- Jan 9, 2014
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This is correct and I think most of us knew this when he was appointed. I for one in fact actively welcomed a shift away from the "possessed by possession stats" philosophy. I still count it as an overall great improvement that we now don't play for the sake of having possession. However, by an afterthought you point to something else; fear. And yes, what I emphatically suspect, is that Mourinho's biggest weakness is being too fear driven when insecurity overtakes his mind, and giving that up would be of huge benefit.I think overall with Jose, if he has a squad full of top players and particularly individually talented forwards, everything will be OK. But the moment he detects any kind of weakness in his own side, he will default to his fear based instincts. If you look at the 7 point plan for winning matches that was in his biography, it's there in what we're witnessing on the pitch:
1 The game is won by the team who commits fewer errors.
2 Football favours whoever provokes more errors in the opposition.
3 Away from home, instead of trying to be superior to the opposition, it’s better to encourage their mistakes.
4 Whoever has the ball is more likely to make a mistake.
5 Whoever renounces possession reduces the possibility of making a mistake.
6 Whoever has the ball has fear.
7 Whoever does not have it is thereby stronger.
I don't know if it's possible for there to be a more different football philosophy than Poch's 'be brave' -- but certainly in appointing Mourinho, DL showed that there is not overarching football DNA in his stewardship of Tottenham. We have lurched from one extreme to the other.