, so he's going back to basics first. Put players familiar with each other on the pitch together, a team that, until recently, were a force to be reckoned with. He's had to get previous wantaways onside to get them interested in playing again, players that have been pivotal to the way we play. Whilst he's been doing that, he's had to field what he has available and show some faith in them. Their confidence was shot, so the best way to build their confidence is to show that, even when they have a bad game, you still have faith in them. This builds up the relationship between manager and player, creates the bond that has them running through brick walls for you. Poch had that from them until he lost it, Mourinho has to build that.

Whilst he is a renowned tactician, he's had no time whatsoever to work on those tactics. Having said that, I felt his tactics v Wolves were spot on. Whilst we may not like being dominated possessionwise, his set up exploited their strength, we created better chances than them by exploiting the space on the counter. Early days but, considering the fragile nature of our players, it was a tactical necessity and worked a treat. Unlike many on here, I don't think we were lucky at all, I thought it was a tactical plan very well executed. Think of what that would have done to show them that they can be resilient again. Yes the Chelsea result was a shitshow, but one good result doesn't necessarily repair all ills. Chelsea showed that the mindset hasn't changed yet, but the Brighton fight back and win will be another building block in that confidence.

He's already on record stating that the hard part is to gain the defensive solidity, without sacrificing the attacking threat. Unfortunately he's quite limited with the available personnel to date so he's gone with making the defensive aspect of our game as solid has possible, whilst sacrificing some midfield creativity at times. He's also got to create a stable environment for the new players to integrate into. Throw them into an absolute shambles and you can dent their confidence severely. He has to give them a chance to be able to succeed, not set them up to fail.

Right now, Mourinho's man management skills are facing their greatest test. He must make the squad feel like they are valued and trusted. He has to get them confident again and that means getting goals as that was the only unit that was functioning anywhere near coherently, but even they were struggling. It was also probably the easiest fix because it has Kane, who just needed his faith restored, and Son who'd run through walls regardless. To get them back inside, he needed service to them. Eriksen wasn't doing it, so he went back to Toby and his excellent distribution from the back.

As I see it, he's not quite got the stability just yet, but he's near enough that he can start to integrate Lo Celso and Sessegnon without throwing them to the Wolves. Judging by the reaction after the game, it seems this may now bear fruit if Winks and Sissoko are banned. I suspect he's also desperate to unleash a fully fit NDombele on the opposition, but he's got to show trust in the player by believing that if he says he's not ready then he's saying so for the good of the team in the long run. Sometimes you can only earn trust by showing it.

Confidence is probably the most important thing where a Footballer is concerned. That has to be his first fix and, I have to say, he's making inroads, but they're still just building blocks.

Contrast us with that Liverpool team that hammered Leicester. From minute 1 you could see that that team utterly believes it is the best in the World. That towering confidence would have been smashed to pieces had they lost the CL to us after losing out on the Prem title. Instead it was us who got broken by the loss. Fine but profound margins, but it clearly has affected a few of our players. Mourinho has to rebuild that effectively half way through a season that couldn't have started much worse.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm seeing the team slowly pulling itself back together again, so I have every faith.

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