All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur - fights and coronavirus chaos round off series
- Published
Jose Mourinho is on a mission to toughen Spurs up
Training ground bust-ups, lockdown chaos and a desperate dash for Europe all feature in the final episodes of All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur.
We've taken a deep dive into episodes seven-nine and fished out the best nuggets for you here.
Here are some key takeaways…
Mourinho plays videos of goals conceded in the dressing room
The final episodes give us a better insight into Jose Mourinho's obsession with defence. After a run of poor results, including losses to RB Leipzig and Chelsea, Mourinho and his staff decide to motivate the team with a very on-brand tactic that involves playing every goal conceded across the season on a loop in the dressing room.
"You must feel responsibility," he tells the lads.
Dele Alli learned to cook baked beans during lockdown
Episode eight deals with the chaos around lockdown and the return to behind-closed-doors football.
As the players return after two months of lockdown, some of them share how they've kept themselves occupied and sane.
Eric Dier built a vegetable garden, while Japhet Tanganga added to his culinary repertoire, learning to make a Nando's-style chicken and prawn salad.
And Dele Alli also broadened his culinary skillset.
"I made baked beans for the first time," he reveals, adding: "I didn't realise how easy it was."
In case you're wondering, he cooked them in the microwave.
Mourinho provides great insight on Paul Pogba
At half-time against Manchester United, it's interesting to see Mourinho offer up some shrewd tactical insight.
"I think, sooner or later, Pogba is coming on," he says. "Every time Pogba has the ball, he will have the vision, he will have the quality of pass. We need to press him and we need to control what is far from him."
It's an interesting show of insight and also respect for the man who was perhaps the biggest thorn in his side at his former club.
Mourinho starts scatting at one point
If you haven't seen Jose Mourinho, one of the greatest the game has ever seen, start scatting like Ella Fitzgerald during a half-time team talk, then truly you have lived a less full life.
Furious with his team for a tepid first-half display against West Ham, words fail him at one point and he just starts using random, nonsense syllables to articulate his rage.
"At the end of the game, you are going to be here, ah-pa-pap-pee-ah-pa-pa-pah!"
Tanguy Ndombele has a heart-to-heart with Daniel Levy
Tanguy Ndombele cuts a frustrated figure
Tottenham Hotspur's record signing last summer had a disappointing first season. There's a fascinating scene in which he has a meeting, via a translator, with Daniel Levy, to discuss the difficulties he's had settling in.
Ndombele reveals that he is not concentrating as he should be. Levy, slightly tenuously, responds with an anecdote from his schoolboy days.
"When I was 16, at parents' evening, my head-teacher told my parents I should leave school," he reveals, adding: "The next day I said to myself, I'm not going to be beaten. I got As in my exams and went to University. I'm a fighter."
Mourinho finally turns Tottenham into a nasty team
After losing to Wolves, Dier and Alli have a major dressing-room barney. Mourinho's response: "I like the players to be upset if they lose. Even a push, even a hand flying in the air is not a drama for me."
In his continued mission to make Spurs a nasty team, Mourinho also encourages more aggression in training. During one session, Lucas Moura and Serge Aurier have to be held apart and Dier injures Son Heung-min soon afterwards.
Against Everton, Hugo Lloris squares up to Son for not tracking back and has to be restrained in the dressing room.
For Mourinho, it seems like a vindication.
"If you take it in the right way, for me, it's positive," he says.