Tottenham Hotspur came from 2-0 down to secure all three points in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Sky Sports pundit Paul Robinson has played down the possibility that Tottenham can win the Champions League this season, but he does think their chances have increased with Jose Mourinho in charge.
The former Spurs goalkeeper also admitted that he is ‘surprised’ that Mourinho will want to potentially make some changes to his current squad because his philosophy doesn’t match the one of Daniel Levy’s.
Mourinho has won his opening two games as Tottenham boss, including coming from 2-0 down to beat Olympiacos 4-2 on Tuesday night, which sealed their place in the knockout stages.
Speaking to Soccer Special on Sky Sports (27/11/19 7:30 pm start), Robinson admitted that he would be ‘lying’ if he thought Spurs could do the unthinkable and win the Champions League in June.
“With this group of players and where they are, they got to the Champions League final last season, I think I’d be lying if I said they can win the Champions League,” Robinson told Sky Sports.
“I think they can progress with him. I think with him at the helm, they can do a lot better than they perhaps would have done. I think the group of players he has got, the squad of players, I think he’s happy with it.
“I think he will want to make a few additions, which surprises me because Daniel Levy’s philosophy for however many years has to been to develop academy players and bring young players through and develop the team. Jose, doesn’t do that. He want ready-made international players and a big budget to spend. So, there must have been a meeting between him and Daniel Levy and there must have been some common ground – do I think they can win the Champions League? No, I don’t.”
There’s no doubt that Mourinho will be targetting some form of silverware at Tottenham this season as his most realistic options are the FA Cup, and then the European Cup.
But with Mourinho being Mourinho, he will no doubt push his players in both and if they can get towards the latter stages of the Champions League again then things might get interesting.
As always, luck will be needed but given that the Spurs players are chasing, they might just perform that extra better.
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