Opinion: Five things we learned from Tottenham’s 2-1 win over Wolves

Tottenham put in a gritty performance at the Molineux Stadium yesterday afternoon to beat Wolves 2-1.

It was Wolves’ first home defeat since September and the result took the lilywhites to fifth place in the Premier League table, just three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea who are the visitors to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday.

Here are five things we learned from Tottenham’s gutsy win over Wolves:

1) Winning mentality

It is clear that Jose Mourinho is already changing the players’ mentality and making them winners. A couple of months ago, we would have likely crumbled after Wolves scored their equaliser. Yet, the players dug in and fought hard to keep themselves in the game. It was also great to see the players show some game intelligence by playing the ball into certain channels, wasting time and even engaging in tactical fouling. These are things we didn’t see too much of under Mauricio Pochettino.

2) Our defence is excellent at dealing with crosses

We have looked fairly shaky in dealing with crosses and set pieces for the past few months but yesterday’s performance was proof that our defence is certainly well equipped to deal with crosses into the box. Wolves got numerous crosses into the box through the ninety minutes but both Alderweireld and Sanchez won almost every aerial duel while Vertonghen, Dier and Aurier also made their fair share of clearances.

3) Mourinho will stick with the 4-2-3-1

Almost a month into his Tottenham reign, Mourinho has opted to play the 4-2-3-1 system for every one of our matches. He has shown that he is not one to rotate personal and likes having consistency in his line ups. Even when our set up wasn’t working in the second half as Wolves were overloading our flanks, the Tottenham head coach still seemed hesitant to change his preferred system. So, it looks like this is how we are going to see the team set up for the time being.

4) We desperately need Lamela back

With Mourinho preferring to start with four forwards in Kane, Moura, Son and Dele, it leaves us extremely short of attacking options on the bench who can come on and influence the game. It doesn’t seem as if the new Spurs boss trusts Giovani Lo Celso yet. So, the sooner we get Erik Lamela back from injury the better. I think the Argentine midfielder will be perfect for this system and will potentially allow Mourinho to bring Moura off the bench.

5) Top four race will go down to the wire

We have made up a considerable amount of ground on the top four since Mourinho arrived at the club. However, the game yesterday proved that it was is just the likes of Leicester City and Chelsea that Tottenham might have to contend with but also Wolves. The home side proved why they are such a hard team to play against and I expect them to push for a Champions League place this season.

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