Jose Mourinho - SACKED

[Diamond Lights]

Pretty scathing analysis by Jenas and to be honest, i don't see much he's got wrong here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56393306

After showing in 3 successive matches we have great attacking ability and need to play on the front foot, Jose went back to type and invited Arsenal on to us, and the result was as expected.

And then, with 10 players on the pitch, when we actually went forward, we showed Arsenal shat themselves. Imagine if we had some of that intent in the first half instead of sitting back. So disappointing.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Pretty scathing analysis by Jenas and to be honest, i don't see much he's got wrong here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56393306

After showing in 3 successive matches we have great attacking ability and need to play on the front foot, Jose went back to type and invited Arsenal on to us, and the result was as expected.

And then, with 10 players on the pitch, when we actually went forward, we showed Arsenal shat themselves. Imagine if we had some of that intent in the first half instead of sitting back. So disappointing.

I haven’t been shy in criticizing Mourinho this season and think Levy dropped a massive gonad in not backing, then sacking, Poch to instead bring Jose in. However I’m not necessarily convinced that Jose sent them out to play defensively yesterday. The personnel that he picked and then him replacing Bale and Ndombele early on indicates that to me.

One thing I will say though is that you can’t just tell a team to press, it needs to be properly coordinated and coached. I can see that Arsenal’s pressing game is now becoming well coordinated and is clearly being coached by Arteta. Every player plays his part in closing down their opposite player and the dangerous passing lanes available to them, that forces either a ball out wide to the fullback, or centre half who has peeled out wide who then has no passing option and has to go long, or a dangerous ball into an attacking midfielder who has his back to goal and an opponent closing them down. We were forced into playing lots of those balls to Moura yesterday who, to be fair to him, did well when receiving.

Arsenal’s keeper and defence are a mistake waiting to happen but we didn’t ever coordinate a press to expose that. If we’d matched Arsenal’s press yesterday we’d have had numerous chances through turning over the ball instead of always having to go the full length of the pitch right from our own keeper.

 

[Diamond Lights]

I haven’t been shy in criticizing Mourinho this season and think Levy dropped a massive gonad* in not backing, then sacking, Poch to instead bring Jose in. However I’m not necessarily convinced that Jose sent them out to play defensively yesterday. The personnel that he picked and then him replacing Bale and Ndombele early on indicates that to me.

One thing I will say though is that you can’t just tell a team to press, it needs to be properly coordinated and coached. I can see that Arsenal’s pressing game is now becoming well coordinated and is clearly being coached by Arteta. Every player plays his part in closing down their opposite player and the dangerous passing lanes available to them, that forces either a ball out wide to the fullback who then has no passing option or a dangerous ball into an attacking midfielder, who has his back to goal and an opponent closing them down. We were forced into playing lots of those balls to Moura yesterday who, to be fair to him, did well when receiving.

Arsenal’s keeper and defence are a mistake waiting to happen but we didn’t ever coordinate a press to expose that. If we’d matched Arsenal’s press yesterday we’d have had numerous chances through turning over the ball instead of always having to go the full length of the pitch right from our own keeper.

All fair points, and neither me or you are paid £15m a year to organise. Entirely reasonable for us to expect better. If it were a one off you could accept but it's the same as we have seen in the last 4 months.

 

[Finney Is Back]

All fair points, and neither me or you are paid £15m a year to organise. Entirely reasonable for us to expect better. If it were a one off you could accept but it's the same as we have seen in the last 4 months.

Teams press up high for a reason, it is much easier to score if you turn the ball over high up. I fear that we have handed the keys to our future over to yesterday’s man.

 

[AdamB]

Pretty scathing analysis by Jenas and to be honest, i don't see much he's got wrong here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/56393306

After showing in 3 successive matches we have great attacking ability and need to play on the front foot, Jose went back to type and invited Arsenal on to us, and the result was as expected.

And then, with 10 players on the pitch, when we actually went forward, we showed Arsenal shat themselves. Imagine if we had some of that intent in the first half instead of sitting back. So disappointing.

Very good article from him and its in keeping with a lot of our thinking. Many good lines in there, in particular:

"In contrast, Tottenham's approach stank of a Mourinho who was more concerned with Arsenal than his own team, and showing what Spurs could do. He didn't set them up to win that game, he set them up worried about what the opposition can do to them."

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I haven’t been shy in criticizing Mourinho this season and think Levy dropped a massive gonad* in not backing, then sacking, Poch to instead bring Jose in. However I’m not necessarily convinced that Jose sent them out to play defensively yesterday. The personnel that he picked and then him replacing Bale and Ndombele early on indicates that to me.

One thing I will say though is that you can’t just tell a team to press, it needs to be properly coordinated and coached. I can see that Arsenal’s pressing game is now becoming well coordinated and is clearly being coached by Arteta. Every player plays his part in closing down their opposite player and the dangerous passing lanes available to them, that forces either a ball out wide to the fullback, or centre half who has peeled out wide who then has no passing option and has to go long, or a dangerous ball into an attacking midfielder who has his back to goal and an opponent closing them down. We were forced into playing lots of those balls to Moura yesterday who, to be fair to him, did well when receiving.

Arsenal’s keeper and defence are a mistake waiting to happen but we didn’t ever coordinate a press to expose that. If we’d matched Arsenal’s press yesterday we’d have had numerous chances through turning over the ball instead of always having to go the full length of the pitch right from our own keeper.

I agree
He picks the team and sets an expectation of how to play
But if too many players are passive any plan that needs an element of aggression dies quickly
Too many key big players were shockingly lazy yesterday regardless of the tactics

 

[AdamB]

However I’m not necessarily convinced that Jose sent them out to play defensively yesterday.

I like your posts generally but have a real problem with this concept - if it didnt send them out to play defensively why wasnt he off his bench shouting at them to push up and raise the tempo several notches? His actions suggest to me that he was happy with the way the game was playing out

 

[Raziel]

I like your posts generally but have a real problem with this concept - if it didnt send them out to play defensively why wasnt he off his bench shouting at them to push up and raise the tempo several notches? His actions suggest to me that he was happy with the way the game was playing out

I agree with @Finney Is Back, that wasn't a lineup setup for sitting in and hitting on counter.

As for your question, I'd suspect Jose was thinking of changing it when Son got injured, Lamela did improve the game, got us ahead and it was looking like we would make it in to half time with a lead.

The team played brick (and Jose needs to own that), but lets not pretend we started the game with Winks, Davies, Sissko, Bergwijn with instructions to sit back.

 

[Diamond Lights]

Spurs had 6 shots yesterday.

4 of them in the last 13 minutes of the game down to 10 men. Imagine if we actually tried having a go at Arsenal in the first half?

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I like your posts generally but have a real problem with this concept - if it didnt send them out to play defensively why wasnt he off his bench shouting at them to push up and raise the tempo several notches? His actions suggest to me that he was happy with the way the game was playing out

How many managers actually do that now?
I did hear quite a few times a foreign image accent shouting a lot for players to get in place and do things but I couldn’t tell you who it was TBH
What I can guarantee though was if he was on the side shouting and ranting there would be a view that the inters dont get it and he has lost the players.... Poch didn’t used to jump up and down in the sidelines when we used to play limply against arsenal.
I do believe that experienced managers know what does and doesn’t work. It’s why it’s their job and not someone else’s
Ultimately what we a key thing yesterday was work rate. We literally had one player work at a required level and 9 others who arguably didn’t (could excuse the defence)
As I said yesterday the defensive stats which demonstrate some work rate are really really bad for everyone playing in front of that defence exceot for Moura and PEH.

 

[billyiddo]

Surely if there was any plan to press, we'd have seen a different approach from the players during the first half? Whatever wrt to pressing being coordinated/trained on the training pitch (valid point) but you'd still expect players to close down/tackle individually if that was the gameplan surely? I saw a team/set of individuals take the polar opposite approach - to sit off and hold their shape in their own half, which is what we have seen time and again against any half decent team.

 

[Finney Is Back]

I like your posts generally but have a real problem with this concept - if it didnt send them out to play defensively why wasnt he off his bench shouting at them to push up and raise the tempo several notches? His actions suggest to me that he was happy with the way the game was playing out

I don’t think you play Son, Kane, Bale, Moura and Ndombele alongside Hojbjerg if you are intending to play a defensive low block. I’m not excusing Jose here, I’m not sure our coaching has taught us play anything else, but him having made all his subs so early tells me that the team wasn’t carrying out his instructions, which is different to earlier games when we were very defensive and he made no subs to change it.

 

[Finney Is Back]

Surely if there was any plan to press, we'd have seen a different approach from the players during the first half? Whatever wrt to pressing being coordinated/trained on the training pitch (valid point) but you'd still expect players to close down/tackle individually if that was the gameplan surely? I saw a team/set of individuals take the polar opposite approach - to sit off and hold their shape in their own half, which is what we have seen time and again against any half decent team.

I don’t think the players have been coached to press at all. I think Jose telling them to do it in games is akin to Harry’s ‘go out there and run about a bit’

 

[Finney Is Back]

I agree
He picks the team and sets an expectation of how to play
But if too many players are passive any plan that needs an element of aggression dies quickly
Too many key big players were shockingly lazy yesterday regardless of the tactics

I’m not sure it is that easy.... What actually were our tactics yesterday? Did we have any?

 

[demotw]

Re-watched the game,

I don’t think you play Son, Kane, Bale, Moura and Ndombele alongside Hojbjerg if you are intending to play a defensive low block. I’m not excusing Jose here, I’m not sure our coaching has taught us play anything else, but him having made all his subs so early tells me that the team was t carrying out his instructions, which is different to earlier games when we were very defensive and he made no,subs to change it.

100% agree. Its setup for us to push them back as we have done in the last few games, only for whatever reason they were just not at the races. Its also not liked he made the subs as we were losing, we were 1-1 and he was making the changes which backs that point of not being happy with what he was saying. Alot of our problems right now are stemming for Lloris, our defenders are coming back to pretty much on the goal line every time to receive a pass and play out, he cant kick long - you would think with Bale, Moura and Kane we would go a little more direct against arsenal to break the press as all 3 are very good aerially and would be the one thing i would put on Mou if this wasn't in the gameplan, but the lack of enthusiasm/effort from the team is not on him. I would rather blame the amount of games then think they just didnt care.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

I’m not sure it is that easy.... What actually were our tactics yesterday? Did we have any?

I believe the tactics may have even the same as the previous games with the same set up
But it would only work if every player turns up and works hard enough
Arsenal man for man worked harder than us
We had passengers who literally were walking, walking in the premier league is never going to get you a result unless it’s before a set piece.
We were passive, and that was as tame a derby as you will see. It wasn’t 100 mph, it was meak
And every time the ball got “punted” forwards it didn’t stick with anyone

 

[billyiddo]

I don’t think the players have been coached to press at all. I think Jose telling them to do it in games is akin to Harry’s ‘go out there and run about a bit’

I wouldn't disagree with that and I had concerns last season when there was footage of him calling for the team to press on the sidelines in games when absoloutely nothing close to a press was ever played...

In many ways that's a worse scenario than if he were just playing a safety first gameplan - which i haven't ruled out because lineup doesn't necessarily dictate tactics/approach

 

[braineclipse]

Surely if there was any plan to press, we'd have seen a different approach from the players during the first half? Whatever wrt to pressing being coordinated/trained on the training pitch (valid point) but you'd still expect players to close down/tackle individually if that was the gameplan surely? I saw a team/set of individuals take the polar opposite approach - to sit off and hold their shape in their own half, which is what we have seen time and again against any half decent team.

We weren't sent out to press high, but we weren't sitting very deep either. Quite a few of their good chances came when they played in behind with our team in something resembling a medium block.

We weren't aggressive though, we lacked intensity. The number of tackles, attempted tackles, fouls and interceptions from Ndombele, Kane, Bale and Son were just shockingly low.

Arsenal had

I really struggle to see that being what Mourinho wanted from the team. I have no problem with us playing a medium block, or even a low block at times. Doing that without intensity and aggression though. That just doesn't work. It can't be what Mourinho wants, it just can't be.

On him to get that intensity and aggression from the players, but also on the players to deliver that.

 

[billyiddo]

We weren't sent out to press high, but we weren't sitting very deep either. Quite a few of their good chances came when they played in behind with our team in something resembling a medium block.

We weren't aggressive though, we lacked intensity. The number of tackles, attempted tackles, fouls and interceptions from Ndombele, Kane, Bale and Son were just shockingly low.

Arsenal had

I really struggle to see that being what Mourinho wanted from the team. I have no problem with us playing a medium block, or even a low block at times. Doing that without intensity and aggression though. That just doesn't work. It can't be what Mourinho wants, it just can't be.

On him to get that intensity and aggression from the players, but also on the players to deliver that.

I agree we weren't playing a low block, it was confusing all round really but what left the biggest impression was just how much we sat off Arsenal and let them play - i struggle to square that as the team having a collective off day when it was noticeable from the 1st minute up until we fell behind, all too familiar of our mindset in games throughout the last 3/4 months

 

[braineclipse]

I agree we weren't playing a low block, it was confusing all round really but what left the biggest impression was just how much we sat off Arsenal and let them play - i struggle to square that as the team having a collective off day when it was noticeable from the 1st minute up until we fell behind, all too familiar of our mindset in games throughout the last 3/4 months

To defend the players ever so slightly. It can be a difficult style to get right. Finding that balance between positioning and aggression. We haven't played that style that much in the last month and they couldn't find that balance at all.

I think we looked tired, slow, fatigued even from the start.

That's not to excuse what was an inexcusable performance from most of the players. They simply have to get the basics of intensity and work rate right. Particularly in a game like this. We were even given several possible outs with taking the lead and Arsenal being somewhat wasteful.

We just weren't able to switch on though. That's not good enough and the players must surely feel that pain and learn from it.