A former Lilywhite heaped praise upon the Portuguese boss after his side pulled off a surprise win over the reigning Premier League champions
Tottenham‘s victory over Manchester City proves Jose Mourinho is the right man to end the club’s long wait for major silverware, according to Jamie O’Hara.
City dominated possession throughout Sunday’s heavyweight contest at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and missed several clear cut chances in a pulsating first half of action.
Sergio Aguero hit the post after racing through on goal and Ilkay Gundogan missed a penalty, as Spurs rode their luck to head in at the interval still level.
City continued to press forward in the second period, but the momentum of the match turned in Tottenham’s favour when Oleksandr Zinchenko was sent off for a second bookable offence on the hour mark.
Steven Bergwijn scored a superb volley two minutes later, marking his debut in some style after joining Spurs from PSV for £25 million ($33m) in the January window.
Son Heung-min added a second in the 71st minute and Mourinho’s men hung on for a famous 2-0 victory which saw them close the gap on fourth-placed Chelsea to just four points.
O’Hara felt Mourinho showed exactly why he is revered as a big game manager once again, which he believes bodes well for Tottenham’s chances of winning trophies in the coming years.
“For me, it was classic Mourinho,” the ex-Spurs defender told talkSPORT. “That is what we’ve brought Mourinho in for, to get those results against teams like Man City. You know, up against it, backs against the wall, they had chances…
“Then to go and win the game 2-0, It shows what Tottenham are about, they were resilient and resolute.
“To see him on the sidelines with the passion and the sort of ‘Mourinho Moments’ was brilliant. If you look at what Tottenham want to do, they want to win a trophy.
“And if you look at those moments, in the Champions League, Mourinho is the guy who will set up a team to get results in big games.
“Yeah, they might struggle against a Norwich or a Watford, because those are the games they need to dominate and are expected to win.
“But the games where you don’t expect them to get a result and they have to be resolute and resilient, that is where Mourinho comes into his element.
“He is the guy who can do things like that, and you think, ‘yeah, we can win a trophy with this manager’.”
Mourinho will now prepare his players for an FA Cup fourth-round replay against Southampton on Wednesday, before they take in a much-needed rest over the Premier League’s winter break.
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