Jose Mourinho has named a near unchanged side for his first home game at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this evening against Olympiacos.
Three points on the night will guarantee Tottenham of a place in the knockout phase of the Champions League for the third season in a row, and the Portuguese tactician has decided to keep faith with the same players who guided the team to their first away Premier League win since January.
The only change sees Danny Rose come into the team in place of Ben Davies, who picked up a knock against West Ham. Tanguy Nodmbele and Jan Vertonghen have both regained their fitness and take their place on the Spurs bench.
Some Spurs fans were pleased to see Mourinho resist the need to make too many changes and were excited to see the new Spurs boss take his place in the home dugout for the first time.
Here’s how some fans reacted to the team news:
Pretty much the same lineup, dub Jose pic.twitter.com/zXy2ICk3OW
— ᴀʟᴇx (@_10Kane) November 26, 2019
The rotation days are over!
— Dan (@YidVids) November 26, 2019
Only change is Rose for Davies (due to injury), finally we kept mostly the same team!! #COYS https://t.co/4lRlzl0xXS
— Anna (@annaxysports) November 26, 2019
Worth noting JM doesn’t rotate his squad much. An injury caused the only forced switch so far with Rose coming in for Davies. A few more games & we should see which players make his ‘best XI’. Dele, Son, Lucas & Kane look like they’re going to always be played together when fit.
— Noz Ahmed (@NozAhmed) November 26, 2019
Hold up….a manager that pics the same team (bar injuries) in 2 consecutive games ? Naaahhh nope,can’t be true….surely not but we went 94 games without the same team coz folks kept telling me he’s magic uno?phahahahaha????My manager….my guy…. #JoseMourinho #THFC #COYS
— RowZedYID?⚽️ (@RowZedYID2) November 26, 2019
That team. Fine with it. Mourinho playing the players (that he already knows about) in their most natural positions. Simples.
— Jamie (@JamVertonghen) November 26, 2019
Never seen such a strong bench!!#COYS
— David Shapira (@David_shapira) November 26, 2019
Rotation is a myth. I'm starting to quite like Mourinho. https://t.co/0JVXxGfIgi
— Guy Brinkley (@GSPCECOYS) November 26, 2019
So just one alteration from the team v West Ham and that's enforced. Mourinho is going to tinker so much less than Pochettino. Chalk and cheese #thfc
— Jonny Blain (@jonoblain) November 26, 2019
Spurs Web Opinion
It is indeed great to see that Mourinho and his coaching staff seem to prefer continuity in the team selection over constant rotation. However, I fear that the Portuguese manager might not be such a big fan of Giovani Lo Celso as the Argentine doesn’t even make the bench.