This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Jose Mourinho has banned his Tottenham Hotspur players from rewatching the club’s 7-2 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League group stages, per Goal.
What’s the word?
Spurs were absolutely thumped at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in October in a game that was arguably the beginning of the end for former manager Mauricio Pochettino.
Spurs actually took the lead through Son Heung-Min on the night, but then capitulated, falling 4-1 behind prior to Harry Kane’s penalty, and then three more goals added to the humiliation. Ex-Arsenal man Serge Gnabry scored four times in total.
With the two clubs set to face off once again on Wednesday in a dead rubber that could see the likes of Harry Kane rested, Mourinho has forbidden his players from reminding themselves of that horrible night.
He said: “I forbid any image of it.
“I watched it a couple of times: me, my staff and analysts try to go through every single aspect of that but not one single image for the boys. No, not at all.
“We’re going to focus more on us than on Bayern. We’re going to try to develop our model of play, with different bodies, different phases, different players.
“But there is a certain way that we try to play football and try to develop our principles of play. And we’re totally focused on us.”
Smart management
Mourinho seems poised to bring through a handful of youngsters against the German champions – even confirming Harry Kane will miss the game – with the likes of Troy Parrott, Oliver Skipp and Japhet Tanganga all potential beneficiaries.
Thus, it makes little sense for the players to watch the evening in which their senior team-mates were utterly humiliated.
Focusing on themselves is the wise move, with the youngsters being given a major chance to stamp their authority on the first-team.
Who is that?! Can you name all of these obscure Spurs signings? Give it a go now…
Of course, it remains to be seen if they can pull off a shock result in the Allianz Arena, but ultimately it doesn’t really matter.
A brave showing – merely one in which they don’t lose by five goals – will be an improvement.
Meanwhile, take a look at the young players who could most benefit from the clash with Bayern.
