Tottenham are far away from being a typical Jose Mourinho side

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Have Tottenham really improved under Jose Mourinho?

Sacking Mauricio Pochettino after everything he did for Tottenham was a massive call but it’s one Daniel Levy deemed necessary. Spurs had a horrific start to the season under the Argentine winning just five of their first 12 games in all competitions.

Jose Mourinho was brought in to tighten Tottenham’s defence and instil a winning mentality to the side but early signs show that Spurs are far from it. The North Londoners conceded 25 goals this season under Pochettino in 12 games, keeping just four clean sheets in that period. Seven out of those 25 goals came against Bayern Munich which makes Pochettino’s overall record for the season look worse than it should.

Spurs have now played eight times under their new boss and have conceded 14 times already, more than any other side across all competitions. Their record is joint-worst at the moment with North London rivals Arsenal who are deemed to be in a crisis, mainly due to their defence.

An argument can be made that it has only been a little over a month since Mourinho took charge of the club which is too soon for anybody to judge the club. However, the self-proclaimed special one’s personal record isn’t doing any justice to his own high standards.

Mourinho’s sides have kept just one clean sheet in his last 13 games in charge, five of those games coming from when he managed Manchester United over a year ago. Tottenham have to be genuinely concerned with their defence even at this early stage but they were given a huge boost with Toby Alderweireld extending his deal last week.

With tricky games coming up against Brighton, Norwich and Southampton before Spurs welcome league leaders Liverpool, Mourinho has to find a way to tighten his defence. Arsenal and Manchester United, despite their own struggles, could catch up with Tottenham very quickly if their poor defensive form continues which would result in the last thing that Mourinho would want in his first full season in charge – the Europa League.