Liverpool are providing the template for Tottenham to improve under Jose Mourinho - as the Portuguese boss himself has been explaining.
Mourinho, who has seen his players lose at home to Everton this season but then beat Manchester United 6-1 at Old Trafford, says that Liverpool are the team to follow as he aims to replicate the job Jurgen Klopp has done at Anfield.
The 57-year-old former Manchester United and Chelsea boss has urged patience at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, despite spending big this summer on Sergio Reguilon, Matt Doherty, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Joe Rodon and Gareth Bale, who returned to North London on loan from Real Madrid.
Speaking ahead of Tottenham's trip to Burnley on Monday night in the Premier League, Mourinho said: "More than the squad, it is time to work and time for evolution.
"It is time to affect the team not just the way we play, but the way we think - sometimes the way we think takes more time than other things.
"I am very happy with the squad but, of course, next summer we will need to give a couple of touches but this is what you always do to improve the squad.
"Look at Liverpool, for example, when Jurgen has been there. How many transfer windows? He went to the market and improved the team."
That Mourinho mentions the way his players 'think' is particularly interesting, with Klopp's famous line about Mentality Giants a key reason for the Reds' success in recent years.
As much as the signings of Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker, to name just two, have helped take Liverpool to the next level, the mentality of those who have been brought to the club has also been crucial.
After five games of the Premier League season, Liverpool are two points ahead of Tottenham in the league standings.
Liverpool face Spurs for the first time this season in mid-December, before travelling to London to play them again at the end of January.
Both of those games are pencilled in for Wednesday nights such is the congested nature of the Premier League fixture schedule this season.
