Jose Mourinho returns to the managerial hot-seat once again, a year after being sacked by Manchester United. The Portuguese manager takes over from Mauricio Pochettino as the Tottenham Hotspur manager and has a big challenge ahead of him.
Spurs have had a poor start to the 2019-20 season, languishing in 14th after 12 games – which is not what the Spurs board and fans would have expected after the high of reaching the Champions League final last season. The north London club also signed a few big-money players which boosted hopes of them challenging Manchester City and Liverpool for the Premier League title.
The former Real Madrid and Chelsea manager has a few issues that he has to sort out.
Let’s take a look at 3 challenges Jose Mourinho faces immediately at Tottenham
Leaky backline
Tottenham, under Pochettino, played exciting, attacking football that won over the fans. And they did so being solid at the back as well. But, that hasn’t been the case for their last 40 odd games dating back to the end of last season. The north London club have already conceded 17 goals in 12 games, almost half of what they conceded in the entire 2018-19 season (conceded 39 goals in the league last season). They also let in 7 goals against Bayern Munich in the Champions League earlier this season.
Mourinho, who is known for his pragmatic and “defence first” philosophy, has to set the Spurs defence right to help them climb up the table. He has to figure out the best defensive combination at the back but he will be helped by the profiles of the players he has available in Toby Alderweireld (whom he had pursued when at Manchester United), Jan Vertonghen and Davinson Sanchez.
Figuring the best midfield combination
Jose Mourinho must also get the midfield combination right as Pochettino did not quite know his best midfield trio. It’s expected that Mourinho will use a 4-3-3 formation or a 4-2-3-1 formation – the latter could be the preferred choice as Spurs have several attacking midfielders.
Tanguy Ndombélé will most likely be the first midfielder on the teamsheet, having had a good start to the season, while Harry Winks, Moussa Sissoko or even Eric Dier could play alongside him. Mourinho has several options in the attacking midfield role with the likes of Dele Alli, Giovani Lo Celso and Christian Eriksen.
Dealing with players who want to leave
Eriksen, along with Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen – three key players of the Mauricio Pochettino era – are out of contract in the summer. With the winter transfer window just over a month away, it will be interesting to see what Mourinho does with these three players.
They have not been frozen out yet, but Mourinho could put his foot down and demand that they be sold. But, that means that Spurs have to buy quality replacements for them, especially at the back, which looks weak without Alderweireld and Vertonghen.
Mourinho has to resolve this problem quickly and we could yet see a turnaround in the contract fortunes of these players if Jose can bring with him a complete reversal of form, especially defensively given his affinity for the likes of Alderweireld.
