Jamie Carragher has ploughed heavily into Jose Mourinho’s ‘risk-averse’ tactics while claiming that Spurs have gone into an ‘alarming decline’ now after the Portuguese replaced Mauricio Pochettino.
Spurs are on an abysmal run of form domestically, languishing ninth in the Premier League after losing four of their last five top-flight matches – with the most recent loss being a 3-0 defeat away at Manchester City.
Mourinho is again under scrutiny and being criticised for his ‘risk-averse’ tactics preferring that his side soaks up pressure from the opposition before turning on on the counter attack through their attack duo Harry Kane and Son Heung-min – which currently isn’t working as well as it did in the earlier part of the campaign.
And Mourinho’s tactics as Tottenham boss have now been put to the grill by Jamie Carragher.
‘The big thing with Tottenham right now, would winning the Carabao Cup in April justify the way Jose’s team play?’ Carragher questioned when speaking on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.
And the former Liverpool and England centre back has questioned Mourinho’s philosophy, adamant that winning the Carabao Cup is no justification for his ‘reactive’ instead of the preferred ‘proactive’ style.
‘The position they are now in the league – would winning a trophy justify that considering Tottenham didn’t win a trophy under Pochettino? For me, you bring Jose in to keep what Poch was doing in terms of Champions League football and just make that difference in a cup final or semi-final.
‘They are a long way from that Pochettino team and I don’t think winning that trophy, if the performances and league position carries on as it is, I don’t think it justifies it.’
He added: ‘I do worry where Tottenham are in terms of getting back to a top four club. I think they are a long way from that. And the actual football they are playing to get there, they need to have results to play like that and they are not getting results at this moment.’
Unfortunately for Pochettino, his successful tenure in north London was marginalised by his failure to land silverware and Mourinho was subsequently brought in for the specific reason of winning trophies.
Tottenham have not won a trophy since 2008 despite being on the brink of landing silverware and huge question marks are already looming over Tottenham’s current season and under-pressure Mourinho after dropping down to ninth and in danger of missing out on Champions League football – having been top of the table at the beginning of December.
Carragher has labelled Tottenham’s recent form as ‘alarming’, adding that:
‘Mourinho is a manager you bring in to get results and if he doesn’t get results, there’s not much else behind it in terms of a spectacle or how they play. And we have at times lauded that, but at this moment he is not getting results.
‘Their stats and actual decline is quite alarming really. Performances in games have massively dropped.’
The Sky Sports pundit then went onto specifically question Mourinho’s tactics against Chelsea in the recent 1-0 home defeat, apparently bemused by the way Mourinho set up his Tottenham team to counter the threat of Chelsea under new coach Tuchel who was managing for just the third time in the Premier League.
Carragher argued:
‘We are looking at a manager tonight in Tuchel who hasn’t got Jose’s record in terms of trophies. But it’s fair to say the managers at the top end of the Premier League and around Europe play a proactive game, Mourinho is reactive. They take calculated risks the top teams, Jose is risk-averse.
‘I think what really stood out for me was watching Chelsea go to Tottenham, and how Tottenham set up. Let’s not forget, this was Tuchel’s third game in charge, he is playing a different system than the team are used to.
‘So he is a new manager and Jose has been there 12 months. And Jose played that game to stop them.’