Tottenham fans react as Jose Mourinho bemoans absence of defender Ben Davies

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Jose Mourinho has been unable to spark the instant improvement Tottenham were looking for upon replacing Mauricio Pochettino.

There has been just the one clean sheet under the Portuguese, who made his name on defensively strong football but has found his reputation taking a battering in recent years.

Spurs have been hit hard by injuries and Mourinho bemoaned the absence of Ben Davies ahead of the FA Cup third round replay against Middlesbrough tonight.

As per Evening Standard journalist Dan Kilpatrick, Mourinho said: “If you want to know what I wanted to do, look to my first game – against West Ham. That’s the way I thought I was going to develop the team. Defend with a back four, attack with a back three. That was the first day of unlucky, goodbye Ben Davies.”

Tottenham have had bad luck with injuries and losing a player during your first game in charge is hard for any manager to deal with.

But Mourinho is meant to be one of the best managers in the world. It’s not good enough to have just one idea of how to play, especially if it falls apart when one player is out injured.

Having swanned into Spurs with a new, relaxed attitude, Mourinho is now setting about lowering expectations and making excuses already.

That has frustrated some Tottenham fans on Twitter, who are frustrated that their manager placed such importance on one player.

Also, that he was seemingly unable to repeat the strategy with Jan Vertonghen, a left-footed centre back with experience of playing left back.

Or, tucking in Juan Foyth on the right and allowing Ryan Sessegnon to bomb on like Serge Aurier does in the current side. There’s a feeling it’s just not good enough from Mourinho…

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