“He wins trophies” — former Spurs striker Crouch preaches patience with Mourinho

Jose Mourinho has probably already worn out his welcome among significant swaths of Tottenham Hotspur fandom, but he still has his admirers among supporters, pundits, and former Spurs players. One person who fits into all three of those categories is former Spurs striker Peter Crouch.

Writing in his periodic Q&A column in the Daily Mail, Crouchy was asked by a reader directly whether he thought Mourinho would still be in charge at Tottenham when the Carabao Cup final rolled around. And perhaps to the surprise of many, Crouch gave a pretty robust defense of the Portuguese manager and his prospects for turning the season around.

“You have to give him the chance to go to Wembley, surely? Is it really so bad at the minute that you would want another man in charge for the clash with Manchester City? Surely Jose deserves the opportunity.

“I’ve said before how much I like Mourinho. I’ve always got on well with him, he’s always had a good word and spoken positively about me; he’s always been prepared to give me advice whenever our paths have crossed.

“But I can’t pretend that things are going well for him at the moment when they clearly aren’t. Tottenham have been so disappointing recently but what annoys me about it all is the individual errors that are ruining games. High-profile players are making mistakes that shouldn’t happen.

“I know some Tottenham fans who want him to go but if there is any manager who could do a job on Pep Guardiola in a final it is Mourinho. He wins trophies and while Manchester City are hot favourites to win at Wembley in April’s League Cup final, Tottenham are not out of it. Not with Mourinho in charge.”

Agree or disagree with Crouchy’s opinion above, he does voice the counterargument to what a lot of Spurs fans are voicing on social media. Mourinho does have a history of being a “big match” manager, and he did get Spurs to their first cup final since 2015. Things certainly aren’t going well at Spurs right now, but if you agree with Crouch you also agree that he should be given at least until the Carabao Cup final on April 25 to see if he can fulfill his goal of bringing silverware to Tottenham.

Now, there’s still a lot of football between now and then. Tottenham have important Europa League matches against Wolfsberg coming up in the next week, plus league games against West Ham, Burnley, and Crystal Palace to come before what could be a critical North London Derby. If Spurs continue to flounder in this next stretch, things could very well change.

Crouchy seems to understand that too. One wonders if the poor results keep coming if he might change his mind. However, Crouch’s statement seems to be the most realistic potential result. Mourinho is under a big contract without a break clause, and that fact along with the murmurs coming out of the club that suggest a long view seem to indicate that chairman Daniel Levy seems to want to give as much rope as possible to Jose.