Jose Mourinho’s refusal to deviate from plan A costs Tottenham again

The Portuguese’s tactics rarely encourage positivity and met with a team that were well prepared, Tottenham were left with no counter

Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Jose Mourinho was downbeat. “It was not a good game,” he said after seeing his Tottenham Hotspur side lose 2-0 to Leicester City at White Hart Lane  on Sunday. Superficially, the Portuguese had a point.

The encounter was surprisingly pedestrian for long spells and much of the opening period passed without incident. Neither of the goals – a first-half stoppage-time Jamie Vardy penalty and a Toby Alderweireld own goal just before the hour – were particularly memorable. Physicality took precedence over flair.

As so often in defeat, Mourinho was disingenuous. The onus was on Spurs to set the tempo and the home side struggled to get going. “We started bad,” Mourinho said. “The first 20 minutes was a poor performance, some empty spots in terms of pressing, attitude and recovering the ball.

“I didn’t like it at all. The fact we didn’t start well is not because I didn’t tell them to start well. I didn’t tell them: ‘Don’t be proactive or be reactive.’ But I admit we did start bad.”

The problem is that the paucity of Tottenham’s approach stretched way beyond the opening exchanges. The tactics employed by Mourinho did not encourage positivity. Spurs sat deep, looked to lure Leicester upfield and hit the visiting side on the break. The flaw in the plan was that Brendan Rodgers and his team came prepared. “We managed their counter attack,” the Northern Irishman said. Leicester’s strategy worked perfectly. Tottenham’s backfired.

It was quickly apparent that Leicester were determined not to fall to a sucker punch. In the emptiness of the stadium it was impossible to keep secrets. Kasper Schmeichel loudly urged his defenders to drop deeper any time they showed an inclination to form a high line. At set-pieces around the Tottenham box, the goalkeeper reminded his teammates not to get caught by a fast break. Leicester listened. Mourinho seemed not to hear. Spurs did not deviate from plan A.

The home side had a brief flurry of activity in the five minutes before the break. Harry Kane got some room on the right, found Son Heung-min in the box and he gave Giovani Lo Celso the chance to shoot. The Argentinian’s effort was deflected and from the ensuing corner Kane had a golden opportunity but his header went over the bar. The short spell of pressure ended in the ugliest manner for Spurs. There was little obvious danger when Serge Aurier barged into Wesley Fofana near the corner of the box. Craig Pawson was alerted by the VAR official and, after checking the pitchside monitor, pointed to the spot. Vardy dispatched the penalty with nerveless efficiency to bring the first half to a close.

Mourinho was frustrated. “We had a period of domination and then the penalty,” he said. “The penalty is not a penalty [they] created, it’s a penalty that we commit. It was out of context to the game because it was our best period.”

Tottenham’s brief attacking burst was hardly a spell of dominance. It was a mere flash of hope for the home side. As soon as the second half kicked off, it was clear that the advantage was still with Leicester.

James Maddison had a goal ruled out for offside, the mechanical lens of VAR discerning a transgression that confounded the naked eye. It took 14 minutes to extend the lead but Spurs barely threatened during that time. Marc Albrighton crossed and although Vardy miscued his header, the ball rebounded off Alderweireld into the net. “We lost on a penalty and an own goal and the result looks like the opponents were totally in control or better than us, but that is not the reality,” Mourinho said.

Mourinho watched Spurs slip to defeat (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

In truth Leicester were in charge. They adapted to the changed circumstances and managed the situation. “In the second half we could control the ball when they had it,” Rodgers said. The visiting side had a cushion and adapted their methods. They let Tottenham chase the game and looked to release Vardy, Maddison and Harvey Barnes quickly. Mourinho recognised this. “They are a good team,” he said. “They know how to defend, they know how to drop their lines back and they created us difficulties with their defensive organisation.”

Spurs had a handful of shots and their best chance came when Son found space at the back post but the South Korean was off balance when he shot. The effort was heading goalward though and Schmeichel’s clawing save was one of the highlights of the match.

Rodgers was deservedly delighted. It was the first time in eight meetings that one of his sides had beaten a Mourinho team. Leicester lifted themselves to second place in the Premier League while Tottenham slipped two positions to fifth. “You know when you’ve beaten one of his teams you’ve had to really work,” Rodgers said. Leicester did not have to toil quite as much as they might have anticipated.

A crowd might have made a difference for Spurs. The home side were passive, waiting for their opponents to make mistakes rather than taking the initiative. Instead Tottenham made the blunders. Mourinho’s blueprint leaves little margin for error. As at Anfield last week, it was possible for the 57-year-old to claim the result was determined by fortune. In both cases Spurs were largely second best. The more composed, aggressive and dynamic team came out on top on each occasion.

Despite the Portuguese’s assertion, this was not a bad match, just a poor one for Spurs. The system does not bring out the best in Kane, Son or a clutch of talented teammates.

“[It] was not like they deserved to win or we deserved to lose,” Mourinho said. But it was exactly like that. Exactly.