3 reasons why Jose Mourinho is the wrong man for Tottenham Hotspur

#3 Have his tactics been found out?

In his prime Mourinho was considered a tactical genius, but has he now been found out?

15 years ago, when he won the first of two Premier League titles with Chelsea during his first stint at the club, Mourinho was widely considered a tactical genius. He turned the Blues into a powerful, physical outfit and popularised a 4-3-3 with Claude Makelele as a holding man and Didier Drogba acting as a brutally efficient target-man upfront. Chelsea won the league at a canter, conceding just 15 goals all season.

It’s true that the Portuguese boss has always come under fire for a perceived negative style of football – particularly when compared to managers like Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp – but for the most part, as his fans would always explain, Mourinho’s strategies have worked; he’s a proven winner, and he definitely has the medal haul to back that up.

But tactics and formations in football are an area that is constantly in flux. Continual evolution is the only way to stay afloat in this ultra-competitive world, and tiki-taka, for instance, which at one point was considered the best path to victory, has now largely been overhauled despite only coming into vogue a decade ago.

And at Manchester United, Mourinho’s pragmatic style – defensive, and still based heavily around physicality and man-to-man oriented pressing – felt at best a throwback to a previous era, and at worst completely out of date.

Mourinho could well succeed at Tottenham with his current style, but it’s a major question mark – especially as Spurs had become used to playing in a very modern counter-attacking way under Mauricio Pochettino. And if he is past his sell-by-date, then he’s the wrong choice for Spurs.