Richard Buxton: Tottenham Hotspur falling apart under Jose Mourinho
The Special One's embracing of open dissent indicative of his lack of maturity
Chaos is clearly a friend of Jose Mourinho, but football is still reluctant to follow suit.
Tottenham Hotspur's manager continues to leave a trail of destruction at every club that employs him - and last season's Champions League finalists are seemingly not immune.
Even the carefully cultivated infrastructure that the north Londoners have built during the previous decade cannot escape the blunt force trauma of a Mourinho tenure.
Cracks had already started to show before a fortuitous 1-0 win against Everton yesterday morning (Singapore time), but the game itself exposed the Portuguese coach's relentless obsession with fabricating a siege mentality, including within his own squad.
Hugo Lloris made a beeline for Son Heung Min at the interval to confront his teammate over his failure to track back when Carlo Ancelotti's side launched a rare counter-attack.
Several Spurs players had to separate the pair, whose reconciliation act at the final whistle fooled nobody.
Only Mourinho could consider such open dissent as "beautiful".
He claimed that Lloris and Son's half-time handbags act was a necessary evil for a team which needed to grow up, yet it actually underlined the immaturity that exists in the ranks at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, not least from their manager himself.
Mourinho refuses to take a handle on warring factions because it carries zero personal benefits.
He is happier painting himself into a corner as an all-encompassing hate figure than playing peacemaker and repairing what little remains of his elite-level career.
The sole question that remains is how many members of the supremely talented dressing room inherited from Mauricio Pochettino late last year, mere months after reaching the showpiece of European club football, will also be dragged down with him.
DYSFUNCTION
Manufacturing dysfunction as a vehicle for his failings is a telltale sign of an endgame strategy which has been seen from Madrid to Manchester, and everywhere in between.
When an inevitable end to his Spurs reign is confirmed, sooner or later, there can be zero complaint on the 57-year-old's part; he has stage-managed it since the outset.
From an insipid tactical style to publicly accusing his own players of treachery, each stunt can be found in a personal playbook which has become so overused at the highest level that its pages are increasingly yellowing and heavily curled at its corners.
His perennial downfall would actually be funny if it wasn't so tedious and predictable.
Largely impressive results were previously an old faithful which ultimately helped save Mourinho from himself but even they are now conspicuous by their absence.
With both Manchester United and his second stint at Chelsea, his win ratio stood at just over 58 per cent.
At Spurs, the current statistic of 43.3 per cent constitutes the lowest return from his entire coaching CV and the worst since taking charge of Uniao de Leiria in his homeland.
Similarities between the now Portuguese third-division outfit nearly two decades ago and Tottenham are quite striking; both play at stadiums that dwarf their respective standings and remain highly unfancied compared to their illustrious domestic peers.
Only the absence of a camera crew distinguishes Leiria from the Lilywhites.
Amazon's upcoming behind-the-scenes documentary on Mourinho's latest employers has the potential to offer a revealing insight of his mindset as well as sweeping multiple awards.
Or it will merely confirm what many long suspected about the erstwhile Special One.
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