Mourinho swaps criticism for cuddles as Spurs stars warm to new 'soft version'

Posted Thursday, November 28, 2019 by Thesun.co.uk

Mourinho swaps criticism for cuddles as Spurs stars warm to new 'soft version'
Dele Alli is among the Tottenham players already impressed by his encounters with new boss Jose Mourinho Credit: Getty - Contributor

JOSE MOURINHO is taking the softly-softly approach at Tottenham — and so far it is working a treat.

The Special One appears to have learnt from the meanness and moaning that caused so much misery in his time at Manchester United.

He has swapped the criticism for cuddles and animosity for an arm around the shoulder.

His Tottenham stars might have feared the hairdryer from their new boss when they came in 2-1 down at half-time during Tuesday’s 4-2 Champions League comeback win over Olympiakos.

But Mourinho said: “I just had to be a soft version of myself. I felt the players were in need of some love.”

Wow. Never mind Mourinho’s comments about Dele Alli having a brother, it seems he has one too.

Where has the grumpy little Portuguese fella gone?

But it paid off as Spurs sealed a stunning second-half revival to book their place in the last 16 of Europe’s elite competition.

'GOOD RELATIONSHIP SO FAR'

It means Mourinho has won his first two games in charge of the North Londoners since replacing the axed predecessor Mauricio Pochettino a week ago.

Striker and stand-in skipper Harry Kane, who scored twice against the Greeks, said: “Half-time was calm. Scoring just before half-time helped obviously, but we knew we could not play any worse.

“The manager was calm — but you never know what a new manager is going to be like.

“He’d been here for less than a week and only had two games.

“So far it's been all about trying to save the energy, not trying to work too much with the players because of the amount of games we have coming up.

“It’s early days but we have a good relationship so far. We talk and try to help the team.

“With me being one of the leaders in the team he looks to me for feelings and advice on the team.

“When you are winning games it definitely helps your relationship.

“Hopefully we can build a strong relationship.

“We know we both want to win big competitions.

“That’s the team's aim, that’s my aim and that is the manager’s aim.

“Hopefully I can help him do that this year and see where we can go.”

One Spurs star who has definitely responded to Mourinho’s arrival is Dele Alli.

The midfielder had been axed from the previous two England squads due to his poor form.

After Mourinho was appointed Tottenham manager he had a dig at Dele by asking if it was him who had been playing or his brother?

But the star has responded to the jibe by following up his outstanding display in the 3-2 win at West Ham on Saturday with another fine performance — and a goal — in the comeback win against Olympiakos.

Kane, 26, said: “Dele has done great in the last couple of games. Everyone talks about the old Dele but he has just got to keep doing what he's doing.

“He's a fantastic player, a fantastic guy. It's great to see him scoring goals, assisting goals and running at players.”

Mourinho insists the Tottenham squad just needs tweaking and not a major overhaul — even though abject displays under Pochettino and a woeful first-half against Olympiakos suggest otherwise.

But Kane said: “We have got a quality squad, no doubt about that. We have got one of the best squads in Europe.

“In football when things don’t go your way, it is easy to maybe drop your levels a little bit and you end up going on a downward spiral and you have got to pick it up.

“In the last couple of games we have done that but we know we have a lot of hard work to continue that.”