Telegraph
Jose Mourinho needs to prove himself all over again at Spurs - and that makes him dangerous
Jose Mourinho is in unfamiliar territory at Tottenham Hotspur. For the first time in his career he must persuade a sceptical audience he is a better fit for his new club than the manager he replaced.
To be blunt, many Spurs fans would have preferred to keep Mauricio Pochettino than hire Mourinho.
He has never encountered such negativity upon his arrival.
Wherever Mourinho travelled previously - Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Manchester United - his appointment brought jubilation. Those clubs wanted and needed him as much as he needed them.
He was the charismatic coach vying initially with Sir Alex Ferguson and then Pep Guardiola to be considered the best in the world - and one of the greatest of all time. He had his choice of elite clubs.
Perhaps there was more concern at Old Trafford as to whether he suited the club’s values. No-one doubted his capacity to collect trophies.
The world changed for Mourinho after his United exit. The aura is not gone, but it is damaged.
The manager who received the call from Daniel Levy had fewer options to get back into top-level football, the acrimony at the clubs he left earning as much attention as his Premier League and Champions League wins. History tells us wherever Mourinho goes, an initial upsurge and trophy haul - accompanied by highly entertaining press conferences - is followed by deterioration and confrontation.
Mourinho’s presence dominates a football club - for better when he is leading his side to titles, for worse when tensions materialise and have a debilitating impact. His man-management of players has also been questioned.
I recall a conversation with Mourinho just after his second spell at Chelsea ended, when he lamented some modern players' mentality, many rendering the manager powerless to criticise them in front of teammates as they would wilt and complain to agents, owners or journalists. He acknowledged the need to tread carefully. There was little evidence he could change when he lost patience with players at Manchester United.
Having promised to get more out of those he has inherited rather than buy new players, Mourinho must adapt at Spurs. He seemed to acknowledge as much during Thursday’s press conference.
Mourinho has a
reputation for needing to spend big to bring success. He received huge financial backing at Chelsea, Madrid and Old Trafford. For him to take on the challenge of improving an under-performing team knowing there will be no money to spend in January, and any other funds down the line will not compare to his Premier League rivals, is different to recent assignments. It makes it more exciting.
When Mourinho came face-to-face with Levy, I am convinced he must have said, ‘I can win with this squad’.
It feels like Mourinho pursued this job not only to satisfy his craving to get back on the training pitch, but to remind everyone what an outstanding coach he is - and show that he is as capable of improving players as signing them.
Towards the end at Manchester United,
Mourinho was compared unfavourably to his Premier League peers Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and - ironically enough - Pochettino.
There is a perception that football is now all about high pressing - attacking teams representing the modern way, while coaches who prefer a more compact, pragmatic style are - for want of a better phrase - ‘yesterday’s men’.
Mourinho identified this with his comment a few years ago.
“There are lots of poets in football. Poets don’t win titles,” he said.
It was presumed
Pochettino was one of the ‘poets’ he was referring to. Evidently, the constant sniping at Mourinho’s track record - that he was not a developer and his successful teams were not so attractive - has stung.
He is right to say such negative appraisals of his footballing style are nonsense. He has always been - and continues to be - one of the shrewdest football strategists of his generation.
I have a particular loathing for the growing trend to declare a ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to win a football match. What separates the best from the rest is their ability to apply and evolve existing ideas through their ability and the capabilities of the players in their squad.
Guardiola’s style was heavily influenced by Johan Cruyff, who in turn was educated by the ‘Total Football’ Dutch maestros of the 1970s.
Pochettino is a student of Marcelo Bielsa.
By his own admission, Klopp’s mentor at Mainz was Wolfgang Frank, who indoctrinated Liverpool’s coach with the high-pressing game 20 years ago which, at the moment, it seems every aspiring young coach wants to replicate.
Whether a style is deemed old-fashioned or modern is based on which clubs are most successful at the time. In the Premier League, the Emirates Marketing Project and Liverpool way is dominating. At international level, France’s World Cup winners are closer to Mourinho in philosophy than Guardiola.
A team playing with the discipline, desire and application of Mourinho’s best Chelsea side is as impressive and riveting to watch as any.
Football is about winning, and although I do not agree with the decision to sack Pochettino, ultimately, that is what cost him his job. If Mourinho is successful at Spurs, there will be no valid complaints about how he does it.
Even those Spurs supporters who are not so enthusiastic about Mourinho must privately acknowledge the prospect of their side becoming a less fragile, more streetwise and belligerent side is appealing.
Mourinho is certainly different to Pochettino, but too often the word ‘different’ is misinterpreted to mean better or worse. Spurs will become more defensive, but let’s stop saying that is negative. The most important player for Mourinho will be Harry Kane. He will shape his side around the quality of Kane in the same way Didier Drogba and Diego Costa flourished at Stamford Bridge. When I think of Mourinho’s greatest Chelsea team, Drogba, Frank Lampard and Arjen Robben were as influential as John Terry and Claude Makelele. I have often stated Mourinho’s Chelsea side are the most physically and tactically tough team I faced. You had to go to war against them, and beneath the competitiveness of those games there was only admiration.
After last year’s Champions League final, it felt like the beginning of the end for this Spurs side. They were close to winning major honours domestically and in Europe but were unable to make that final step. While Liverpool and Emirates Marketing Project strengthened, Pochettino was working with the same spine for four years. That is why I have sympathy for the outgoing coach.
The choice for Levy was to back his manager and rebuild, or recruit the man he believed capable of ensuring this era is not remembered for the greatest Spurs side never to win a trophy.
In appointing Mourinho he has opted for the latter, a calculated gamble to delay the reshaping of the squad for another two years in the belief silverware will be delivered.
Mourinho has always been appointed for the here and now, not long-term.
That he managed to convince Levy he can get more out of a talented squad without demanding millions to rebuild leads me to this conclusion; Mourinho has reached a point in his career where he needed and craved Spurs more than they needed him.
He is accustomed to doubters at the end of his reign, never at the start. Refreshed, focused and hungry, this might make him as dangerous as he has been since he first came to England.
