Former Brighton boss Chris Hughton believes Tottenham's 2-0 Premier League victory over Manchester City was no typical Jose Mourinho masterclass.
Spurs eventually ran out comfortable winners on Sunday thanks to goals from debutant Steven Bergwijn and Son Heung-Min, but Hughton - who played for the north London club between 1977 and 1990 - insists his old club 'rode their luck'.
When asked whether Tottenham had benefitted from Mourinho's trademark tactics, Hughton told Sky Sports: 'In some ways, only because he’s got the result and ultimately it’s the result that matters.
'Spurs rode their luck, and on an average day, they put those chances away. But it’s about the result and how you get the result.
'You’ll have one extremely happy changing room, and one extremely disappointed one. We’ve seen them in the past, but that wasn’t a masterclass.'
It could have been a very different outcome for Tottenham who survived a penalty scare in the first half.
Serge Aurier was adjudged to have fouled Sergio Aguero and Ilkay Gundogan saw his spot-kick save by Hugo Lloris. The goalkeeper scurried across his line in an attempt to block Raheem Sterling's rebound and City were controversially denied a second penalty after the Englishman went to ground.
Oleksandr Zinchenko was sent off for a second bookable offence on 60 minutes after City missed a host of chances, and Sky pundit Graeme Souness has spoken in defence of City boss Pep Guardiola.
'They’ve played well today. There’s not a lot wrong with them. He’ll be angry at Zinchenko’s first booking, Mahrez’s poor corner kick that led to the goal and the sending off.
'Otamendi for the second goal, just stay where you are. People do make mistakes, but they do make them and they don’t mean to.'
The result leaves City 22 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool while Tottenham have risen to fifth, leapfrogging this season's surprise package Sheffield United.
Nenbdnp
398
is sad how some people hate this man soo much...if he had lost this game..they will be saying his time has past..Who made the selection...
todbikostu
378
I'm one of those who think Jose is no tactical genius he simply sets up teams for a draw n hope his talented attackers will sneak one
The_Unnamed
310
common man...did u saw the creativity of mahrez and de bruyne..Jose plan was to block them and it works...the chances city got was from our mistakes...shut ur mouth and go watch pogo
SharkBlue
201
Otamendi has proven that he cannot play big games, we need to reinforce our defence with younger and much better defenders
ljik
145
I mean he’s right. Again our awful finishing cost us the game. Today’s outcome had nothing to do with either manager. City players were wasteful while Spurs took advantage of the 10 men and scored two good goals. They also had some luck with Lloris being off the line for the pen, the red card for a weak af challenge. The takeaway for us is that we need to improve and take our chances. People will blame the defence but that only became an issue after the red card.