Paul Merson suggests Jose Mourinho appointment at Tottenham has backfired

Add as preferred source on Google

Paul Merson believes that Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho is yet to make a significant impact at his new club and feels his appointment is beginning to backfire.

Spurs named Mourinho in charge back in November as Mauricio Pochettino’s successor and he’s had a turbulent time so far.

His team have picked up a few decent results so far, but overall the team have been conceding goals at a heavy rate and they’ve also lost star centre-forward Harry Kane until April through injury.

They don’t look like a team usually associated with the Portuguese boss, which is a defensively solid one that is tough to break down.

Sky Sports pundit Merson has suggested that Mourinho’s appointment is beginning to backfire on Spurs, as he was expected to get the club in the top four.

But the North London club sit eighth in the table right now and they are nine points adrift of the Champions League spots.

“Where are Tottenham? Well, they’re eighth. Are they improving? No, they’re not,” Merson told Sky Sports.

“I think Mourinho’s trying to get his team defensively-minded like his old Chelsea side. Don’t get me wrong, he was one of the best managers I’d ever seen. One thing he does, is hit the ground running, and treated the first game like it was the last game.

“I think they’ve gone to get Mourinho to get them in the top four, and I think it has backfired. If they don’t get into the top four this year, I think it’s worrying times for Tottenham.”

TBR’s View:

Spurs don’t look like a team that will finish in the top four this season and they’ve been far too inconsistent to really be in the picture.

With Kane absent for a few months through injury, it’s imperative the club sign a striker in January to at least try help put together a string of victories to climb the table.

Mourinho doesn’t have the personnel to fully his own style yet on his team and may need a couple of transfer windows to do it, but he’s shown in the past he’s worth investing time into.