Former Spurs midfielder Jamie Redknapp has claimed that Tottenham head coach Jose Mourinho selected the wrong team for the London derby against Chelsea.
Spurs went into the game on the back of four wins in their last five Premier League games while Chelsea had lost four of their last five. However, the home side didn’t lay a glove on Chelsea for ninety minutes as they fell to a deserved 2-0 defeat.
The Spurs boss insisted that his side were beaten by the ‘Antonio Conte system’ (Evening Standard) but Redknapp has shot back at that claim and suggested that the 56-year-old got his starting lineup wrong.
The former England midfielder questioned why Mourinho chose to start with Eric Dier and Moussa Sissoko in midfield when he had both Harry Winks and Tanguy Ndombele available as he claimed that the latter duo would have given the home side more control in midfield.
In his column for the Daily Mail, Redknapp wrote, “Mourinho afterwards said Tottenham were beaten by the ‘Antonio Conte system’ but that’s wrong. Conte didn’t invent three at the back.
“Frank selected a system that Tottenham could not handle, and that’s that. When I saw Mourinho’s XI, what stood out to me was the midfield.
“Eric Dier and Moussa Sissoko started together and I did not think that would be enough to get control of the game. Mourinho had good players in Harry Winks and Tanguy Ndombele sitting on the bench.
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“The Portuguese tried to fix it at half time, bringing on Christian Eriksen for Dier. But Chelsea imposed their game on Tottenham throughout.”
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While I was also hoping that at least one of Ndombele and Winks would start, one can understand why Mourinho decided to keep faith in a winning combination. Hopefully, the defeat against Chelsea helped him learn a thing or two about our squad. While the team is able to get more defensive solidity with the Dier-Sissoko combination in midfield, the duo lack the creativity to get the ball into Tottenham’s attacking players.
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