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Jason Cundy criticises Jose Mourinho for Tottenham formation against Liverpool

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Jason Cundy has ripped into Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho for the way he set his team up on Thursday night during the defeat to Liverpool.

Spurs were beaten 3-1 at home to Liverpool in a Premier League fixture.

It was a game were they were punished by their own defensive errors, plus they saw their talismanic striker Harry Kane forced off through injury at half-time.

But pundit Cundy was not convinced by the way Mourinho put his team out against reigning league champions Liverpool, insisting that they got overran in midfield and were too defensive.

Mourinho has been renowned for pulling off defensive masterclasses, but it wasn’t to be last night.

“It’s a disaster for Spurs, there is no other way around this. It was a disastrous 90 minutes,” Cundy told talkSPORT.

“And it started with the team selection. Jose showed his cards and he’s gone for five at the back. That is not three at the back, it’s a five… Spurs left themselves vulnerable in the middle of the park.”

Stoke City v Tottenham Hotspur - Carabao Cup Quarter Final
(Photo by Matthew Ashton – AMA/Getty Images)

TBR’s View:

Cundy was not buying into Mourinho’s decision off three centre-backs and wing-backs, with the full-back duo of Matt Doherty and Serge Aurier asked to defend a lot by Liverpool.

With hindsight an extra man in the midfield could have helped swing the tide, but Spurs were always going to lose with the kind of individual errors they made and the manager has a philosophy defensively that he likes to deploy.

The North London club are not playing the kind of eye-catching football they were used to under former boss Mauricio Pochettino, which is why the change of style looks so dramatic and is still frustrating some fans.