Spurs fans have been discussing some of the comments made by Glenn Hoddle during BT Sport’s coverage of the 1-0 defeat to RB Leipzig in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
The 62-year-old, who represented Spurs on 490 occasions, scoring 110 times, spoke negatively about Jose Mourinho’s tactics following the first-leg defeat, saying (via BT Sport): “I’m concerned, I don’t know what they’re doing. They look like a team that’s just hoping.”
The North London club can perhaps count themselves lucky to be just 1-0 down in the tie, with Hugo Lloris making numerous key saves to keep the score down, with the Frenchman named Man of the Match by BBC Sport.
Spurs, of course, lost 1-0 in their first-leg game against Ajax last season before sensationally winning 3-2 in the return leg, but with both Heung-Min Son and Harry Kane unavailable, they will arguably need to produce an even greater effort if they are to have any hope of progressing.
Do you think Mourinho needs to change his tactics?
Yes
No
Reaction from Spurs fans to Hoddle’s quotes can be seen in the tweets below.
They shouldn’t have downed tools for poch we wouldn’t be in this mess watching this negative rubbish
— james (@james08056172) February 19, 2020
We’ll get a pasting next game. The sooner we are out the better.
— DAMIEN (@DamienDzanic) February 19, 2020
Totally agree with Glenn. We don’t have a plan except sit back and hit on the counter and hope we get something out of nothing. 4-4-2 is not a formation that should be used anymore. I just don’t think he had a choice due to injuries. Ndombele needs to play over the weekend.
— EssexDogs (@dogs_essex) February 19, 2020
I agree. I said the other day we play like we do not have an identity
— davidjbiscoe (@davidjbiscoe) February 20, 2020
Half of the team need to see the door from the outside!
— Alexander Scott (@Alexdzholev) February 19, 2020
Well Legend how much longer before you take up Director of Football at Spurs – Long overdue imo
— SD7Stotfold (@Sd7Stotfold) February 20, 2020
Game plan seems to be to play a long ball at the opposition centre halves and try to get on the 2nd ball. We only passed it around in last 15 mins.
— Johnny Ryan (@jr8o) February 19, 2020
These Spurs fans seem to agree with Hoddle’s criticism of Mourinho’s tactics.
What do we think?
As one fan suggests, Spurs looked to improve somewhat towards the end of the game when they started to pass it more, with the introductions of Erik Lamela (88% pass accuracy rate) and Tanguy Ndombele (74% pass accuracy rate) arguably catalysts in the improved style of play.