Football writer Martin Lipton joined Wednesday's OTB AM to give his thoughts on Jose Mourinho's start to the season at Tottenham Hotspur.
Spurs bounced back from a limp opening day defeat to Everton with a 5-2 victory over Southampton on Sunday and Lipton feels that Mourinho is "in a good place".
"He realises that this is his last chance at a big club so he’s got to do well but he knows that Daniel Levy will give him the opportunity," he said.
"I saw yesterday that the bookies had him as the 6/1 third favourite [to be first manager sacked]. There’s no way that Mourinho is going to be the first manager to leave his job this season, it’s just not going to happen.
"He is going to get the full season unless there’s a spectacular implosion on the pitch like we saw at Chelsea the year after he won the title."
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Martin Lipton joined this morning's #OTBAM to talk Spurs.
- Bale-Kane-Son front three.
- Mourinho's good behaviour.
- Amazon documentary series.https://t.co/sxGSwnNotQ— Off The Ball (@offtheball) September 23, 2020
Daniel Levy's commitment to the Mourinho project is clear as he has given him the chance "to remake the squad in his own image," according to Lipton.
Spurs have added Matt Doherty, Sergio Reguilón, Pierre Emile Højbjerg and, of course, Gareth Bale, a signing that Lipton feels has given the whole club a lift.
"The mood at Tottenham seems to have changed. The signing of Bale has given a real bounce to everyone, the fans in particular but also to the dressing room because who wouldn’t want to play with a player of that quality," he said.
"It’s also a clear change in approach and it is led by the manager but the chairman has also got to go along with it. Daniel Levy has clearly bought into Bale as the missing link in the jigsaw."
Signing a player of Bale's calibre will inevitably raise expectations at Spurs.
"There’s an expectation of success. They want silverware and Mourinho will be judged on that," Lipton said.
If Spurs do go on to collect silverware this season one would expect that it will be in large part down to a front three of Harry Kane, Gareth Bale and Son Heung-Min.
"They’ll score goals, lots of them. Mourinho will basically say to them, we’ll give you the ball and just watch because you’re brilliant. There’s a chance that they can cause real damage to a lot of teams," Lipton said.
Spurs will be hoping to build on their victory over Southampton when they face Newcastle United on Sunday.
