The Citizen (Gauteng)

Jose’s tactics were ‘outdated’

-

– Jose Mourinho’s failed Tottenham Hotspur project is evidence his coaching methods are not as effective as they once were, as he leaves a club without a trophy for the first time since the early days of his coaching career in Portugal.

The Portuguese, once lauded as one of the greatest coaches of his generation, was sacked by Spurs yesterday with the club down in seventh in the Premier League standings and having already been eliminated from European competitio­n this season.

Despite winning Manchester United their last trophy in 2017, many fans were not disappoint­ed when Mourinho (below) was sacked in December 2018, with United 19 points behind then leaders Liverpool in the Premier League standings.

The same issues came to the fore at Spurs ever since Mourinho succeeded the hugely popular Mauricio Pochettino.

Despite a wealth of attacking talent at both Spurs and United, Mourinho’s negative tactics drew much criticism.

Former Spurs midfielder Jamie Redknapp said Mourinho was “asking for trouble” with such a reserved approach, while ex-striker Darren Bent labelled Mourinho’s tactics “outdated”.

While Juergen Klopp’s highintens­ity approach has revolution­ised the way Liverpool play, and Pep Guardiola’s ever-evolving Johan Cruyff-inspired system has steered Manchester City to much success, Mourinho’s style remained unmoved.

Chairman Daniel Levy wanted a blockbuste­r name when he went for Mourinho, with an Amazon documentar­y to sell, but on the morning after Spurs joined the prospectiv­e 12-team European Super League, Mourinho was sacked.

His record is not as imposing as it once was – Mourinho won just 51% of his games in all competitio­ns at Spurs. worse only than Leiria (45%), his second- ever job. –

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from South Africa