In 2005, Jose Mourinho led Chelsea to a first league title in 50 years with a team that were resolute defensively and devastating on the counter-attack. In 2021, Mourinho will be looking to lead Tottenham Hotspur to a first league title in 60 years with a team that is resolute defensively and devastating on the counter-attack.
Sunday’s 2-0 victory over Arsenal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium ensured that Spurs regained pole position in the Premier League over Chelsea, now managed by Frank Lampard, the player whose two goals against Bolton Wanderers clinched the Blues’ first league title in half a century.
It would take a superhuman feat for Mourinho’s Spurs to emulate his very first Chelsea side, given they set a record for most points in a Premier League season (95) – since surpassed by Manchester City and Liverpool – conceded the fewest goals in a season (15) and lost just one game in total, but here are striking similarities between the two teams nevertheless.
Ever since Manuel Lanzini scored a literal one-in-a-hundred shot to salvage a 3-3 draw for West Ham in October, Mourinho has tightened Spurs up considerably. Over the past six league games, they have conceded just once to Brighton’s Tariq Lamptey, managing shutouts against Burnley, West Brom and impressively, Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal.
In Toby Alderweireld and Eric Dier, Mourinho has found his new John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho. Alderweireld’s reintroduction into the starting line-up at the expense of the speedier Davinson Sanchez has resulted in Spurs dropping 10-15 yards deeper to cover for the Belgian’s lack of pace, but it has worked spectacularly. Just as it did with Terry at Stamford Bridge.
Both Alderweireld and the revitalised Dier have defended their 18-yard-box as if their lives have depended on it. Dier, an ever-present in the league this season, has completed more clearances (57) and aerial clearances (37) than any other player in the division. Alderweireld has only played seven times, but he ranks 14th and ninth in those respective charts.
Then there is Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, the Copenhagen Kante himself, or perhaps more accurately, the Copenhagen Claude; for all the glitzy attacking signings made during the early days of Chelsea’s Roman Abramovich era, it was the acquisition of Claude Makelele, an inconspicuous, unglamorous defensive midfielder who transformed the team.
Makelele’s positional sense, reading of the game and expert screening of the back four was pivotal to Chelsea’s success. The signing of Hojbjerg from Southampton has been equally transformative for Spurs. Hojbjerg ranks fourth in the Premier League for both tackle attempts (32) and fouls conceded (21) and has played every single minute in the league so far.
Meanwhile, in attack, Mourinho has a dynamic duo that can rival Lampard and Didier Drogba. Against Arsenal, Harry Kane and Son-Heung Min scored one apiece and assisted the other, taking them to 11 goal contributions this season and 31 in Premier League history. The only pair ahead of them in that regard? Lampard and Drogba on 36.
Everywhere you look, there are similarities. Out wide, Son and Steven Bergwijn possess the game-stretching acceleration that Damien Duff and Arjen Robben had. In Tanguy Ndombele or Giovani Lo Celso, there is a technically accomplished midfielder who can provide probing passes and drift intelligently into central zones, similarly to Eidur Gudjohnsen.
Then there is Kane, a complete centre forward who excels at holding the ball up, bringing others into play, drawing fouls, offering a physical presence in both boxes and supplying big goals at key moments, a la Drogba.
As was the case in 2004, Mourinho has a group of players who have fully bought into his methods. Free-flowing football has been replaced by pragmatic play but results show that it is working: Spurs are top of the league having conceded the fewest number of goals while scoring the third-most.
Mourinho himself seems to have rediscovered his mischievous side too. The press conference sound bites are back, so too the glint in his eye and brand Mourinho has been given a 2020 makeover in the form of a bizarre but compelling Instagram account. Who doesn’t want to see a picture of Mourinho and Sergio Reguilon alongside a huge cut of Iberico ham?
Despite Tottenham’s form, there still seems to be a reluctance to accept this team can legitimately challenge for the title. As Giorgio Chiellini pointed out a couple of seasons ago, being on the brink of doing something special before falling agonisingly short is “the history of Tottenham”.
Under a revitalised Mourinho, though, the future of Tottenham may be altogether more convincing.
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from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/2VUz344
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