BRING ME SON SHINE
Pep: Title out of reach soon if I can’t fix attack
JOSE MOURINHO outwitted his great rival Pep Guardiola to mark a year in charge of Tottenham by taking them to top of the table.
‘ The Experienced One’, as the Portuguese dubbed himself in midweek, produced a tactical masterclass to lift Spurs above Leicester and leave Manchester City languishing in mid-table.
No silverware is handed out in November, of course.
But this was a major test passed by Mourinho’s men and a message sent to every other side with title aspirations that Tottenham, for now at least, are planning on being part of the final reckoning.
Mourinho was quick to urge caution and said: “This position can be fake, we lose two matches and we can be mid-table. It’s an incredible Premier League.”
This was still a performance that epitomised Mourinho’s take on the game. His side got their noses in front early through Son Heung-min – that man again with his ninth Premier League goal of the season after a quick-thinking free-kick from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and a wonderful pass from Tanguy Ndombele.
And they then defended brilliantly, heroically, and professionally, for an hour before securing the victory with a classic counter- attacking goal through Giovani Lo Celso.
Some detractors will point to the possession stats which showed City enjoyed 66 per cent of the ball.
But don’t be fooled – Spurs were better off the ball than City were on it, and much more clinical with the chances that came their way.
Guardiola, who signed a two-year extension to his Etihad contract in midweek, has had some rotten luck with injuries this season but he still has quality players available across the pitch and they simply aren’t doing the business.
Rodri headed one good chance from Kevin De Bruyne’s cross straight at Hugo Lloris. And when Aymeric Laporte did put the ball into the back of the net little more than midway through the half, referee Mike Dean was advised to check his monitor and correctly ruled the goal out for a handball against Gabriel Jesus.
Tottenham had hardly seen the ball when Son put them ahead and for the next 61 minutes every man in white defended superbly.
Toby Alderweireld and Eric Dier were rock-like at the back, while in front of them Hojbjerg was superb breaking up play and putting Spurs on the front foot, as was Moussa Sissoko alongside him.
Left-back Sergio Reguilon has hit the ground running since arriving from Real Madrid and Harry Kane, Steven Bergwijn and Son ran themselves ragged as the first line of defence. After the break, there was more of
the same but any hopes City had of getting anything were ended when Mourinho sent on Lo Celso.
Just a minute later, City lost the ball deep into Spurs territory, Dier thumped it to Kane and he saw the Argentine scampering past him into space vacated by Kyle Walker’s foray forward. Kane played him in and Lo Celso sealed the win.
Ruben Dias did force a point-bank save from Lloris late on but City were already well beaten by then.
Guardiola said: “The reality is we are struggling to score goals, 10 goals in eight games is not enough.
“It is not for one person. The confidence of the guys is there. Now we go to Europe and afterwards we have to start to win games.
“They are top of the league so obviously they are more contenders than anyone else right now. Of course there are a lot of points to play for but there are a lot of teams in front of us and we have to start winning games.
“If not challenging for the title will not be possible and we know it.”
Mourinho isn’t even getting interested in titles, for now.
He told the BBC: “It feels good to be top, but maybe tomorrow we are second again and honestly that would not be a problem. I am just happy with the evolution.
“We are not fighting for the title, we are fighting to win every match. But we are going to lose matches and draw matches.
“Dinner tonight will be nice and relaxed and I will watch Atletico Madrid v Barcelona and sleep like an angel.”