Paul Merson makes comparison between current Tottenham side and Arsenal

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Paul Merson has claimed that watching the current Tottenham side is like watching the Arsenal of recent years.

Sky Sports pundit Merson has suggested that Spurs boss Jose Mourinho has a team that is far too open and doesn’t associate it as one that the Portuguese boss has usually set up during his managerial career.

The North London club have played 25 games in all competitions since Mourinho arrived, scoring 42 goals and conceding 35 goals in that time.

They were free-flowing going forward in his opening stages before injuries to key attackers took its tole, while in defence they haven’t looked assured.

Merson has drawn comparisons to the current Spurs situation to their rivals Arsenal, who have played an expansive style of football in recent years but been fragile at the back.

“What I’m watching now does not look like Mourinho. They are in end-to-end games too much,” Merson told Sky Sports.

“Watching Tottenham recently is like watching Arsenal of the last seven or eight years. You’d love watching them because you knew you’d get an entertaining game. Everybody loves a team that doesn’t win anything!”

TBR’s View:

Spurs haven’t won a trophy since the League Cup in 2008, while their rivals did lift the FA Cup in 2017 and have been far more successful in recent decades.

The main reason Mourinho was appointed the manager was to put an end to the trophy drought, which is why the exit from the FA Cup fifth round recently to Norwich City was a big blow.

He maybe needs the summer window to try put his stamp on the squad and perhaps fans should reserve judgement until then, but for now they don’t look defensively solid like a usual Mourinho outfit.