Opinion: Three Ways Mourinho Will Immediately Improve Spurs

It has been all change at Tottenham Hotspur in the last 24 hours.

Mauricio Pochettino is out; Jose Mourinho is in.

Here are three ways that the Portuguese will immediately improve Spurs…

MORE: Mourinho Arrival Demands Mentality Reboot For Some Fans

Tone Down The Rotation

It had been 94 games since Pochettino had named an unchanged team. The Argentine had always rotated, even during prolonged spells of good form, but not on the scale that he had in recent months.

It was five or six changes every game, and not just to refresh the team. It had reached the point where he was rotating merely to try to keep players, some of whom don’t want to be at the club, happy.

He was jeopardising results to try to maintain a bond which had long been lost.

Mourinho has managed big clubs across Europe his whole career. Big clubs fight on all fronts so ‘The Special One’ will not stop the rotation completely. But he will rein it in. The back five in particular will be more stable. Good performances will be reward and bad performances will be punished.

In his seven full seasons as a Premier League manager, Mourinho has never used more than 24 players. We have already used 25 this campaign.

Take Domestic Cups Seriously

The ex-Southampton boss openly dismissed the importance of the domestic cups, and the impact winning one would have on the club, on several occasions. Mourinho is not that naive. He knows what role they can play.

The fans who wanted Pochettino out cited his failure to bring silverware to the club as his biggest shortcoming. Poch put this rod against his own back as he largely ignored half of the trophy opportunities available to him.

Mourinho lifted the League Cup at Chelsea before he went on to lift the Premier League. The first trophies he won at Porto, Inter Milan and Real Madrid were all domestic cups. He knows they breed a winning mentality.

The 56-year-old is a serial winner, with 25 major trophies to his name. This is the most attractive quality he brings to the job. Bring us the FA Cup!

More Difficult To Beat

We have lost 18 games throughout 2019. That is more than any other Premier League club and our highest number of defeats since 2008.

Pochettino’s Spurs had regressed to become too easy to create chances against – facing the second most shots in the league this season. Mourinho will immediately implement a solidity to the spine of the team to solve that.

Clean sheets will be a priority for Mourinho in the early weeks but criticism of his style of play is unfair.

If the Poruguese has capable players, his side’s can be very attacking. Jose’s Real Madrid teams outscored Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona three years in a row in La Liga, notching over 100 goals in the process each time.

‘The Special One’ will be able to get a tune out of Tottenham’s offensive options, but only after he puts a better defensive structure in place.