The Jose Mourinho Turnaround with Tottenham Hotspur
By Aaron Coe
Mourinho and Tottenham Pre-Lock Down
Things started well for Jose Mourinho, getting three straight wins in all competitions to start his Tottenham managerial career. That was at the end of November, then Tottenham entered the festive period of the schedule and things went a little off there as Spurs only won 3, drew 2 and lost 5 games between December 4, 2019 and January 11, 2020. Mourinho now had six wins, 2 draws and 5 losses as Spurs manager, but things were starting to look up.
Despite losing Harry Kane to injury, from January 14, 2020 until February 16 Tottenham Hotspur played 7 matches and did not lose a single game. Tottenham won five of those 7 matches and drew the other 2. That stretch was when Heung Min Son had stepped up to lead Spurs and things were clicking. Unfortunately, that February 16 match would also be Son’s last match for some time as the attacker broke his arm, but still finished the game scoring the game winner.
Suddenly with both his top attacking options out, Jose Mourinho and Tottenham entered a rough patch in the season. Whereas the team had not lost in seven matches, Spurs then went on to not win for seven straight matches as they lost 5 and drew 2 in all competitions. The season looked to be going downhill quickly. However, following a 3-0 loss to RB Leipzig knocking Tottenham out of the Champions League, the season was halted for Covid-19 lockdown.
During the lockdown, it gave Jose Mourinho some time to better get to know his team and work to continue to implement his ideas and concepts with the bunch. Prior to the lockdown, Jose Mourinho managed 26 games for Tottenham and Spurs won only 11 (42%), drew 5 (19%), and lost 10 (38%).
Tottenham were truly struggling averaging only 1.35 points per match on just 1.69 goals for and 1.58 goals against. The downhill slide that had started under Pochettino seemed to be continuing, but since the lockdown ended and Project Restart brought us football back, Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham team has been a different Hotspurs side.