JOSE’S SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS

GIOVANI LO CELSO admits Tottenham’s stars are still getting to grips with Jose Mourinho’s coaching ideas.

Mourinho was thrust straight into the action in November when he replaced Mauricio Pochettino.

That’s never an easy task and some managers liken it to trying to fix a plane that’s in the air.

The mini pre-season teams got post-lockdown at least gave the Portuguese time to work on the training ground with his players without the grind of a game every few days and a better opportunity to get his plans across to them.

But midfielder Lo Celso knows their last three results prove there is still plenty of work to be done.

Spurs lost 3-1 to Europa League rivals Sheffield United, beat Everton 1-0 and then drew 0-0 with relegation-threatened Bournemouth.

A run of results which hardly catapults them into today’s north London derby against bitter rivals Arsenal brimming with confidence. Lo Celso (left) said: “We’ve tried to take on board the manager’s ideas as quickly as possible. In some games we’ve done this better than in others, but we’ve got four finals still to play to get ourselves into those European places.

Identity

“Each manager has their way of playing, their identity, their way of approaching games.

“It’s not just Jose Mourinho or Mauricio Pochettino, that goes for the majority of managers. They view football in a different way.

“During the past few months, we’ve been working on what the coaching staff have asked of us.

“We’ve got some really important, really tough games, so we need to finish up there.”

After the defeat by the Blades, Mourinho tore into his players’ lack of fight and desire and, after the Everton game last Monday he complained his players would only win the Fair Play Cup.

A big improvement is needed on the Bournemouth match, and Lo Celso added: “The Arsenal game will be really tough but we need to win it to be up there.”