Jose Mourinho got back to winning ways at the weekend as his Tottenham Hotspur side dismantled Burnley 5-0 to move up to seventh in the Premier League, five points off the Champions League places. Tonight, in Europe’s premier club competition, the Portuguese manager will face one of his toughest opponents since joining the North London outfit. Bayern Munich.
The group has already been decided with the Germans going through in top spot and Spurs assured to progress in second place; however, there is pride at stake after the reigning Bundesliga champions dismantled Spurs 7-2 on their trip to London, and their manager has banned his players from even watching the game. Equally, though, Mourinho will want to rest players for what is essentially a dead rubber contest, with a fixture against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the weekend looming. But upsetting the balance and leaving too many players out could cost Tottenham precious momentum and Mourinho must walk the tightrope carefully.
The manager may be wise to leave out players such as Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, who have made almost 40 appearances combined already this season, though doing so poses a question as to who would start up front. Lucas Moura has deputised in that role previously alongside Erik Lamela, though Mourinho is yet to start with two attackers and has tended to favour a 4-2-3-1 system throughout his career. Meanwhile, Giovani Lo Celso can be deployed as a false nine, and the manager may want to get a closer look at the on-loan forward, with rumours they can make the deal permanent (ABC de Sevilla via the Sun).But again, using a false nine is not a typical trait of Mourinho tactically.
Moussa Sissoko has earned a rest, having made more appearances than anyone else in the Tottenham squad this season. So perhaps Mourinho would be wise to start a pairing of Tanguy Ndombele and Eric Dier, both of whom have not appeared quite so frequently.
Further up the field, Dele Alli has started all of the matches during Mourinho’s tenure and will surely require a break as he will presumably be relied upon against Wolves at the weekend. Christian Eriksen is a more than capable replacement who would comfortably slot into his preferred role at the centre of proceedings.
Four players have been mentioned who will be on their manager’s mind to rotate for this evening’s fixture in Munich, but he will have to act carefully before making too many changes, as Mourinho could suffer the same embarrassing fate as his predecessor. Coming back from a midweek thumping would be the worst preparation for a vitally important weekend fixture.
