Glenn Hoddle has slammed Jose Mourinho for his choice of formation and tactics following Tottenham’s 1-0 loss to RB Leipzig, who were competing in the knockout stage of the Champions League for the first time in their history.
The Spurs legend, who was a pundit on last night’s BT Sport coverage of the match, admitted via The Mirror that he is worried about Tottenham’s movement on and off the ball as well as Mourinho’s surprise decision to play a 4-4-2 formation despite having no natural centre-forwards to call upon.
As well as Harry Kane being ruled out for the foreseeable future, it was confirmed this week by the club’s official website that Heung-min Son could miss the rest of the season due to an arm injury, and for Hoddle, he wasn’t impressed with what he saw in north London last night.
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The former Tottenham man said: “I’m concerned. I don’t know what they’re (Tottenham) doing. I am a little bit [worried]. I don’t see a team pressing together, and I don’t see a team with good movement when they’ve got possession. You’ve got a problem there. And I think playing 4-4-2 in straight lines, there’s nothing wrong with it if you come off the lines and make a three in midfield and you have the strikers with the movement. I said it at half time, they look like a team that are just hoping they’re going to play well, hoping they’ll get a break.”
Spurs will have it all to play for in Germany next month, but with Kane and Son both set to miss out on the return leg, Mourinho will need to act fast in attempting to patch up Tottenham’s attack which currently has no recognised centre-forward, something that could prove costly in the coming weeks in both Europe and the Premier League.