Chelsea vs Tottenham : 3 Talking Points

Mourinho's pragmatic approach backfires

Jose Mourinho has a habit of using a cautious strategy against the 'Top Six' teams. However, against Chelsea, he failed to recognize the fact that this a Chelsea side that was struggling to score goals and was wasteful in attack. Hence, sitting back and absorbing the pressure wasn't exactly the ideal plan to deploy against Chelsea.

Chelsea FC v Tottenham Hotspur - Premier League

Spurs were sitting back from the first whistle of the game and had just over 15% of possession after the first ten minutes of the game. This showed the negative mentality that Mourinho was instilled in his side. Even at 0-0, Mourinho had 5 players out of the box to defend corners instead of looking for a chance to score a header. This gave Chelsea an open invitation to hold up possession and slowly work their way up the field. The Blues managed to do just that as they created continuous pressure and bombarded the Lilywhites with chances.

Moreover, Mourinho's midfield was also off the mark as they failed to stop Jorginho and Kovacic from maintaining possession. As the game went on, Spurs got scrappier and scrappier and were committing unnecessary fouls. While Mourinho has always had a knack for tactical fouling, he needs to understand there is a line that must not be crossed, something which is discussed in the next slide.

It seems that Chelsea's energetic style was too much to handle for the Lilywhites and it is clear that Mourinho's pragmatic approach failed as Chelsea completed a league double over Spurs.