Spurs v Wolves: Inside track on Jose Mourinho's side
Wolves make the trip to North London this weekend to take on Jose Mourinho's Spurs - get to know his side better here.
We spoke with Dustin Menno, managing editor of Cartilage Free Captain, to get his take on Wolves' upcoming top flight opponents.
See what he had to say here...
How are things going at Spurs under Jose Mourinho’s tutelage, has he begun to get a real tune from the side yet?
The jury’s still out and will be for a while.
Mourinho is a huge detour from the direction Tottenham went under Mauricio Pochettino, but considering how badly things were going under Poch at the beginning of this season, it’s certainly a defensible choice to make a chance mid-stream.
Spurs started to turn things around but have been dropped to their knees by the long-term injuries to Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min. The second half of this season will be mostly Mourinho trying to downplay expectations and keep his broken squad together with string and chewing gum.
It’s for that reason that I think it’s unfair to evaluate Mourinho at this point. He should get a pass from Spurs fans until he has a chance to have a full pre-season with a healthy squad and bring in some of his own players.
What sort of football can we expect to see from Spurs now, has Mourinho had time to really put his stamp on the tactics in North London?
The injuries to Son and Kane probably mean that Mourinho will fall back to his pattern of playing a defensive low block and trying to hit back on the counter in order to paper over the cracks in this squad. What else can he do?
The pattern from recent matches has been to sit deep and absorb pressure before bringing in Spurs’ half-fit press-resistant players (Tanguy Ndombele, Erik Lamela) and having a go in the last half-hour. It’s a risky strategy, but not a crazy one.
I’m of the opinion, perhaps not widely shared, that a fully healthy Spurs side could thrive under the Mourinho tactics that we saw at the beginning of his Tottenham tenure, but he doesn’t have the pieces to play the way he wants to right now.
That makes this weekend’s match against Wolves a scary one for Spurs — like against Chelsea if they gamble on defensive solidity but go down early it could be a very difficult match since they have yet to show that they can reliably generate offense without Kane and Son.
What is your predicted XI for the game this weekend? And who is missing through injury?
We haven’t gotten an injury update yet for this weekend’s match but Spurs looked exhausted against Chelsea.
Just having a full week with no midweek matches will help.
I suspect we’ll see something similar to how Spurs lined up at Molineux — a mutable 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 with a false nine in Son’s absence.
Spurs need to get their best offensive players all on the pitch and that includes Tanguy Ndombele, Giovani Lo Celso, Serge Aurier, Steven Bergwijn, Lucas Moura, and Dele.
I don’t quite know how it’ll look but that’s the challenge Mourinho’s facing, isn’t it?
Injuries have obviously been key to Spurs this season, how are the side coping with a number of first team stars missing now?
Not great! Take any Premier League club (barring perhaps Liverpool) and remove their top two scorers and that club would struggle just like Tottenham has.
Spurs have looked dour and toothless in attack since Sonny broke his arm, and while some of that is Mourinho’s tactics, a lot of it is just that Spurs no longer have reliable goal scorers at their disposal.
It’s an open question right now where the goals are going to come from — they haven’t scored any from open play since Son went down.
Someone is going to have to step up, but I really couldn’t tell you who that person is going to be, and that’s a scary position for a Spurs fan to be in.
Who are the form players Wolves will need to be wary of this weekend in your opinion and why?
I don’t think there’s anyone on form at the moment, to be honest.
Dele would be the person you’d expect to shoulder the scoring burden but he’s been off the boil and frustrated over the past month and hasn’t scored since January.
He’s still one that Wolves will need to watch as if he breaks out of his slump it’s likely to be in a dramatic fashion.
Steven Bergwijn is Spurs’ January signing and is a tricky and pacy wide attacker who can also play centrally. He scored on his debut and looks like a goal threat as well.
Lucas Moura also has goals in him, though we haven’t seen many this season.
What have you made of Wolves from afar, do you think they have what it takes to earn a European spot once again?
They are certainly in the conversation, even more so considering fifth place is potentially a Champions League qualifying position.
Fourth through ninth place is completely up for grabs at the moment, and I couldn’t begin to predict how it will all play out.
I know Wolves have the talent to qualify for Europe this season, whether that’s Champions League or Europa League, and I’d like to see them there — they are a lot of fun to watch and I’ve had a soft spot for them as a neutral.
Your match prediction?
I’m an optimistic Spurs fan but even I can’t with a straight face predict a win on Sunday based on current form.
I’m wary of Wolves’ offensive threat and afraid that Spurs will continue to backslide.
1-1 draw — Dele, Traore.
