Michael Owen spoke on Matchday Live on Optus Sport about Jose Mourinho’s tactics annoying two key Tottenham players after their 0-0 draw against Chelsea yesterday.
Spurs only had to avoid defeat to retain top spot in the Premier League. Mourinho’s men were high on confidence after a fantastic win against Manchester City last week, and many felt that their curse at Stamford Bridge would finally come to an end.
Tottenham fought hard against Chelsea yesterday but they only managed a draw. The point took them above Liverpool in the table, but the way they achieved the result didn’t impress Owen one bit.
The former Liverpool and Manchester United striker felt that Harry Kane and Son Heung-min would be annoyed with Mourinho’s tactics yesterday. He even claimed that Spurs’ key duo would have been wishing that Mauricio Pochettino – who played attacking football – was still at the club.
He said: “There are top players there like Harry Kane and Son. Would I like, as a centre-forward, playing in that game today for Tottenham? I’d be thinking I liked the way (Mauricio) Pochettino used to play – he trusted us. We’d go head to head, we might win 3-2, lose (4-3), but he trusted us.
“If I played for Jose Mourinho, I’d be thinking: Does he trust us to go head to head with these big teams? Every time we play anyone decent, all we do is sit back. We even get our central midfield players to play right-back now, and Son is going to have to come and fill-in for Sissoko.
“Come on, we’re world-class players, trust us like that against these big teams. If that happened too many times, Kane, Son, hardly get a kick in half their games this season, even though they’re flying high top of the league, I wonder if they’d be enjoying it.”
Every attacking player would arguably prefer a system which would see their side keep most of the possession. Mourinho’s teams rarely do that against the bigger clubs, but that doesn’t mean the likes of Kane and Son are unhappy with the tactics.
The Englishman has 13 goals and 11 assists in all competitions, while the former Bayer Leverkusen man has 11 goals and five assists so far. That is a better return than they had under Pochettino at this stage of the season, which makes you wonder if they really have a problem with Mourinho’s tactics.
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