Throughout his career Jose Mourinho has consistently been labelled boring, the image some would have you believe is that his pragmatic methods suffocate the opposition into submission. There may be some truth to the accusation, but ultimately for all his personality flaws and turgid style of play, fans of the sides he’s managed have tended to keep quiet as long as the trophy cabinet continues to expand. While the new “humble” Mourinho character is yet to convince everyone he is a changed man, his Spurs side certainly don’t fit the Portuguese bosses typical mould.
Against Aston Villa on Sunday their front four were electric, the addition of Steven Bergwijn, along with starting Son-Heung Min up top has created a fluid and dynamic unit which is capable of dismantling a defence in a heartbeat. Add a rampaging Serge Aurier into the mix, and it is a recipe for a whirlwind of attacking chaos, the likes of which you would never usually associate with the Portuguese tactician. However, at present, the attacking mindset is leaving Spurs exposed at the back, and it showed against Villa, as Tottenham were somewhat fortuitous to escape with three points, even though they found the back of the net three times.
In their last ten games in all competitions, Spurs have conceded ten goals, while they may have found the back of the net on 14 occasions during that period, shipping a goal a game is not sustainable and Mourinho will be aware. The manager has been boosted by the return of Ben Davies, who is far less adventurous than his opposite number Aurier. Currently, Tottenham have defenders who they can no longer consistently be relied upon not to leak goals. Toby Alderweireld is arguably the most dependable of the lot but still found himself putting the ball into his own net against Villa.
Fortunately for Tottenham, when Harry Kane returns their attacking unit will be even more impressive and if there is any manager who knows how to organise a defence, given his track record, in theory, it should be Mourinho. Despite having a mistake in him, Hugo Lloris is an outstanding goalkeeper, and the foundations of the defence Mauricio Pochettino built are solid, but against Aston Villa Spurs became lopsided, but if Mourinho can fix that they will be a force to be reckoned with.
