Chelsea 0 - 0 Spurs: The Team That Jacques Built

By D Hewson
September 19 2004

Shortly after the final whistle blew on Sunday, a furious José Mourinho was desperately anxious to tell all and sundry just exactly what he thought of Spurs and their tactics.

The former Porto boss believes there was only one team "playing to win" although he admitted his players' poor finishing shared some of the blame.
"It was frustrating because there was only one team playing to win and the other played not to concede goals." Said Mourinho.
"They didn't play football, just defend, defend, defend. We played some fantastic attacking football and the result is not fair for the football we played.
"I have no complaints over the performance of my players, only with their finishing.
"They defended well but that was not the only thing they did. They fell over every five minutes and every time they changed a player it took 10 minutes.
"If I paid £50 to see this match I would have been frustrated because only one team was trying to play football."
Jacques Santini, on the other hand, was a happy man. His Spurs team had gone to Stamford Bridge and had defended resolutely, retaining their unbeaten status and wrenching a point from the side widely tipped as favourites to take over Arsenal’s Premier League title.
Accusations of cheating aside, this was a solid, workmanlike performance from a Spurs side, which, last season, would have come away from Stamford Bridge at the wrong end of an embarrassing scoreline. But not this season, and not this Spurs.
The team that Jacques built, albeit with a lot of valuable help from the knowledgeable Frank Arnesen, is a different kettle of fish altogether. This team not only has a stiffer backbone shored up by Ledley King and Nourredine Naybet but it also has a team spirit that had been sadly lacking in recent seasons.
And it was King and Naybet, along with Paul Robinson in goal, who bore the brunt of wave after wave of Chelsea attacks, effectively stifling them and allowing only two worthwhile shots on goal, making a mockery of Mourinho’s multi million pound front line by forcing them to resort to a couple of hopeful dives and one ridiculous claim for handball inside the area.
The 200 million pound team from Stamford Bridge huffed and puffed throughout the ninety minutes and did, indeed, play some lovely football at times. But at the end of the day, no matter what the opta stats will tell you, Paul Robinson only had three worthwhile saves to make during the entire game. In fact, the clearest scoring chance fell to the visitors after 55’ when both John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho both went absent inside the penalty area leaving Robbie Keane with a free header, which he should really have directed better. As it was, his powerful header was stopped by a magnificent reflex save from Petr Cech. Had it gone in, the afternoon would have been all the more frustrating for the uncharitable José Mourinho who had to stand by and watch his predictable Chelsea side consistently fail to find a decent shot on target.
On the balance of things, Spurs well deserved their point, and it’s clear to all those watching the game that this is a side that needs to be taken very seriously indeed. Now Santini and Arnesen have sorted the notorious Tottenham defence out, one wonders what the team will be capable of when they turn their attention to the attack.
As for Chelsea, Mourinho’s collection of multi million pound superstars remain second, two points behind leaders Arsenal, and on this showing, I can only see the gap getting wider. This is their second scoreless draw in succession, and while they too remain unbeaten, they are going to have to learn how to score goals if they are to mount a serious challenge for the title. Meanwhile, Mr. Mourinho should stop whining and focus his attention on the frailties of his own squad and not on the opposition.

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