Jose Mourinho replaced Mauricio Pochettino at Spurs last month and it didn’t become clear until the change was made as to just how much work the Portugal man has ahead of him. My colleague Bharat Bhise and I are huge Spurs fans and we are now starting to clearly see all of the cracks that had been papered over. We have spent the last month discussing which problems Jose needs to fix, and it is fair to say that he will require at least 2 transfer windows and plenty of backing in order to get it done.
Defensive Overhaul
If you were being brutally honest you can argue that Spurs need 4 new defenders at least. At right back the only options which we have are Walker-Peters and the dodgy Aurier, although it does look as though Jose sees some value in the Frenchman. It looked as though Pochettino was trying to squeeze Foyth into the right back position like he plays for his national team, but the truth is that he doesn’t look good enough. Sanchez also looks out of his depth and with Toby and Jan getting on, he needs a major overhaul of that defensive unit. Left back should also be thrown into the mix, Danny Rose looks past it and Ben Davies is not the man to take over.
Eriksen Position
For all intents and purposes it looks like Danish playmaker Christian Eriksen will be heading out of the door pretty soon, and Spurs have to find someone who can unlock doors like he can. IT was originally thought that Giovanni Lo Celso was brought in to play that role but in reality he is a very different type of player to the Dane, suited more to a tenacious midfielder rather than a natural and intricate playmaker. This is likely to be the toughest position for Mourinho to fill.
Central Midfield
Spurs have a number of options in defensive midfield such as Harry Winks, Eric Dier, Moussa Sissoko and Tanguy Ndombele but he really does need a forward playing midfielder in there. There is no doubt that Ndombele is the best footballer of that bunch, but I think that Jose will prefer him playing the box to box role. Lo Celso could be an option here but the Spurs side will need more than 2 if they really want to challenge on many fronts.
Backup Striker
We know that if Kane goes out that we can cover with Son or Lucas, but Spurs have to have someone putting pressure on Kane for his place. Now Jose may wish to utilize 17 year old Troy Parrott, who of course could learn so much from Harry Kane, the worry is however that Mourinho does not have a great history with bringing through young players. The ideal solution is giving the role to Parrott, but I fancy Mourinho will go out for a veteran to take on the role.