Can Jose Mourinho lead Tottenham Hotspur to glory in the Premier League this season?

After the completion of more than a quarter of the Premier League season, Tottenham is sitting on top of the premier league, level on points with Liverpool. 

Love him, or hate him, but you cannot ignore him. That is what Jose Mourinho is all about. In your face, confrontational, relationship builder, and also very emotional at times. 

Opinions are split on who will lift the Premier League crown for the 2020-21 season. Can Tottenham achieve their first premier league title this season under 'The Special One'? Or is it just a matter of time before Spurs start to lose points and enter the challenge for ending in the top four positions!

Just a reminder that the last four title winners score at least 93 points, and even with the expectations in the betting markets going down to 80 points for the winner this season, Mourinho and his Spurs side have a long way to go before they start thinking about winning the title. 

Mauricio Pochettino vs Jose Mourinho (contracting style of play and tactics):

The transition from Mauricio Pochettino's style of play to Jose Mourinho’s tactics and game plan is in itself a challenge for the Spurs players. Pochettino’s flexible way mainly goes for being an aggressive attacking team, forcing an intense pressure on the opponents from the attacking third, always trying to keep the ball away from their goal and try to get the ball ASAP. 

While Mourihno and his playing style is quite the opposite, his main concern is to create a tight system with almost no space between lines. 

Whether playing with 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 or 4-2-2-2 or 5-3-2 or 4-4-2 his tactics remain the same, starting the defense from the midline with all players behind the ball. 

Once they manage to regain the ball, the transition from the defensive to an attacking phase occurs rapidly and meticulously mainly through the close-to-consensus best NO.9 in the premier league, Harry Kane, and the indefatigable Son Heung-Min, undoubtedly the most prolific and devastating partnership in the premier league this season.

The unprecedented effectiveness for the duo can’t be traced to anyone but Mourinho. Son has 10 goals and has 3 assists to his name while Harry Kane has scored 8 goals and provided10 assists. 

As we have mentioned, the defensive system is of major importance for Mourinho, and having players like Kane and Son having amazing attacking qualities besides their tactical commitment enables Tottenham to be the best defensive team in the league (Spurs have conceded only 9 goals so far). 

Going forward, Spurs are the third-best-attacking team (scoring 23 goals) just three goals behind Liverpool (26 goals) and two behind Chelsea (25 goals) which obviously indicates how strong is Mourhino’s defensive system and how effective his attacking system.

Much to everyone’s surprise, in the last three matches against Man City (H), Chelsea (A), and Arsenal (H), Tottenham managed to grind 7 out of possible 9 points from these tough matches.

In the attacking department, the team will be severely affected by either Kane or Son's absence and this would have been addressed by Jose Mourinho. 

However on the defensive side of things, the team doesn’t depend on individuals but defend as a whole so any absence won’t have as much effect on the team as the aforementioned duo, the exception may be Hojbjerg who seems to be a prototypical Mourinho player.

Jose Mourinho and his men definitely have a game plan this season, unlike many of their counterparts in the league. But with games coming thick and fast along with a tight Christmas schedule, losing any player could be a damaging blow to their tactics. 

If that happens, will Mourinho be able to provide the appropriate substitute to keep the balance of the system?

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