Former Tottenham midfielder and assistant coach Gus Poyet has admitted that he was baffled when Daniel Levy sacked Jose Mourinho just days ahead of the Carabao Cup final.
Tottenham’s Mourinho’s experiment did not have the desired effect as the North London club went through a poor run of form in the second half of last season.
Not only did they fall a long way outside of the top four but the Lilywhites were also knocked out of Europe in embarrassing fashion by Dinamo Zagreb.
It felt as though the writing was on the wall for Mourinho at Spurs after the 3-0 loss in Croatia but the timing of Levy’s decision to pull the plug on the Portuguese coach still left many surprised.
Spurs let Mourinho go just days ahead of the Carabao Cup final against Manchester City, with some questioning the decision given the 58-year-old’s record in finals.
Poyet, who is no stranger to being sacked by Levy, admitted that he is at a loss to explain the Tottenham chairman’s decision.
He told talkSPORT (12/10/21 at 12:40 pm): “There is always a reason behind the decision.
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“I think, outside of the decision from Tottenham, was ‘we want to win a trophy now’, so we are going to change Pochettino for Mourinho.
“I think that was clear. But the problem, with a week heading into the final (of the League Cup under Mourinho), the first chance for Mourinho to win a trophy (with Spurs). He got sacked!
“So, the reason you are looking at the beginning (as to why they sacked Poch). I don’t know. It’s difficult to know. You have to ask Daniel Levy – the reason for hiring him (Mourinho) is the reason why he got sacked.”
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We will never know what went on behind the scenes that convinced Levy to make the call he did before the final. However, given the form we were in at the time, chances were that we would have lost against City anyway even if Mourinho was in charge.
Perhaps, the Spurs hierarchy thought that sacking Jose would rally the squad ahead of the final and give them the team the best chance of getting a win. It was evident that the 58-year-old had lost the dressing room at that point.
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