‘Absolutely disgusting’ – Former Spurs boss blasts Mourinho’s Chelsea tactics

Former Tottenham head coach Tim Sherwood has hit out at the tactics employed by Jose Mourinho in Tottenham’s 2-1 defeat to Chelsea on Saturday.

Jose Mourinho opted to start with five at the back and three in central midfield in order to match up Chelsea’s formation, as Spurs looked to defend deep and hit their opponents on the counter.

However, Tottenham’s game plan didn’t work as the home side took the lead in the 15th minute through ex-Arsenal man Olivier Giroud.

They deservedly doubled their lead at the start of the second half through a well-taken strike by left-back Marcos Alonso.

Frank Lampard’s side sat back and let Tottenham have the ball after going 2-0 up, but the away side looked devoid of any ideas in possession, scoring only via a deflected cross.

Sherwood insisted that Tottenham should have shown more attacking intent despite their injury problems.

Speaking to Premier League Productions (as relayed by the Mirror), the former England midfielder said: “Tottenham were absolutely disgusting. They were so bad. The negative approach.

“Yes they have injuries to Son and to Kane, Mourinho keeps reminding us of that. But they’ve got Bergwijn there who can run in behind, they’ve got Moura who has pace. If they’ve got anything they’ve got pace.

“They both got 15 goals last season which is not the end of the world. You have to find a different way. As a coach sometimes you can’t say ‘oh we don’t have a striker’ and throw the towel in.

“If you said to Jose beforehand: ‘Would you take a 0-0?’ he would have taken your arms off. It’s not about that, it’s a London derby! It’s for all of those fans, you need to show more of attacking intent.”

Spurs Web Opinion

Tim Sherwood was in charge of Tottenham for what was the worst performance I have ever seen us put in at Stamford Bridge when we were beaten 4-0 by Chelsea in 2014. Our performance that evening was much more ‘disgusting’ than it was on Saturday afternoon and so one shouldn’t really take Tim’s comments too seriously.

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