Tottenham and Odd-Numbered Back Formations Under Mourinho

Tottenham Hotspur have used a variety of formations in 50 games under Jose Mourinho, these include using an odd numbered fullback formation nearly 20% of the time.

It is surprising to think about, but 9 out of the 50 games under Jose Mourinho have had Tottenham set up with either three players on the back line and even once five players. While we have only seen the formation once in the current campaign – against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup – it was used heavily last season. Here we look at the players and results behind Jose Mourinho and Tottenham Hotspur with an odd-numbered backline.

Set-ups and Timing with the Odd Backline

Jose Mourinho has used an odd backline nine times, however, very rarely is the set-up really the same. According to transfermarkr.com, Spurs used a 3-5-2 and twice it was a 3-5-2 Flat, those two set-ups along with the 3-4-3 account for six of the nine formations. Jose has also used a 3-1-4-2, and two different trees with a 3-4-2-1 and a 5-4-1 one time each.

With all those six different versions of a 3- or 5-man backline is that only once did Mourinho use the same formation twice, when Spurs employed the 3-5-2 in back-to-back FA Cup matches last season. Cups account for three of the overall uses of this kind of formation, with Spurs opting for a 3-5-2 in the Carabao Cup win over Chelsea.

Spurs once used the line-up in the Champions League, with five uses in the Premier League. All five times in the Premier League came in close succession as Mourinho used a 3-5-2 and a 3-1-4-2 at the end of 2019 over the exhausting festive playing period. Then he again used the formation for a couple weeks in late February and early March in the Premier League as Tottenham were trying to compensate for injuries to numerous key players, including Harry Kane, Son Heung-Min, and Moussa Sissoko.