Jose Mourinho has revealed the tactical basis behind Tottenham’s victory over Leeds United on the weekend.
Spurs produced a strong performance to overcome Marcelo Bielsa’s side 3-0 in the Premier League on Saturday with goals from Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Toby Alderweireld.
Leeds had 64% possession in north London and threatened Hugo Lloris’ goal with 18 attempts - five of which were on target - but could not find a reply.
Bielsa’s team made Spurs work hard for the three points, with their customary high-intensity pressing game on display, but Tottenham dealt well with the demands of their opponents’ system.
After the match Mourinho said that his side worked on how to bypass Leeds’ man-marking tactic - and claimed that Son’s goal was a direct product of something he had drawn up on the training pitch.
“We spoke about it. We spoke about man to man marking like Leeds does,” Mourinho told Tottenham’s YouTube channel.
“We had the opportunity to practice and mobility can disturb a lot. When Harry appears with that movement on the right and Sonny appears in the scoring position on the front post, it pleases me, especially as it is something we worked on before.”
For Tottenham’s second goal, Son darted between two Leeds defenders to get on the end of Kane’s searching early cross to the near post.
Spurs also took advantage of Leeds’ poor defending of set pieces, with Alderweireld getting past his marker to head in Son’s near-post corner early in the second half.
Future opponents will no doubt have paid attention to how Spurs got joy against Bielsa's much-lauded system.
Despite suffering their eighth league defeat of the season, Leeds are 12th in the Premier League table, having taken 23 points from 17 games so far.
Bielsa’s side face League Two side Crawley Town in the FA Cup third round on Sunday before Premier League games against Brighton and Southampton at Elland Road.
