Jose Mourinho has been at it again in the media, this time blaming his players for another poor defensive display against struggling Newcastle United on Sunday.

Tottenham Hotspur fumbled the chance to sneak their way into the Champions League places at St James' Park, and it was due to a mixture of poor decision making in the final third, alongside the inability to defend like professional footballers. 

Whilst Spurs still gained a point on rivals Chelsea, who suffered a shock defeat to West Bromich Albion at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, they will have come away from the game with a bitter sense of disappointment.

The Spurs talisman Harry Kane confronted the cameras after the match and expressed yet more disappointment at his team's failure to hold on to a lead.

"We've had a few games like that this season, where we haven't quite finished off the game and been punished for it, and that's what happened today."

It will come as no shock to the England Captain that Spurs have dropped 13 points from winning positions in the league this season, a stat that does not warrant ambitions of playing amongst Europe's elite teams.

  • Mourinho has no answers 

Reports of a divided dressing room have once again emerged following a blockbuster showdown between Mourinho and the press after the draw in Tyneside.

The two-time Champions League stirred the pot when asked about the absence of Toby Alderweireld and Serge Aurier:

"Not selected. They came to training just yesterday. They were fit but they reported for training just yesterday and they didn't make their Covid tests in time to be in training on Thursday. Did we lose matches with them though?"

Whilst appears to be a viable excuse as to why the pair were left out of the squad, detectives on Twitter managed to dig up a tweet from the official Spurs account, showing a video of the Belgium international participating in training drills on Friday, completely contradicting Mourinho's comments.

Further to this, sources close to the club have seemingly confirmed that Alderweireld reported for training on Wednesday, which would completely quash the narrative Mourinho presented about his player over the weekend.  

This has led to further rumours that the players at the North-London club were perplexed and surprised that Mourinho had made such comments.

  • Lack of defensive diligence

It is no secret that Mourinho's desire for a centre-back has been present since he took over the role of head coach at Spurs. 

Daniel Levy was unwilling to draft in Inter Milan centre-half Milan Skriniar who was out of favour at the time under manager Antonio Conte. 

The only defensive reinforcements that have been acquired under Mourinho is Joe Rodon. Whilst the Welshman has a high level of potential, he lacks the experience and leadership that fits the typical profile of a Mourinho player.

This lack of recruitment might have contributed to his snide comments made in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live. When he was told that holding onto leads was the basis of his reputation in the modern game, his sole response was "Same coach, different players."

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This dig will have surely stung the backline of a particularly vulnerable Spurs defence. 

During his press conference, Mourinho referenced the individual errors, in particular, Davinson Sanchez, whose poor clearance led to the first Newcastle goal.

"We had chances to kill the game but we create instability to ourselves. You don't need me to analyse the goals we concede."

Sanchez had another below-par performance at the heart of the defence and comments like these will only damage his confidence going into the most important period of the season.

  • End of the road for Jose? 

Mourinho's legacy has been one filled with success, but his tenure has not been without drama. 

His man-management has been questionable in his periods at all of his clubs. His treatment of Paul Pogba and Luke Shaw at Manchester United in particular highlight the fact that negative relationships with players can have an impact on your job performance.

Should his outbursts and criticisms of his players continue, he could see himself forced out of the door in a similar way to Mauricio Pochettino, who seemingly lost the dressing room towards the end of his reign as Spurs boss.

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