The Various Formations of Jose Mourinho at Tottenham

Jose Mourinho sets up his team in a way that he thinks will lead to a win, since taking over Tottenham Hotspur that has resulted in 11 different formation in 50 matches.

Since taking over at Tottenham Hotspur just under a year ago, in 50 matches in all competitions Jose Mourinho has used 11 different formations across all competitions according to Transfermrkt.com. A small majority of the time – 56% – he has employed his favored 4-2-3-1 formation. That means in nearly half of all his matches in charge of Tottenham, Jose Mourinho has used something else to try and get the win.

Mourinho’s Tottenham Set-ups

When everyone is healthy and available, there is a clear preferred formation for Jose Mourinho, the 4-2-3-1. He has used this formation in 28 of the 50 matches he has led Tottenham Hotspur in, including in 12 of the 15 matches Tottenham have played this season. Spurs have been good in the 4-2-3-1 this year going 8-2-2 in those 12 matches.

The outstanding success this season with that formation was not the case last season as Spurs went 9-2-5 in the same set-up. Overall Spurs have 17 wins against 4 draws and 7 losses in the 28 matches started in the 4-2-3-1, a 56 percent win rate. However, when looking at this season, Spurs have won at a 67 percent clip when starting in the formation.

The second most popular formation has been the 4-3-3, with Mourinho opting for the 4-3-3 on nine different occasions, with only one of those nine as a 4-3-3 defense, the other 8 as a 4-3-3 attach according to transfermrkt.com. Five of those nine have resulted in victories, against 3 draws and only 1 loss.

Jose Mourinho has used the 3-5-2 formation on 4 occasions with Spurs, never losing, as the team won three and drew 1. Besides the 3-5-2, both the 4-4-2 and a 3-4-3 have been deployed for two matches each with Spurs losing all four games. The other six formations were all used once to varying degrees of success.

Here is the complete list of formations along with games played and the Tottenham record in those matches. So, what do you think, is our best line-up?

Formation                          Games                  Results (W-D-L)

4-2-3-1                               28                          17-4-7

4-3-3 Attack                       8                            4-3-1

3-5-2                                    4                            3-1-0

4-4-2                                    2                            0-0-2

3-4-3                                    2                            0-0-2

4-3-3 Defense                   1                            1-0-0

3-1-4-2                               1                            0-1-0

4-4-1-1                               1                            1-0-0

5-4-1                                   1                            0-0-1

3-4-2-1                               1                            0-1-0

4-1-4-1                               1                            1-0-0

11 Formations                   50 Games            27-10-13