Jose Mourinho appears to have finally rediscovered his mojo with Tottenham Hotspur, and it is the willingness of these players to totally buy into the Portuguese's system and style which has led to Spurs sitting atop the Premier League.
An eerily comfortable 2-0 North London derby victory over Arsenal on Sunday set Spurs to the top of the league, and with the best defensive record in the league, times are good at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Now, of course, it's easy to have a good defensive record statistically when you dedicate almost your entire team to the process of defending, but whether you like this negative style or not, you can't argue against the fact that Spurs have been the most efficient machine in the Premier League this term.
With everyone around them falling over themselves to drop points, Spurs have been steady and above all, solid, and despite it not being enjoyable to watch for neutrals and purists, there is a serious chance it could lead to a championship, especially if Liverpool and Manchester City go far in the Champions League.
Mourinho never felt that he was backed in terms of recruitment at Manchester United and he is absolutely correct, and whilst Tottenham didn't do anything spectacular in the summer market, the goodwill that Daniel Levy's actions got with Mourinho have manifested on the pitch.
Mourinho looks happy, something that was rare at Old Trafford, and whilst this usually doesn't last, he has players he can rely on at this moment.
Eric Dier has been so disciplined in defence for him, whilst Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg has broken free of the shackles of being labelled as a wonderful technical footballer by Pep Guardiola, and emerged as the master of the dark arts in Mourinho's midfield.
Manchester United fans felt they were above Mourinho's playing style, Chelsea's hierarchy wanted desperately to be above it, yet Tottenham Hotspur are in search of trophies by any means possible and the hard work and desire to succeed is wonderfully impressive.
Harry Kane is England's best goalscorer, but he has no qualms about playing most of the matches in his own half, to a man this Spurs team are happy to sacrifice themselves for a win and that is exactly the environment which Mourinho needed after so many desperately poor years.
Whether or not Spurs can maintain this title challenge depends largely on Liverpool and Manchester City, if either of those two teams hit top gear for a period of over a month, it's difficult to see that not swinging the race in their favour, but if they continue to stumble and Mourinho keeps his players motivated to defend their own half, they can very seriously think that 2021 may be the year they finally win the Premier League.
mykill
524
this looks quite like Mourinho's inter
raddem
504
all football is of the fact that a lie told 1000 times becomes a true. jose is a manager that has understood football and has followed his father coach and won as well. mourinho is the wonder kid of coaching. like it or not Football is a business and the only way to be successful is a win. Do you know while defending you lose less energy than the opponent and injuries are less in your squad. yesterday Arsenal could not even attack spurs goal but they had all the hall around the mid field. and yet arsenal had the most yellow cards and also Thomas injured before spurs scored the 2nd goal arsenal had a 90 to 10 percent possession yet spurs scored the goal Mourinho simply studies his opponent and play against their strength put results first if you say mourinho loves defending i will challenge any football analysis to give me the average football possession of spurs under jose. he is third with 59% third to city 68% and Liverpool 61% so now tell me where are the other teams we claim play attacking and attractive football
raddem
407
if you ans this question you shall delete your comments who is top of the table who are the top goals scorers in the league who have the best defensive records talking of possession football which position is spurs??? spurs are simply better in their game plan than the rest
Hamabpuy
392
job well done Jose.....never give up....even u park your bus is part of football.the most important is just 3 point
Wuhbdkmtu
304
what is negitive style of football and what is positive style of football I just can't understand when Jose is winning,Kane,Son are scoring and given assists ,Eric,Loris and the rest of the boys in defense are doing a great job they sit on top of the EPL table and all of them are happy so wish one they called negitive style?????
segxxzmichael
268
I hate that remark “ negative style “ who has the right to name one style of football a particular turned down. Opinions and dynamics are part of humans evolution and should always be respected in as much it matters to the subject.
Wucdkmruz
221
Morinho is the best coach in the World