What Tottenham should expect from Jose Mourinho and the plot twists to come

After 11 months out of the limelight one of football’s biggest stars is back in the big time

Football managers like directors have favourite tropes and personnel.

But with the shelf-life of an actor far exceeding the peak years of a footballer, it is managers who tend to become wedded to their own ethos. Players come and go, but ideologies will never leave you.

In the modern game, Jose Mourinho embodies this better than most. At the height of the newly appointed Tottenham Hotspur manager's career, his backroom staff was as consistent as those he entrusted to deliver his message on the pitch.

Naturally, as time moved on – and Ricardo Carvalho retired – he became wedded to specific roles for tactical needs. You could loosely fit them into the following brackets: those who enforce his tactics to the group, those who dictate it on the pitch and those who bust a gut without asking questions.

But as the game transitioned, and familiarity to his method waned, a once grand production was left resembling a dodgy 90s American soap opera. The sort which kept its plot devices and thus required the same characters but played by different, progressively worse actors from one season to the next while hoping no one notices. Just like Sunset Beach, the quality only goes one way.

Mourinho’s first stint at Chelsea saw his Portuguese acolytes Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira and Tiago implement his script, before John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba learned their lines. When he returned to Stamford Bridge, Cesc Fabregas, Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and Nemanja Matic were his regulars.

But as things started to sour, and Mourinho started to lose his touch, Branislav Ivanovic emerged as a player in which he threw his trust into, much to the behest of Chelsea fans.

It felt unfair on the Serbian who was struggling for form, and there was a bit of Cersei Lannister about the way Mourinho seemed to be positioning himself behind this imposing brute of a defender. The cast at Manchester United were even less equipped to nail the higher-profile parts, but at least Marouane Fellaini nailed the role as the much-maligned and at times effective bruiser.

When there were calls from the United faithful for more young blood, the manager honed in on Scott McTominay like a man trying too hard to position himself as progressive despite a body of youth-stifling work. After starting just five Premier League games in 2017/18, the 21-year old was named manager’s player of the year. “How can I hate kids? My holding midfielder is one.”

So, how will things play out for Tottenham’s more established players now?

One aspect that will hold them in good stead is the work ethic Mauricio Pochettino instilled and, by all accounts, it was not the message but rather how the message was delivered that ended up grating. Two people who will know where they stand are Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen.

Mourinho’s way requires a strong, energetic leading man and there are not many better than Kane in world football, especially factoring in his work outside the box. As for Eriksen, Mourinho stated only last month that he didn’t have time for players who didn’t have to be at the club. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Dane start matches, only to be unceremoniously pulled at half-time - a trope familiar to regular viewers.

Erik Lamela’s rustling qualities is as Mourinho as a side-eye and expect to see Eric Dier adopt a number of roles like a Lisbon-schooled Eddie Murphy. As for Moussa Sissoko - auxiliary full-back, anyone?

Beyond the theatre, the two positives relevant from Mourinho’s time at Old Trafford were the early effect he had on the mindset of his players and the way he was able to use the unbalanced squad he was given, which won't be the case at Spurs. The sniping about a lack of funds and being unable to shift dead wood came later.

There is a calculated motivator in there who has a track record of inspiring high- and low-profile egos, and it will be fascinating to see this in effect with the squad he now has. A player like Dele Alli could thrive under Mourinho by being made to feel 10-feet tall again yet also being told where to play. Someone like Ben Davies could be refreshed as a starter, even if simply as a dig against Danny Rose.

And though it is easy to envisage the typical "third season Mourinho" as now simply "Mourinho", there’s reason to think things could play out differently given where both parties are at.

Tottenham are a club with an enhanced Champions League status experiencing a blip. Mourinho is a manager whose recent obstructive stubbornness has seen his stature and reputation take a battering. While they were once not aligned for ambition or status, they have now met each other halfway.

Though his methods will be of use to Spurs, this does feel like Mourinho's last chance to show he still has what it takes at this level before he inevitably goes on to the riches of China or the Middle East. The big plot twist is that for the first time in English football, he needs the club more than they need him.