‘New lease of life’ – Alan Hutton raves over small Mourinho change with big impact on Spurs 27yo | OneFootball

Alan Hutton has been left raving over a small tactical change from new Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho which he says has had a big impact on the likes of Lucas Moura.

Speaking exclusively to Football Insider assistant editor Russell Edge, the former Spurs and Scotland defender says that the Portuguese boss has implemented a more defensive style of play and that it has given the forward stars more freedom in their approach.

Moura, who had been used sparingly in the starting XI by Mauricio Pochettino this season, played 82 minutes and scored against West Ham over the weekend, retaining his place in the starting XI against Olympiakos on Tuesday night.

Hutton says that the small change of reducing the attacking responsibilities for the full-backs and midfield options looked to have worked a treat for the attacking talents in north London.

“Lucas looked really good. I think everybody will have that new lease of life at the moment,” Hutton told Football Insider.

“Mourinho only had a couple of days to work with the team so this is what usually happens – everyone starts from the beginning and you have to prove yourself.

“Mourinho made a couple of little tweaks, they didn’t seem to be as flying forward full-backs, (Serge) Aurier did better, he only had to think about defending and the two sitters in (Eric) Dier and (Harry) Winks which allowed the front four to express themselves.

“Lucas Moura doing well because he was allowed to go forward.”

Lucas only started four Premier League games this season under Pochettino, with a total of 14 appearances, three goals and a single assist to his name – including Saturday’s strike against West Ham.

The versatile 27-year-old has 74 games under his belt for the Lilywhites since joining from PSG.

In other Tottenham news, Paul Robinson has tipped two players missing from Saturday’s starting XI to become favourite of Mourinho.