Peter Crouch told BT Sport during their live coverage of Tottenham’s win against Wolfsberger on Wednesday night that he strangely noticed a ‘lack of confidence’ from Jose Mourinho before kick-off.
The former striker noted how Mourinho suggested in his pre-match interview that ‘if things go well he will bring on the kids’ – which he did – and how he wasn’t exactly sure about how things were going to pan out given their recent form.
Going into the game, Spurs had more or less booked their place in the last-16 after winning the first-leg 4-1, and after making several changes, they still managed to put four past the Austrian side.
But Crouch feels because of Tottenham’s up and down form of late, especially from a defensive standpoint, there was perhaps that slight worry from Mourinho.
“The team as a whole and a collective aren’t playing well as it should be, at the moment,” said Crouch. “And you cannot dress that up.
“They have some tremendous attacking players. But I think defensively they have been making mistakes.
“There is a lack of confidence and I think there is even a slight lack of confidence in the manger there saying ‘if things go well then he will bring on the kids’.
“It’s sort of hope more than knowing his team is going to perform and I think that’s the way it is with Tottenham. You don’t know exactly what you are going to get.”
Well, when Dele Alli pushed Olivier Giroud aside to win the award for best overhead kick scored in Europe this week, any potential worries from Mourinho would have been wiped away.
Perhaps there was slight concern from a defensive standpoint and not keeping a clean sheet, more than anything.
But Tottenham were able to register a clean sheet, bag four goals, Alli and Bale scoring and Mourinho seeing some light heading into a very important period for the club.
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