It will be one year and one day with Jose Mourinho in charge of Tottenham Hotspur when Spurs host Manchester City in mid-November, so how has Jose done with Spurs.
Jose Mourinho was hired to take over Tottenham Hotspur on October 20, 2019, following nearly five and half years of the Mauricio Pochettino era at N17. While the overall record for Pochettino is good compared to Mourinho’s overall record with Tottenham, the period since Project Restart in June of 2020, has shown us a real Jose Mourinho team.
Overall Tottenham Records – A Dead Heat
The reality is that Mauricio Pochettino had a rough start to his reign with Tottenham Hotspur and a tough end, but a lot of good football in-between for Spurs. Pochettino was in charge from May 27, 2014 until November 19, 2020 a span of some 2002 days, and 293 matches. With 160 wins in those 293 matches, Pochettino had a career win percentage of 55% at Tottenham Hotspur. That 55% is than any other Premier League era manager except Tim Sherwood whose 59.1%-win percentage is slightly skewed by an exceedingly small sample size of just 13 matches.
Besides winning more than half their matches under Pochettino, Spurs drew a further 20%, meaning there was a 75% chance Spurs were taking points under Pochettino, averaging 1.84 points per match over those 5+ seasons. Tottenham scored well at 1.91 goals per game and defended strongly giving up 1.10 goals against on average.
When looking at these number compared to Jose Mourinho’s OVERALL Tottenham record across 50 games, Pochettino looks strong. Across 50 total games with Spurs, Mourinho has won 27 matches, which is a 54%-win rate. With 10 draws, Mourinho has the same 20% draw rate as Pochettino, meaning that statistically over their full terms as Tottenham manager, Pochettino wins slightly more.
Mourinho’s teams have been scoring at a higher rate than Pochettino’s with 2.02 goals per match – second in Mourinho’s career only to his Real Madrid stop. However, the defense – a typical Mourinho specialty – has been more porous allowing an average of 1.36 goals against per match. This means Spurs had a better average goal difference under Pochettino than they have under Mourinho, but only slightly by .15 goals per match.
Ultimately, when comparing the full tenure of each, Pochettino earned 1.84 points per match with Spurs as manager and in 50 games Mourinho has earned 1.82 points per match. Looking at those statistics one might want to argue that Spurs never should have gotten rid of Mauricio Pochettino and that Mourinho is no longer the Special One he once was. However, to come to that conclusion, you have to stop at this point, because if you dig a bit deeper into the numbers you actually see that Mourinho is having an immense impact on Tottenham Hotspur and we are only just now getting to see the fruits of that labor.
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.
Mourinho and Tottenham Post-Lockdown
Everyone that was supporting Mourinho, despite the poor results, were saying just wait until he has an offseason with the club and an opportunity to instill his system. Well fortunately for Tottenham Hotspur, the lockdown provided a sort of in-season offseason and jumpstarted Mourinho’s Tottenham transformation. A transformation that continued into the summer and now into this new season.
Whereas Tottenham played 26 games under Jose Mourinho prior to the lock down, the have played 24 since the lockdown. Where Spurs had only won 11 in 26, they have now won 16 of their last 24 matches, an incredible 67%-win percentage. Add in 5 draws and only 3 losses in all competitions since June, and Tottenham are earning points at an 88% clip and dropping all 3 only about 12% of the time.
The struggles Tottenham were having defensively have been mostly rectified as Tottenham have conceded at .96 goals per match since the restart. This is much closer to Mourinho’s lifetime marks as he has never managed a team that gave up more than a goal a game on average over his career. Not only are Spurs now conceding less, but they are also scoring even more, at 2.16 goals per match since the restart.
That 2.16 per match is still far short of Mourinho’s 2.67 per match at Madrid, but it is moving in the right direction. Suddenly, where the goals for/against difference was only .11 over 26 matches, that total has grown a positive 1.2 goal difference per match. That 1.2 goal difference is slightly ahead of Mourinho’s Chelsea teams who scored some 1.12 more goals per match than they conceded.
The 1.35 points per match Spurs earned from Mourinho’s first 26 games is dwarfed by the 2.21 points per match in the 24 games since. Spurs have scored 8 more goals in two less matches while giving up 18 less in that time – not including the 4 shootout goals versus Chelsea. What all this means is that Tottenham is improving under Jose Mourinho. Despite his overall points per match and his overall win percentage still be slightly below Mauricio Pochettino’s career marks with Spurs.
It is clear it is only a matter of time before those marks are passed by and Mourinho has the best win percentage for Spurs. A percentage so high, maybe Tim Sherwood is no longer tops for the club, and maybe just maybe we get that silverware we are looking for and Mourinho shows he is still the Special One. After a year at Spurs, things are looking up.