Why Jose Mourinho will be successful at Tottenham.

Jose Mourinho has won trophies at every team he has managed. This includes two champions leagues and eight league titles in four different countries. However, just before the season was stopped Mourinho was being widely criticised by pundits. Tony Cascarino judged his philosophy to be “outdated and irrelevant” and Rio Ferdinand slammed his man management after Tottenham’s champions league exit, claiming “confidence hasn’t been forthcoming from Jose”.  

The fact that Mourinho was a surprising choice by Spurs and replaced a manager who transformed them into a strong competitor in both the Premier league and the Champions League increases the challenge.  However, Mourinho I believe can be successful at Tottenham (as much as I hate to say it as a Chelsea fan) despite being a less obvious fit than Pochettino. Here’s why:

He is a trophy winner 

The first point is that he ultimately wins trophies and this is where Spurs are certainly lacking. Spurs have only won the league cup in 2008 since the start of the 21stcentury. Yes, he got heavily criticised for his time at Manchester United, however he has been their most successful manager since Sir Alex Ferguson. They won the Europa League, Community Shield and EFL cup in his first season. In his second season he came second to Manchester City (who achieved 100 points) and described it as the “greatest achievement of his career”. Those that have dismissed this quote as an exaggeration should note Manchester United have not won a trophy since and are currently set for another season outside of the top four.

He has improved Spurs at a difficult time 

Furthermore, Spurs performances have improved since Mourinho has taken charge. Without Mourinho Spurs had 14 points from 12 games, whereas with Mourinho they have achieved 27 points from 17 games and are still in contention for Champions league football. They have had a recent shocking run of form with no wins in 6 games and were knocked out of the Champions league to RB Leipzig and the FA Cup to Norwich City. However, I don’t believe this has been his fault – the combination of both Kane and Son being injured and Eriksen leaving for Inter Milan in January represented huge losses of personnel and quality to the team. 

He knows he must adapt

One big criticism Mourinho receives is his lack of faith in youth and the way he treats his players. Although, in January he signed Gedson Fernandes (21) and Steven Bergwijn (22), two talented young prospects. He also introduced Japhet Tanganga to the starting team who has became a revelation since this and Troy Parrot, Ryan Sessegnon and Oliver Skipp have also featured under Mourinho. Additionally, he has had a positive relationship with the players, Tanganga described him as “the best manager in the world”. Probably aware of past criticism Mourinho has heaped praise on almost all of his players.

He has had an opportunity to prepare for the Premier League restart

Lastly, he has been provided with an opportunity to prepare for the restart which he wasn’t able to do when taking over from Pochettino at a time which was congested with fixtures. It will also allow injured players such as Kane to come back to full fitness, which should reverse the recent poor run of form. In his time in lockdown he has being living with a number of his coaching staff to allow for stronger communication and analysis during the break. He clearly has the commitment and drive to succeed at Tottenham despite the doubters and I believe that this break will give him and his coaching staff the clarity for how to approach the remaining games. 

Nothing is certain in football, but Spurs fans should remain patient and optimistic in Mourinho because he is a proven winner and is showing his committed to the club. Next season it is likely we could be seeing vintage Mourinho, with Spurs finishing in the top four and winning their first trophy in over a decade.  

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Has the home advantage gone missing?

Football restarted in the Bundesliga on the 16th May, with La Liga expected to follow suit on the 11th June and the Premier league on the 17th June. One thing which has sharply stood out for those watching since the return has been the fact it is behind closed doors and the associated lack of atmosphere in the club’s stadiums. 

Teams in the Bundesliga have tried to combat this problem. Gladbach started the trend by introducing cardboard figures with fans photos.

However, despite this looking like there was an attendance of fans, the atmosphere was obviously still muted. In the ‘Der Klassiker’ derby between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich there were fake crowd noises to try and boost the atmosphere for the home players, with “cheers” for Dortmund and “boos” for Bayern Munich. This received mixed reviews with some people believing it was a positive for the players to have some noise and support, although some argued it was too unnatural and didn’t favour the new introduction. Such noises were nothing in comparison to the usual atmosphere of the ‘Yellow Wall’ at the Signal Iduna Park. More importantly the experiment appears to have failed to work with Dortmund, as they lost 1-0 in a poor match with more focus on the fake crowd noises rather than their derby defeat.  

Already there is evidence of the home advantage that exists being damaged and perhaps reversed. 

This non existent crowd has had a negative impact across teams in the Bundesliga. For example, in the past 27 fixtures since the return there have only been 5 home wins in comparison to 10 away wins. Whereas, in the 27 fixtures before the break there was 11 home wins and 6 away wins showing a complete reversal. Furthermore, two of those five fixtures which resulted in home wins since the return included Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, the top two teams in the league. 

These recent statistics provide a strong change compared to the Bundesliga home advantage of 58.35% in past seasons.

It really seems teams are missing their “twelfth man”. The crowd is absent but other home advantage factors include the travel fatigue for the opposition, familiarity with the pitch and territoriality should still remain for teams. It will be interesting to see whether this change continues in the Bundesliga and in other leagues such as the Premier League. 

Without the fans the home advantage has effectively been neutralised and therefore will provide different results in the leagues and may have a greater impact on the end result of the table. 

Thousands of German fans will be missing the opportunity to attend games at the end of the season – which tends to be the most entertaining part and when the clubs really need the support. It makes sense for the Bundesliga clubs to try ways to change this and retain an advantage in their own home stadiums but the truth is they have lost some very valuable team mates. Until the end of the season home advantage is a thing of the past. 

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