Pochettino tipped for Tottenham return as Mourinho excuses wear thin

Mourinho Pochettino TEAMtalk

Jose Mourinho is “running out of excuses” for Tottenham’s poor form, with one pundit suggesting that Mauricio Pochettino could even return to the club.

Spurs suffered their fourth successive defeat across all competitions at home to Norwich on Wednesday night, albeit in a penalty shootout, exiting the FA Cup at the fifth-round stage in the process.

Mourinho once again pointed to a lack of options up front in the absence of Harry Kane and Heung-min Son during his post-match interview, and suggested he will have to rest a number of key figures for the tough trip to Burnley on Saturday.

Former Spurs midfielder Jamie O’Hara believes the club still have enough strength in depth to get consistent results, and says that Mourinho should be trying to lift his players instead of adopting a defeatist attitude.

“I’m getting a bit sick and tired of the excuses,” O’Hara told talkSPORT.

“I’ve backed him over the fact he’s lost Harry Kane and Heung-min Son and he’s trying to find a way to win and it hasn’t quite happened.

“But the negativity and the mentality of, ‘let’s all feel sorry for us and we’ve got injuries, Moura wants to come off and Bergwijn wants to come off, let’s all feel sorry for Tottenham’ – NO!

“Come on! You need to get results and you need to pick it up, you’ve still got a good enough squad there to beat Norwich and to get results.

“Now there are no excuses left for Mourinho.

“He was brought in to win a trophy but gets knocked out by Norwich in the FA Cup – it really puts the season into perspective with where we’re going.

“I don’t think they’re going to get through against RB Leipzig [in the Champions League last 16] either, so it could be season over by next week.

“He’s getting paid a lot of money and he’s got to be able to find results.

 

 

“There’s still a very good squad of players at Tottenham and you need to find a way to lift them up and give them the confidence to believe they can go and win games.”

Mourinho was drafted in to replace Pochettino back in November, following a poor 2019, despite the club reaching the Champions League final.

The Argentine’s five-year reign was seen as a major success overall, and O’Hara could see him making a shock return to the club if Tottenham’s recent struggles continue.

When asked if the Argentine could be a candidate to replace Mourinho, O’Hara added: “Yeah, why not?

“Pochettino might come back, it’s been done before.

“He hasn’t got a job and he’s still loved by the Spurs fans, so potentially that could happen.”