London (AFP)

Already the effect Jose Mourinho? Accustomed to successful starts, the Portuguese coach did not miss his debut with Tottenham against the badly-ranked West Ham (3-2), Saturday in the English league, not without frights late in the game. There is still some work ...

This is a good habit, taken from long ago: since his first steps at the head of Porto in January 2002, the "Mou" has never lost his first game at the head of his successive clubs.

With this undeniable success in view of the match and which allows Tottenham to temporarily rise from 14th to 6th place in opening the 13th day of the Premier League, the Portuguese answered skeptics who doubted its compatibility with players used to a much more licked game.

It's a relief for the Spurs, since the Londoners had been running since last January and 12 games (9 defeats, 3 draws) after a success outside in the league!

"Mou" had promised not to revolutionize everything but to polish some "details that can make the difference".

Relegating the French international midfielder Moussa Sissoko, the player most used by Mauricio Pochettino with 1.057 minutes played in the league on 1080 possible, is still a little more than a "detail".

- The Mourinho leg -

Especially to establish in his place Eric Dier with his four appearances for 192 minutes, even if the Portuguese had tried to bring this player to Manchester United when he was there.

Another notable change is the tenure of former PSG Lucas winger, who is credited with a good performance.

Serge Aurier, perhaps because he knows he has things to prove to his new coach, who did not want when the Paris SG had tried to fit him at the Red Devils, also made a good match, just like Dele Alli.

Tactically, however, there was not a world of difference between the Tottenham "Pocket" and that of Mourinho, probably because it was a long time that the Spurs no longer played as desired their former coach Argentinian with his high pressing and high tempo attacks.

We have already felt the paw of the new coach in the game very pragmatic with a 4-2-3-1 where everyone defended but practically only the four in front, plus the lateral Serge Aurier right, from time to time - se really planned in attack.

- Favorable calendar -

To be perfectly fair, it must be said that Mourinho benefited from a favorable schedule with a baptism of fire against one of the two Premier League teams even worse than Tottenham, with Norwich.

With 4 defeats and 2 draws in the six matches before this one, Manuel Pellegrini was already a favorite to land, far ahead of Pochettino, and he is not sure he will survive this umpteenth humiliation.

The weakness of his goalkeeper Roberto, who has been looking for the ball 19 times in the back of his net on his last 8 appearances, has once again been evident in Son Heung-min's tight angle shot, again twirling, for the opening the score (0-1, 37th)

Six minutes later, Lucas had doubled the score on a crossbow center of the Korean, well launched on a spectacular rescue of Alli along the touch, under the eyes of Mourinho, delighted by so much fighting spirit (0-2, 43e ).

The head of Harry Kane, on a perfect center of Aurier after the locker room (0-3, 49th) seemed to kill any suspense.

But the reductions of the score by Michail Antonio (1-3, 73rd) and Angelo Ogbonna (90 + 5) will come to shower those inclined to embark on a "Mourinho effect".

It will confirm the progress on Tuesday at the reception of the Olympiakos in the Champions League: a win will qualify the Spurs for the knockout round and will effectively launch the mandate of the "Mou".

© 2019 AFP