Mourinho’s offensive Tottenham depends on one crucial element

Jose Mourinho’s offensive strategy at Tottenham places the onus on his front quartet to adapt and rotate, taking initiative to exploit the opposition.

Against West Ham, one thing was clear. Mourinho trusts his front quartet wholeheartedly, giving them the license to roam and interchange freely, as individuals and as a collective.

He started with Lucas Moura on the right, Dele Alli in the middle and Son Heung-MIn on the left, with Harry Kane patrolling his usual role as lone front man. It was overtly apparent from kickoff Mourinho intends on his front four, the 3-1 of the 4-2-3-1, to be malleable, to shift and change whenever and wherever they deem it advantageous.

While Mauricio Pochettino might have had the same intent with his front four, the players either didn’t fulfill their obligation or simply weren’t asked to consistently interchange. Kane’s movement yesterday was awe-inspiring. Actually, all four moved with bounce and privilege.

Spurs’ talisman dropped deep more than a scuba diver looking for unique creatures on the seabed. He came and collected from a number of players deep in the hole. The crucial part of this setup is the other three’s willingness to overlap and patrol Kane’s original position.

When Kane dropped deep to collect, Dele sprinted with purpose, becoming Spurs’ de facto front man. Their dynamic movement left West Ham’s defence perplexed, more confused than the British populous after the Brexit debacle. Son’s opener perfectly epitomizes Mourinho’s tactic.

Of course West Ham’s defence isn’t the most organized, nor do they have the ability to adapt seamlessly on the fly. However, seeing Dele pop up on the left, as he did for his audacious ground flick turned through ball on Moura’s eventual goal, Son moving with purpose on the left, in the middle and, albeit more sparsely, down the left is hopefully a sign of things to come .

Spurs’ front quartet are of elite pedigree. They should be tasked with the responsibility to do whatever it takes to make life uncomfortable for the opposing defence. If that means Dele being omnipresent, showing up in more forms and places than a shapeshifter, I’m all for it.

Providing carte blanche autonomy and freedom for our most creative players to do what they do best will correlate directly into more chances, and ultimately goals. It will also create more of a buffer for our defence, facilitating more time to collect themselves and prepare for the opponent’s next wave of attack.

Our back five are paid primarily to defend. They need to structured, disciplined, responsible for their space.

Son, Moura, Dele and Kane, when Spurs have the ball, do not, and need to play free to elicit their most creative selves, which is what we saw in East London yesterday.