In our last Spurs article, we had mentioned that Spurs were officially in crisis, and in modern football, for a club in crisis, sacking the manager is the most common response. Despite leading Spurs to CL final and establishing them as a fixture in the top 4, Pochettino has paid the price for dismal performances in the league since the end of last season and everyone’s favorite pantomime villain, Jose Mourinho, is back in the PL. This is only the second time in his career that Mourinho is joining a club in mid-season (the first time was way back in January 2002 when he joined Porto), discounting the time he managed Benfica after being promoted and managing for a very short duration before resigning. He usually prefers his own players in the squad and hence, how he would react with the existing Spurs squad is an intriguing question. Nonetheless, we have tried to decode what we might expect from him at Spurs and consequent impact for FPL managers.

Tactics

Mourinho is famous for reactive football which often translates into negative football. The first objective is always not to make mistakes and the second is to exploit mistakes of the opposition. Having more possession means greater chance of making mistakes, especially against strong opponents away from home, which is the reason he has never been a big proponent of possession football. He once infamously won 1-0 against Man United at home with 28% possession playing Kurt Zouma in midfield. In an era of possession-based football, his team has never had more than 60% possession in PL. In his initial season with Porto, his team used to press from the front, but he seems to have abandoned that since his Porto days. We will have to see if he would pick that up again, since Spurs players are accustomed to the same (or rather were accustomed to that) under Poch. He usually prefers to set up his team in 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 formation usually, with quick wingers and single striker.

Impact on FPL

Mourinho is undoubtedly a defensive coach and his 2004-05 iteration of Chelsea still holds the record of conceding the fewest goals in a season (15) and keeping the highest number of cleansheets (24). In his last 4 full seasons in PL, his teams have kept the highest number of cleansheets and conceded either the lowest or second lowest number of goals. We can expect more of the same with Spurs and an uptick in their defense should be on the cards. Mourinho favours a flat back 4 which means 2 out of Alderweireld, Vertoghnen, and Sanchez would play as CB. Since he does not play a high line Sanchez might be the one who misses out as lack of speed for the other two won’t count against them. At left back, Davies might start in place of Rose as he seems to be more of a Mourinho type of left back and recent public outburst of Rose might also count against him. Right back would be an intriguing position, Aurier is too mistake prone and is not the kind of defender Mourinho would trust, KWP and Foyth are not mature enough. Will we see Dier at right back? The best option for FPL managers would be to go with Gazzaniga, with kind fixtures for Spurs and expected defensive improvement under Mourinho, he is virtually risk-free option at 4.5.

In terms of attacking play, the main beneficiaries might be Eriksen, Alli, and Lamela. Lamela is the sort of feisty player Mourinho loves and if he can cement his place, he might be a great differential. There have been murmurs in the media that Mourinho deems Eriksen to be an integral part of the team. If the rumors are true and Eriksen is successfully reintegrated in the team, then he might also be a great option. Alli is once again a player who fits Mourinho’s template and if he rediscovers his form of 2 seasons back, then you would want Alli in your team. We have not seen enough of Lo Celso in PL to form any opinion about him though he has looked electric in the few minutes he has been on the pitch. As part of his backroom staff, Joao Sacramento has joined Mourinho from Lille instead of his regular assistant Rui Faria who is currently working in Qatar. Lille do have an attacking style of play and maybe Mourinho might also play expansive football. However, in his last 2 full seasons, Man United were 5th and 8th in goal scoring charts with Mourinho at helm and had scored less than 60 goals in 2017-18. We would urge you to wait and watch before buying any midfielders.

One player who should see a great improvement in his output would be Harry Kane. Mourinho usually plays with only 1 striker. Drogba and Diego Costa at Chelsea, Milito at Inter and Ibrahimovic at Man United, all of them had stellar seasons with Mourinho and surely Kane would not prove to be the exception. Kane has all the attributes which Mourinho looks for in his striker and we expect Kane to regain his form under Mourinho. He might be a punt worth taking right now, though it would be prudent to wait for 1-2 week before transferring in him.

In conclusion, we expect Spurs players to be a relevant option for FPL in coming days. As for Mourinho‘s impact on the club, we are not very sure that Mourinho fits the Spurs’ culture and in long term his hiring might prove to be a wrong decision but in here and now, expect some fight from Spurs in coming days and a big if not great improvement in their game.

If u enjoyed reading our analysis, do give us a shout and follow us on @FFExperts_

Link to our other featured articles