Initial Jose Impact Could Propel Spurs Into Top 4

There’s been a mixed reaction to Jose Mourinho taking over at Tottenham.

The message that seems to be coming from the camp, though, is that Mourinho is a winner who will take them on to the next level.

Ultimately, Spurs haven’t won trophies whereas he has generally been successful wherever he’s been. They’re looking for an initial impact – and that’s certainly what happened at the weekend.

The 3-2 scoreline looked close but Tottenham were dominant in the game and had control for long spells. They, and their big players, played very well against West Ham.

There was a suggestion that he was going to sign Zlatan Ibrahimovic, which was quickly refuted by Jose Mourinho who said that Harry Kane was their number one striker, the best striker in the Premier League and that there’d be no move for veteran striker.

I think that gives a positive message to the squad at Tottenham that things will be a bit different going forward. Whatever happened has happened, they weren’t getting the results. The result on Saturday showed what they are capable of doing and I think things will get better between now and the end of the season.

If we’re going by recent history, we won’t be looking back in two years and seeing a dramatic change at Tottenham.

Jose’s there for an initial impact.

I don’t see him being there beyond three years. We may see Spurs do as Chelsea and United did in recent years, where he won the league with the former and the Europa League and Carabao Cup with the latter. But after that, the football being played wasn’t great. Is there anything to suggest that things will be any different? I would say, no. We’ll gauge it at the end of next season and see where Tottenham are.

I don’t see the current top four being set in stone.

I think Chelsea played quite well in spells against Manchester City who, ultimately, just found the will to win that game.

Meanwhile, it wasn’t the greatest of performances by Liverpool at Crystal Palace. I’d probably suggest they got away with it. Palace were a real threat throughout but Liverpool have a little bit of steal about them and find a way to win games when they aren’t necessarily playing well.

They haven’t played great after every international break this season but have found ways to get results and get wins. They’re solid defensively, they’ve got a tremendous goalkeeper and that is why they’re getting the results that they are.

Losing Jonny Evans at the weekend could be a big blow to Leicester City, depending on how long he’s going to miss. The centre-half partnership he’s got with Soyuncu has been absolutely fantastic.

I would suggest it’s possibly been the most consistent centre-half pairing this season in the Premier League.

If Vardy were to get injured, where would the goals come from? On current form, though, Leicester look a very good bet for a top four finish this season. However, I expect Tottenham to get better and show more consistency and I certainly expect Manchester United to get more consistent. But Spurs, under Jose Mourinho, are certainly the biggest threat to Leicester finishing in the Champions League places.

The top two will be Liverpool and Manchester City and it’s up to Jurgen Klopp’s side to keep that consistency going, but they’re clearly in the driving seat.