Before we talk about anything else, let us first outline that Jose Mourinho is the current Spurs manager, no matter whether you love him or hate him. With the Special One comes a particular brand of defensive, often unattractive, and counter-attacking football.
These Mourinho teams and formations often have to sacrifice a number of players in order to create space for others and maintain clean sheets.
Having watched the club over the past eight months, it looks as if the wingers and holding midfielders are going to adopt a far more defensive role under the new head coach.
Harry Winks has been used as a lone pivot midfielder in recent matches, which also happens to be his best position, in my opinion. Meanwhile, Lucas Moura has played on both wings, usually with more emphasis on defence than attack.
Winks’ role in the side is to win back the ball by tackling and intercepting passing channels before rolling the ball off to a more advanced creator.
Moura’s role is to track the full-back on his side, before tackling higher up the pitch and mounting the counter-attacking charge, rather than being the man to finish the chances.
Both of these players have come under stick during their time at Spurs, and I doubt that this will change under Mourinho due to their lack of upcoming goals and assists.
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However, Harry Winks has never been about getting assists, he is about retaining possession and controlling the game. Lucas Moura is now more about setting up attacks, rather than stat-padding with goals and assists galore.
It is about time that some Spurs fans appreciated the running, effort, and defensive jobs of these two stars.
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