Jose Mourinho has gradually instilled a winning mentality in the Tottenham players
An alternative headline for this article could be 'Jose Mourinho: The serial winner turning Tottenham Hotspur into serial winners'. However, that would sound premature since Spurs are yet to win any title under the manager.
In the last 12 months, Spurs have gone from a side content with being near the top of the Premier League to one that wants to go all the way and challenge for the title.
Not many rated Tottenham as top-four hopefuls, let alone Premier League contenders at the beginning of the season. And yet, they currently sit at the summit of the league table, level on points with defending champions Liverpool.
Tottenham are also the highest-scoring team in the Premier League and have not lost a league game since losing to Everton on the opening day of the season.
From underperforming club to winning machine
For a club that has underperformed for so many years, Mourinho has breathed a new lease of life into the Tottenham team and has completely changed the mentality of the players.
Many may not have noticed what the Portuguese was building following his appointment, but the Tottenham players got the message right from day one.
Those who work hard are the only ones who get to play regularly under Mourinho. No one is guaranteed a starting place and no one is bigger than the team. That is why Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg is a regular in the side and Dele Alli fails to make the match-day squad.
This is also why big-money loan signing Gareth Bale, despite his huge wages and reputation, was benched in crucial games against Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal, with Steven Bergwijn preferred ahead of the Welshman.
The Mourinho effect
In November, when Harry Kane spoke about Mourinho's impact on the team, he constantly highlighted how the manager wants them to play with the right mentality, to not get carried away and to 'win things'.
“Obviously, Jose is a winner at every level, he has come in with that aura and he wants to win things here,” Kane said in November, as quoted by Team Talk.
“It is just installing that confidence into the team, he is a great man, with great experience. So, as players, we can only look at that and take confidence from that. We have had a great relationship since he walked through the door," added Kane.
This is reflected in Tottenham’s form, both domestically and in Europe. They currently occupy the top spot in the Premier League and also finished top of their Europa League group.
Spurs were a good team under Mauricio Pochettino, but they look better, especially in terms of the team's mentality, under Mourinho. In just a year, the Portuguese has managed to instill a winning mentality into the team.
Tottenham now go into games as the favourites, irrespective of whether they are playing against Manchester United, Arsenal or Manchester City. With the club currently in contention for four trophies, Mourinho is likely to lead them to at least one of them by the end of the season.
The former Chelsea and Real Madrid boss is a serial winner and the work he has done at Spurs so far is a timely reminder to his critics that he hasn’t lost his magic touch and is still the Special One.