Trouble is brewing for Jose and Spurs
ERIC DIER’S remarkable confrontation with a fan in midweek can be added to the list.
Just the latest in a string of incidents that suggest Spurs are heading for an almighty fall.
Of course, injuries to Harry Kane and Heung-min Son are unavoidable – and an FA Cup exit, impending Champions League sorrow and a tail-off in Premier League results can partly be explained by their loss.
But there’s a smell around N17 at the moment – a metaphor used occasionally here – and it’s more like a stench than a rose garden these days. Their season could collapse inside the next week. Listen to the howls of protest then.
Any takers for them beating Leipzig in midweek? Thought not.
Yours truly was a Mourinho fan – please note the use of the imperfect tense – but at the moment it’s almost like if anything can go wrong at Spurs’ gleaming new home, it will.
It all appears to be a jumbled mess – and the most damning evidence of all came in midweek. Canaries’ goalkeeper Tim Krul (right) took the trouble to write down on his drinks bottle where Spurs’ players liked to place their penalty kicks during the FA Cup shoot-out.
It was exactly the sort of detail – or stunt – that Mourinho himself liked to pull off when he was in his pomp.
He’s looking increasingly like a busted flush. Tired. In it more for personal enrichment than personal achievement. There’s a difference.
Of course, the acid test as to whether a managerial appointment will be successful is how players respond to new managers.
Witnessing the goalless draw at Watford first-hand a few weeks ago, there didn’t seem to be an empathy from his charges. Indeed, Dele Alli threw a very visible hissy fit after being substituted.
It was difficult to shake the notion that the players were doing just enough to keep the wolf from the door, rather than busting a gut to force a result. Expectation levels were raised at White Hart Lane under the last boss. Spurs have never been during my lifetime – and the lifetime of plenty of others – true trail-blazers in English football.
Thrilling and enigmatic on one hand, but ‘Spursy’ on the other. It’s a theme that has been repeated time and again over the years.
But the way it’s going, will there be any identity at the club come the end of this season? Any excitement? There’s more of a thrill approaching the bar at the brilliant new stadium these days – and it