MOURA MISERY
Spurs are missing that old Mourinho magic
LUCAS MOURA admits that something is missing at Spurs.
The worrying thing is that it appears to be their manager.
Where is the Jose Mourinho who was a Special One who did not come from a bottle? This Mourinho seems to have lost his bottle.
Spurs face Manchester United at White Hart Lane on Sunday looking for their first win against them since August 2018 when Mauricio Pochettino masterminded a 3-0 win over a team managed by... you’ve guessed it, Mourinho.
The Portuguese held up three fingers in his press conference afterwards.
“Do you know what this is? 3-0,” he said. “But it also means three Premierships I won – more alone than the other 19 managers in the Premier League together. So respect, man. Respect, respect, respect.”
That is the beast chairman Daniel Levy thought he was harnessing after five years of uninterrupted improvement, culminating in a Champions League Final, under Pochettino.
This Mourinho does not even seem able to stick two fingers up to anybody – not even to indicate the number of millions he is reported to have been promised as a bonus for getting Tottenham back in the Champions League. Don’t forget, that has always been the goal in the first full season in the new stadium.
Anything else that Pochettino achieved was just impressively premature.
Now Tottenham have nine games to reach their target and Mourinho seems to have run out of inspiration.
United, Arsenal and Leicester have got to go to Spurs, while the rest of the run-in is against sides you would expect the old Mourinho to find a way past.
Instead, he simply begs for a chance to reset for the new season in July with all his players fit again.
Dele Alli apologised to the fans after the 3-0 defeat in Leipzig saw them crash out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage and shortly afterwards it was Moura who took stock of the situation.
“It’s true that it’s a very difficult moment for us,” said the Brazilian winger. “But the only way we have is to keep fighting, keep believing.
“Now we have only the Premier League and we need to be in a better position. Our objective is the Champions League next season. I believe that it’s possible.
“What happened last season showed that we are a very good team, a very good club, that we have great players. But now is a new season, a new moment.
“I cannot tell you what happened in Leipzig – if it is about mentality, about confidence. But we know that something is missing. We know we need to be better.”