Football

‘Mourinho has brainwashed Tottenham players’ – former Chelsea boss can deliver Premier League title, says Sherwood

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The former Spurs head coach sees no reason why his old club can’t lift English football’s top prize under their current manager

Jose Mourinho has “brainwashed” his Tottenham players, according to Tim Sherwood, who believes the former Chelsea and Manchester United boss can deliver Premier League title this season.

Tottenham have emerged as the surprise early pacesetters in the top flight this season, having picked up 20 points from a possible 27 so far.

Mourinho’s men lost their opening game 1-0 at home to Everton, but have since regrouped to establish themselves as a formidable force, with thrilling wins over Southampton and Manchester United providing evidence of their attacking power.

Spurs have also proven they are capable of grinding out results when not at their best, seeing off Brighton and West Brom in an unconvincing but effective fashion, and they currently boast the best defensive record in the entire division.

Another impressive clean sheet was recorded in a 2-0 victory over Manchester City on Saturday, with talk of Mourinho being on track to win his fourth Premier League title increasing with each passing game.

Sherwood has praised the Portuguese for raising the collective confidence levels within his current squad, and sees no reason why they can’t lift the trophy if they continue on their current trajectory.

“He’s found a way with the group of players he has,” the ex-Spurs midfielder and manager told talkSPORT.

“He’s bought very well, [Sergio] Reguilon has been a good signing at left-back, but [Pierre-Emile] Hojbjerg for me has been the best signing. He fits into the style and just protects the two centre-halves.

“Jose has brainwashed his players to believe they have to work to achieve something – they need to win trophies, this group of players.

“When you play as solid as they do, he’s almost brainwashed them into believing.

“And why wouldn’t you believe in him? He’s won 20 major trophies in his career and you’re winning football matches, so then you start believing that this guy is the real deal, he knows what he’s talking about, and why can’t we win the league?”

Sherwood, who won the Premier League crown with Blackburn in 1994-95, added: “When we’ve got players like Son and Kane, who are world class and could probably play in any team in the world, you’ve always got a chance.

“They haven’t played fantastically well this season, but who cares? On the back of my medal it doesn’t say: ‘Oh, and by the way we didn’t play well for 24 games’.

“You just go and pick it up at the end of the season, and that’s it!”

Football

Bale will ‘probably’ make his second Tottenham debut against West Ham, says Mourinho

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The Welsh winger will likely make the first appearance of his current spell with Spurs in the London derby clash with the Hammers this weekend

Gareth Bale will “probably” make his first appearance since returning to Tottenham when they face West Ham on Sunday, according to Jose Mourinho.

Bale rejoined Spurs on a season-long loan in September, having left in 2013 for Real Madrid in a then world-record transfer.

A knee injury has so far kept Bale out of action and, though he gave a positive update on the forward’s condition, manager Mourinho would not definitively say if the Wales international will feature in the London derby.

“Of course he wants to play. He wanted to play since the day he arrived but wasn’t possible,” Mourinho told a media conference. “I’m not going to tell you if he’s going to play or not. What I will tell you is that he’s working very well. He’s working the way he probably hasn’t been able to do for some time.

“The planning of the recent sessions had a big focus on him. His condition is good. Does he play Sunday or Thursday, we haven’t made a decision yet.

“Every player is a very important player but the Gareth situation is very special because of his history. We care about him as much as he does for Tottenham.

“It’s a physical thing. He didn’t have any pre-season and even in the period after the lockdown, he didn’t participate in much with Real Madrid, then he plays a couple of matches with Wales, had an injury there.

“It’s not just about coming and needing a week of work to be at a level. It’s more global than that and we don’t want him to be rushed, we want him to be comfortable, we want him to make the decision of ‘yes, I’m ready to go’. It’s more about that.

“He’s working so well, just evolution in every data, in every aspect of his condition. He’s there. Probably he plays Sunday, if he doesn’t he will on Thursday [in the Europa League v LASK]. He’s there. He’s very, very close.”

A key feature of Tottenham’s start to the new Premier League season, which included a 6-1 win at Manchester United prior to the international break, has been the form of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min.

Kane and Son have combined in six goal involvements, the highest tally in the league for any duo, in four games. That makes the prospect of adding Bale to the forward line an enticing one, though not one Mourinho appeared willing to commit to as his first choice.

“We have a squad where every player has to fight a lot for a place in the team,” Mourinho added. “I believe you can see Son and Bale playing together, and also both together on the bench and also both enjoying a hot tea in the box. We have so many good options so I refuse to say that anyone is a first choice.”

Football

Mourinho hints at Tottenham team selection with Bale in contention

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The Wales winger has been working hard at Spurs’ training ground during the international break in the hope of featuring this weekend

Jose Mourinho has refused to rule out handing Gareth Bale his second Tottenham debut against West Ham this weekend, but says any decision taken will be for the good of the team.

Though he re-joined the club nearly a month ago, Bale has yet to make an appearance for Spurs because he has been working his way back from a knee injury picked up over the summer.

The 31-year-old withdrew from the Wales squad in order to build up his fitness and has spent the past few weeks working hard at Tottenham’s training ground.

Mourinho was understandably coy about his team selection when asked whether Bale had done enough to earning a starting spot this weekend, but he did not rule it out either.

“The team is the most important thing and Gareth is here to help the team, but at the same time we care about about him,” he told Sky Sports.

“So the decision we are going make is going to be for the good of the team, but also for him.

“It is very important he has a happy season with us at this moment in his career.”

Mourinho will be hoping his side can pick off where they left off against the Hammers on Sunday, having thrashed Manchester United 6-1 at Old Trafford immediately prior to the international break.

That made it seven games unbeaten in all competitions for the north London side, with their only defeat coming against early pacesetters Everton on the opening weekend of the campaign.

They have played more games than any other team in the Premier League so far because of their involvement in the Europa League qualifying rounds.

“We coped well with that busy period just because the squad is very good and the boys were fantastic,” added Mourinho.

“It is a big match on Sunday against a team that is playing well and getting very good results, and it is a London derby too.

“So let’s forget what we did well these in the past couple of weeks where we got results. The new period starts Sunday.”

Football

‘If someone cannot cry about VAR it is Manchester United’ – Mourinho has no sympathy for former club after Spurs’ 6-1 victory

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The Portuguese felt that his old side could have no complaints about the decision to send off Anthony Martial going against them in the first half

Jose Mourinho suggested that Manchester United were not in a position to complain about their VAR misfortune after Tottenham routed the Red Devils 6-1 at Old Trafford.

The former Red Devils boss saw his Spurs side ride roughshod over a woeful performance from the home side, who suffered their joint-worst home Premier League defeat in history.

The hosts had snatched an almost immediate lead following a second-minute Bruno Fernandes penalty but the visitors responded in quick succession to take the lead well inside the opening quarter-hour thanks to efforts from Tanguy Ndombele and Son Heung-min.

United’s problems were compounded on the half-hour mark though when Anthony Martial was shown a red card for an apparent retaliation to receiving an elbow from Erik Lamela, in the wake of which Harry Kane piled on more misery with a third goal.

Controversy reigned from the decision, which saw Lamela escape without punishment despite clear replays suggesting he was the instigator, but speaking after the match, Mourinho suggested that his old side were not in a position to complain about the outcome given their own fair share of assists from VAR technology.

“I didn’t watch it. Maybe later I will. If someone can cry about the VAR decisions it is Tottenham and if someone cannot cry about VAR it is Manchester United for sure,” he told Sky Sports . 

“I don’t know, the only thing I know is we played extremely well. I told my players that a good result here would be to win and we did that.”

The Portuguese was filled with effusive praise for his side’s rampant performance however, who doubled their early haul through second goals for Son and Kane plus an effort for Serge Aurier, hailing it as a “historical” result.

“Manchester United doesn’t lose many matches, [and] to lose by six is of course not every day,” he added.

“[It’s a] historical victory but in the end [it’s] three points and three very important points because we lost five points at home.

“We prepared ourselves very well tactically and also psychologically, the team was ready. So ready that a penalty in the first minute and going 1-0 down did not affect the team at all.

“Some people can say you play against 10 men for a long time which is true but for me it is also true that 11 v 11 we were playing extremely well, we were creating huge problems, we were winning 2-1 and they could not find solutions to control us.”

Dele Alli made his first Premier League appearance since the opening-day defeat to Everton, coming off the bench in the second half having only played a couple of Europa League qualifiers since the loss to the Toffees.

The England midfielder had been linked with a move to Paris Saint-Germain but Mourinho insists Alli has always been part of his plans.

“He has never stopped showing, I always said that I never had a problem with him. Very polite, very educated, always behaving well. He is training well, sometimes I want different things from him on the pitch,” he further added. 

“That is more about his qualities as a player than other things. He is a fantastic player as everyone knows.”

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