Jose Mourinho is taking the Pardew approach with Tottenham’s Moussa Sissoko

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Moussa Sissoko has scored twice in three Premier League games for Spurs under Mourinho – after two in 129 games under Mauricio Pochettino.

It seems that Jose Mourinho has something in common with Alan Pardew after all.

While Mauricio Pochettino utilised Moussa Sissoko almost solely as a deep-lying ball winner in his ill-fated final few months in North London, Mourinho has taken a leaf out of Pardew’s book and unleashed the attacking potential in one of English football’s great enigmas.

Sissoko has scored twice in his last three games for a Tottenham Hotspur side who already look far more direct and aggressive than they have done for a long time. That is as many as the France international had managed in 129 appearances under Pochettino.

And, speaking to the Standard after powering through the Burnley defence to feather home a composed finish in Saturday’s 5-0 thrashing of Sean Dyche’s side, Sissoko has admitted that he is loving his re-purposed role under Mourinho.

“(Jose) knows I’m a player who likes to go box-to-box. I can score a few goals every year, so he said to me to just play my game, to go forward when I can and see if I can score,” said a man who has finally silenced the critics three years after his club-record £30 million move to Spurs.

“I scored because I was in the box. Maybe in the past I was deeper and didn’t try. Hopefully I can score a few more goals.”

During Sissoko’s formative years on English shores in the black and white stripes of Newcastle United, the barrel-chested enforcer was at his barnstorming best when used in something of an old-school right-midfield role under Pardew, thundering down the flanks and revving that V8 engine.

And, for the first time since those heady days at St James’ Park, Sissoko is being given the licence to do what he does best.

That is no criticism of Pochettino, however; it was the Argentine tactician who salvaged Sissoko’s Spurs career after a dismal debut season in North London. But Mourinho already appears to be eking a little more juice out Pochettino’s trusted midfield general.