Mourinho happy to see Spurs ‘pony’ keep pace in title race
FOR Tottenham Hotspur a draw was enough to take them back to the top of the Premier League and it always felt like Jose Mourinho was determined to achieve just that.
In securing the point the Tottenham head coach had the bonus on shutting out his former club and also dampening a little the occasion of this being the 1,000th match since Roman Abramovich bought Chelsea.
It began as a contest between two sides full of aspirations but ended with Spurs wanting that point that took them ahead of Liverpool on goal difference. Any carping about that will have Mourinho saying – look at the table.
Chelsea will believe, especially in a dominant second half, that they did enough to win especially when, in injury-time, substitute Olivier Giroud was put clear only to volley weakly into the arms of Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
Well-drilled
It was indicative that while Frank Lampard made more and more attacking changes Mourinho left Gareth Bale on the bench. Instead it was his Wales teammate Ben Davies who came on for Steven Bergwijn.
Early on the pattern was set with Spurs, so well-drilled defensively, sitting deep and soaking up the pressure. For a while this was not “parking the bus” as a frustrated Mourinho, when he was Chelsea manager, famously accused Jacques Santini of doing in a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge in 2004 just over a year into Abramovich’s ownership. But after that it became something of a repeat.
Spurs broke superbly which ended with Harry Kane’s finely weighted pass being lifted over by Bergwijn who probably should have scored. Soon after and Chelsea failed to clear and Serge Aurier played a one-two with Eric Dier to force a smart low save from Edouard Mendy.
Chelsea tried to attack Spurs’ righthand side with Timo Werner getting in behind Aurier – and Joe Rodon making his Premier League debut – with the German forward rightly pulled up for offside after a fine finish.
Mason Mount worked his way past two defenders but his shot was wayward, Ben Chilwell scooped wildly over and Spurs dealt with the nine crosses from Chelsea – to their one – with Rodon growing in confidence and doing well to beat Tammy Abraham to a diving header. In truth, Chelsea were doing all their work in front of Spurs who often had all 11 players in their defensive third with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg urging them to keep the shape.
They managed to get in behind with Hakim Ziyech’s clever first-time pass released Reece James whose excellent cross was met by Abraham who had to do better than angling a header across goal. Moments later and there was a repeat from James and – again –Abraham failed to find a strong enough connection. What would Giroud have done with those two chances and a third which Abraham reached but once more could not turn goalwards?
Chelsea were becoming increasingly dominant and when the ball reached Ziyech he knew he wasted an opportunity when he brought it under control only to fire over. On the touchline Mourinho became agitated, a contrast to his first-half demeanour, with Lloris reacting quickly to turn away a dangerous low shot from Mount but Chelsea never really did enough and it ended goalless.
Afterwards, Mourinho branded Tottenham a mere “pony” in a Premier League title race full of thoroughbred horses.
Mourinho maintained both he and Tottenham’s players were left frustrated not to win in west London, despite Roy Keane suggesting to Sky Sports that such a claim must represent mind games from the former Chelsea manager.
The wily Portuguese then also claimed Frank Lampard’s Blues sit far higher in the list of title favourites this season. Asked where Spurs sit in the Premier League title stakes, Mourinho said: “We are not even in the race. We are not a horse, we’re just a pony.
“You see the difference: Joe Rodon was playing for Swansea, Thiago Silva was for many, many years one of the best centre-backs in the world.
“Maybe one month of Thiago’s salary pays Joe’s annual salary. I’m very happy with Joe, I’m very happy with the squad and to be with my amazing coaching staff, coaching and leading these guys.
“I’m very happy with my team, with my guys and this mentality; we came, got the point, we’re top of the league, and we are not happy.
“Of course, Chelsea are one of the biggest contenders, there’s no doubt abut that.
“I believe for them it’s not a problem at all to be two points behind (Spurs and Liverpool).
“I don’t think it’s a problem for Chelsea, they know how powerful they are and what a squad they have.” (© Daily Telegraph, London)