Salvation for Tottenham after flat start to José Mourinho’s welcome party | Jonathan Liew

Olympiakos looked like wrecking Portuguese’s first home match until air-shot helped Tottenham back into the game

It was just after the half-hour mark that the mood in the stadium began to take a distinctly sour turn. In retrospect, you might wonder why it hadn’t turned sooner, given Spurs were already 2-0 down and giving a passable impression of a team running off the effects of a heavy meal. But remember, they have seen plenty worse here. When you’ve grown up watching the likes of Moussa Saïb and Stuart Nethercott, perhaps you develop a certain resilience.

Then again, everyone has their limit. And for this crowd, it came not with Tottenham losing the ball, but with the dawning realisation that they hadn’t the faintest idea what to do with it. As they began to flounder around the edges of the Olympiakos penalty area, pointlessly recycling the ball in between long, ponderous pauses, a bouquet of boos began to descend on the pitch, modest at first and then louder. It was a howl borne not of anguish but of boredom: the sound of a crowd that has grown tired of going nowhere.

Related: Tottenham hit back to secure progress after poor start against Olympiakos

Related: José Mourinho apologised to Eric Dier for first-half substitution

Continue reading...