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Jose Mourinho has already faced criticism for his methods since taking over as Tottenham Hotspur head coach back in November.

Spurs have only played 10 Premier League matches under the Portuguese and already their woes on the pitch have been compared with the problems that Chelsea and Manchester United encountered during his time at Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford, respectively.

After starting his reign with five wins in his first seven fixtures across all competitions, a 2-0 defeat to Chelsea in late December set up a poor run of both performances and results.

Draws with Norwich City and Championship side Middlesbrough came either side of a 1-0 loss to Southampton on New Year's Day, with Harry Kane limping off with a serious hamstring injury against the Saints.

In Mourinho's 10th league game in charge, Spurs were beaten 1-0 by title leaders Liverpool at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium but it was not a result that confirmed the arguments put against the home team and their new head coach.

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The north Londoners remained in the contest throughout the 90 minutes, and even had chances late on to at least draw level, but there was a difference between Tottenham and Liverpool.

While Jurgen Klopp has sought to drill patterns of play into how his team behave in possession, to choreograph moves on the training ground to bring into games, that was not a feature of how Spurs played - and hasn't been evident in their previous performances for Mourinho.

The three-time Premier League winner later defended his approach, and picked out the injury that has done the most to undermine his plans.

It wasn't Harry Kane, the 20-goal striker who can play as an all-rounder up front, but Wales international Ben Davies.

"If you want to know what I wanted to do, look to my first game against West Ham," said Mourinho. "That's the way I thought I was going to develop the team.

"Defend with a back four, attack with a back three. That was the first day of unlucky, goodbye Ben Davies."

Rather than arriving at a club to put in place a distinct style of play as Klopp has done at Liverpool, or Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, Mourinho's decisions over what he will do with a team is effectively decided by the qualities of the players at his disposal.

While he has always sought to hurt teams on the counter-attack, the way that Porto, Chelsea, Inter, Real Madrid and Manchester United all played for him cannot be so easily tied together in the same way that Guardiola or Klopp's ideas can be distilled down into a set of principles.

After being appointed by Daniel Levy at Spurs, he will have taken an audit of his squad before determining how best to highlight the strengths Tottenham possess while ensuring that any weaknesses are masked.

His solution was to adopt a 4-2-3-1 formation with Davies operating as a left-back on paper, only to come inside and effectively turn the back four into a three-man defence when in possession.

In the win over West Ham, that allowed right-back Serge Aurier to advance up the field into the opposition's half to effectively become another attacker in the final third.

Centre-backs Toby Alderweireld and Davinson Sanchez shifted across to cover for the Ivorian's absence, with Davies tagging on to the duo from the left, as shown below.

That ploy allowed Spurs to attack with five players in Aurier, Lucas Moura, Dele Alli, Son Heung-Min and Harry Kane.

Defensively, the system thrived because of the coverage that was present in the centre of the field and how that impacted the management of counter-attacks by the Irons.

Davies may not be a player with outstanding quality to the extent that he decides matches single-handedly but it's reasonable to suggest that he is somewhat of a specialist with regards to the role Mourinho had earmarked him to play.

It's not particularly common for a player to be capable as a full-back while also being comfortable as a wide centre-back in a back three.

Playing for the Welsh national team, the defender has often been used one the left of a back three.

Mourinho's claim that the injury to Davies early in his reign hampered his ability to realise a more sophisticated plan for Spurs may be viewed as an excuse by those unconvinced by his appointment but it's not unjustified.

There is an argument that Jan Vertonghen could perform the role, but he's now 32 years-old and is considerably less mobile than Davies. He'd likely encounter more issues when tasked with covering wide areas.

However, the vision that Mourinho brought to Spurs in November is probably still a viable strategy. He's simply not been able to execute his plan for a number of weeks due to the injuries that have been accumulated.

Kane is now set to be out for an extended period, Son Heung-min has missed matches through suspension, and Tanguy Ndombele has been an infrequent presence because of his minor problems behind the scenes.

Moussa Sissoko's own injury has also robbed Spurs of a player who has been used to help support their right-backs in recent seasons by drifting out wide from midfield to cover gaps and help stop opposition wingers.

The signing of Gedson Fernandes, a player with a somewhat similar profile to the Frenchman, could go some way to filling that gap in the squad for now.

Had Mourinho not been denied the players he needs to implement his ideas then it is likely that the worries over his start to life in north London would not be so prominent.

Complaints over his style of play are to be expected. The Portuguese has always had his detractors, even at the peak of his success.

It is one thing to unimpressed by his work and another to dismiss his efforts in the context of an injury crisis that has left him short across the pitch, but especially in the position that was to be the sort of tactical trick that other managers are celebrated for bringing to a team.

He has had to cope with notable absences to such a degree that the playing style has suffered and his intentions have had to be altered as a means of securing results on a short-term basis.

Once the circumstances become more favourable in terms of player availability, Mourinho's true desire for how he wants Tottenham to play should become recognisable over time.

Until then, the loss of Davies and other players means that claims he has no plan may be wide of the mark.