How many more chances does Jose Mourinho deserve?

Jose Mourinho’s teams are usually good at defending leads, right?

“Same coach, different players,” was the Tottenham manager’s response after watching his side throw away yet another advantage, this time at Newcastle United, in a disappointing season that looks to be heading towards a familiar conclusion.

Spurs have surrendered 15 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season – not what you would expect from a team coached by one of the best defensive minds this generation has seen.

Two Harry Kane goals on Sunday afternoon at St James’s Park looked to have secured a win in Spurs’ chase for the top four but a late Joe Willock strike ensured the game finished 2-2.

Champions League football now looks out of reach for Mourinho and his underperforming side, with an inability to hold on to a lead just one of a number of failings that have come to the fore of late.

Football observers, both casual and professional, have long been used to seeing this with Mourinho. The initial bounce, the positivity before the plateau, followed hastily by the excuses and the dressing-room blame game.

Now, as so often before, the finger is pointing at the players and not the man tasked with improving them. “I don’t think so. We work well; we work hard,” Mourinho said when asked if he had more work to do on the training pitch with his charges. “But there are mistakes which I probably shouldn’t even call mistakes because they are related to qualities that players have.

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“Looking at the second goal, it’s easy to understand because there are three different moments – the cross, the ball at the far post where they won it, and then the ball in the face of the goal – where our two centre-backs were in position. You can analyse it easily.”

Even easier to analyse is the direction of travel for Spurs and their manager. This second season for Mourinho in north London now looks set to end the same way so many of his spells have in recent years – with regret, rancour and a P45 in hand.

Yours,

Ben Burrows

Sports editor