Tottenham: Observations from ‘All or Nothing’ episode one

Tottenham & Mourinho – a New Era Begins

As per Levy himself, Mourinho is one of the two top coaches in world football – with Pep Guardiola presumably the other – although not named. We get the introduction, the 25 trophies, the not smiling, the little bit ruthless bit, but we also get a glimpse of the man manager. Mourinho expects his players to be all in 100 percent and if they are, they will get along, if not, he will let them know, right Dele?

You can see the excitement in some players – like Toby Alderweireld – and the nervousness in others like Harry Winks and Jan Vertonghen. After over five years, learning a new style on the fly would be tough. As you see the team and Jose preparing for practice, and then in practice, you see just the kind of hands-on coach he is.

Jose is all over his players both physically and verbally. Sometimes it is good praise, sometimes it is to tell them their effort is not good enough – in much more colorful language – but it is always direct and always from him to the player. Whether running next to Harry Kane to encourage that diagonal run or stopping the video to call out Dele Alli for not practicing hard enough, Jose does not hope people get the message, he tells them.

https://twitter.com/SpursOfficial/status/1300363951297851393?s=20

Jose wants to know his team and wants to have some control. He talks to Kane about being a global movie star, like Mourinho himself is, noting he has a “big dimension”. He seems somewhat concerned learning from Joao Sacramento that Moussa Sissoko has big influence in the dressing room, responding with only one inappropriate word.

Jose is quickly learning the team and seeing what makes Spurs get the soft label from some as he often notes how they are all just too nice, nice boys. Instead of nice boys, they need to be bleep on the pitch for 90 minutes to win matches. I will never play for the man, but darn am I ready too, because it is all about winning and darn do I hate losing, too.

This is where the episode ends, with Spurs preparing for Match 1 of the Jose Mourinho era and a new venture ahead. Whereas episode one did not have an introduction or title sequence, there is one for episode two and beyond as the new 21st century Spurs are brought to the forefront. If nothing else, at least we know they win that opener, before the pain of the Eriksen exit becomes real once more, but that is for episodes two and three.

So, what did you think of episode one? What are you looking forward to in future episodes?