Before meeting Chelsea at Tottenham's new stadium Thursday night, José Mourinho had never lost in two consecutive Premier League home games.
A devastating defeat to Liverpool in late January effectively pushed the Portuguese coach onto thin ice and jeopardized a streak of 327 matches.
After all, after the champion, the ex-wards of the Special arrived in north London, with whom he became the champion of England three times.
As practice shows, historically everything goes awry with Jose's former.
Therefore, Chelsea were probably the last person Mourinho would like to meet under the already unfavorable circumstances.
What worried the Portuguese?
Harry Kane's injury, leaving the team without a captain, a key striker and main partner for Son Heung Min.
The absence of Sergio Regilon, which exposed the left flank of the defense.
Tottenham's overall series of failures in London derbies in general and a difficult relationship with Chelsea in particular.
And, finally, the elated mood of the opponent, because after parting with Frank Lampard, Roman Abramovich's club did not lose.
Tomas Tuchel, who stood at the helm, scored four out of six possible points, while both times his players left the field without conceding.
The guests kept the zero in the “conceded goals” column this time as well, as the hybrid tactical model of Tottenham (4-2-2-2) looked intimidating only on paper.
In fact, its effectiveness was so low that the fans of the hosts during the match were more sarcastic through Internet messages than watching football.
And the point was to run your eyes across the field, if in each of the halves the northerners were honored only to hit the wrong target.
Spurs have attempted 15 shots in the two PL games without Harry Kane with a total xG value of 0.95 across those games, only Burnley have a lower xG across the past two gameweeks (0.27).
Sonny's missing his right-hand man.
😫 pic.twitter.com/OQDcs00h8i
- Squawka Football (@Squawka) February 4, 2021
The rest of the time they ran without the ball, jumped for the clearances after horse martial arts and buried themselves in the ground after jumping to block other people's blows.
An illustrative example: in the starting half Tottenham gave 39 accurate passes in the opponent's half, Chelsea - 197, and only Mason Mount made 29 passes.
Having deprived the opponent of possession, the blue ones significantly secured themselves.
And they allowed Tuchel to become the first coach of the club in 17 years, who “dried up” his counterparts in each of the three debut matches.
Ironically, Mourinho was the previous specialist who was noted for a similar construction of super-reliable defense.
Therefore, in the minimum of shots on target from both sides, one could see a certain symbolism.
And even a tribute to tradition: Tuhelev's 3-4-2-1 with mobile full-backs and aggressive selection of players from the central axis resembled an example of the once great Portuguese team.
xG map for Spurs - Chelsea
another Tuchel match, another nearly empty opposition penalty area pic.twitter.com/xSfTLDkJbe
- Caley Graphics (@Caley_graphics) February 4, 2021
According to this logic, a draw was seen as the fairest outcome.
But representatives of the attacking group tried to shake the scales in the direction of Chelsea every now and then.
Callum Hudson-Odoi was especially zealous, giving width on the right flank (Londoners overloaded this area more often than others), and Timo Werner, who jumped out from behind the defenders.
During the season, the German was criticized for the unsuccessful completion of the attacks - according to the metric of expected goals, he does not get 3.89 goals.
However, the work of building up and building up pressure from the forward is often underestimated.
The Chelsea rookie successfully rolled away from Eric Dyer in the 24th minute, after which the defender fouled in an attempt to impose a fight.
It was in the box, and as a result, Werner earned his third penalty for the Blues of the season - more than anyone else in the Premier League.
Jorginho approached the ball and, as it turned out after an hour of playing time, brought the guests a victory.
Mourinho tried to change the situation with substitutions and the inclusion of high pressure.
But the pressure was often inconsistent and asymmetrical, and the reservists thrown into battle only at the end of the match really made the guests' goalkeeper sweat.
For comparison, up to the 85th minute, Tottenham threatened Edward Mendy's possessions only three times, while then issued four dangerous hits.
In total, they even form a reason for Mourinho to complain about bad luck.
Indeed, at the very end of the match, Carlos Vinicius was very close to postponing Mendy's anniversary - he did not concede for the 10th time for Chelsea and became the second fastest club goalkeeper to reach this milestone.
The African took 18 matches against a record 15 Peter Cech for everything.
However, if anyone has become an unsung hero with Chelsea, it is Marcos Alonso.
More recently, Lampard, due to personal conflict, removed the defender from the squad and planned to sell it during the winter transfer window.
Whereas today the left lateral, rehabilitated by Tuchel, successfully plays several roles at once, closing the edge in defense and in attack.
He played so productively on Thursday that former England coach Glenn Hoddle, who worked as a commentator for the match, began to praise the Spaniard long before the final whistle.
And on the tactical analysis I devoted more time to him as the X-factor of the game than to Mason Mount, who had a great meeting.
Marcos Alonso for Chelsea vs.
Spurs:
◉ Most ball recoveries (11)
◉ Most aerials won (5)
◉ Most take-ons completed (4)
◉ Most interceptions (3)
◉Most clearances (3)
The renaissance under Thomas Tuchel continues.
✨ pic.twitter.com/Hc554Inl1H
- Squawka Football (@Squawka) February 4, 2021
These effective footballers' performance allowed Chelsea to move up to sixth in the table and extended their unbeaten run at Tuchel.
But Tottenham, on the contrary, suffered a third defeat in a row.
Mourinho will probably react to this, otherwise you can fly past the European cups - today his players do not come close to resembling the team that beat Manchester City with Arsenal at the turn of autumn and winter.