Mourinho magic starts against West Ham but there's still a lot of issues to deal with

Bengaluru, November 24: In a perfect start for Jose Mourinho's new Premier League tenure, Tottenham Hotspur held on to claim a 3-2 victory in his first game in charge of the north London side against West Ham.

Without an away win for nearly a year, Spurs dug out an all important win to get closer to the top four spots. The win now has momentarily taken them to 9th spot from 14th, nine points shy off fourth-placed Chelsea.

Mourinho’s new side certainly has brought up a major confidence boost ahead of their Champions League tie at home to Olympiakos on Tuesday (November 26).

West Ham 2-3 Tottenham: Son, Lucas and Kane earn Mourinho debut win

However, despite having a 3-0 lead after goals from Son Heung-Min, Lucas Moura and Harry Kane, Tottenham’s lack of consistency in the second half saw Hammers substitute Michail Antonio pull one back with 17 minutes to go before Angelo Ogbonna added a late consolation.

That defensive lapse surely meant that there is a lot of things to sort for Mourinho. Here we take a look at two major issues Mourinho faced against Hammers which he surely has to improve as the season progresses:

Defensive vulnerability

Spurs looked solid at the back in the initial stages of the game but the more the game approached, the team looked less composed than before. Mourinho in the first game tried Eric Dier at the defensive mid position while putting up the pair of Sanchez and Aldo at the back.

While Aldo looked comfortable Sanchez struggled a bit to keep up the momentum. With Vertonghen out injured, Mourinho as of now has had to deal with the former Ajax player only but if his struggles continue he is unlikely to content with him. Mourinho is an expert in terms of shutting down shop at the back and surely it will improve from game to game.

Flexibility

Mourinho put up his team with the same belief of counter-attacks and less possession play which completely was on pace as Spurs went onto a 3-0 scoreline just within 50 min marks.

However, slowly he again went back to his route one of parking the bus, as he took off Alli – who was arguably his best player on the pitch and Moura as well in a bid to shut out Hammers.

But the move backfired as West Ham almost secured a draw thanks to two late goals. Although Mourinho just with his typical practice, dug out a win but he has had to keep on improving things from here.