Spurs appoint Mourinho: Jose replacing Pochettino at the 'perfect time', says ex-Tottenham midfielder O'Hara

Jose Mourinho is replacing Mauricio Pochettino as Tottenham head coach at the 'perfect time', according to former midfielder Jamie O'Hara.

Ex-Manchester United boss Mourinho was appointed by Tottenham on Wednesday, around 12 hours on from Pochettino's five-and-a-half-year tenure being brought to an end.

The Argentinian was sacked on the back of a poor run of form that has left the club 14th in the Premier League, which O'Hara believes is an indication that change was needed.

"I think it was the right time to go," he told Omnisport. "We've been struggling, the form hasn't been great. I think we've got 24 points from 25 games. We've not been good in the league. The form hasn't been good. The Champions League final overshadowed a lot last season in terms of the way we were playing. I think they just looked at it and thought it's time to move on."

 

November 20, 2019

"The squad wasn't getting the reaction you'd normally get and it was one of those moments where you thought, you've taken us as far as you can and now let's move on."

Pochettino guided Tottenham to four consecutive top-four finishes in the Premier League and reached the Champions League final in June, where they lost 2-0 to Liverpool.

However, the 47-year-old - tipped to take over at Bayern Munich - did not win any silverware during his time in north London and O'Hara thinks that will change under his successor.

"Poch is going to go on to a massive job. He's not going to be out of work for long," said O'Hara, who spent eight years on Tottenham's books before leaving in 2011. 

"He's had a good pay-off, he's had a fantastic time here, his stock is high, he will go to another massive football club.

"There's no-one better in the world at winning trophies than Jose Mourinho. If you talked five years ago about Mourinho coming to Spurs, you probably would have laughed at us because we would never have been able to attract a manager like that. 

 

November 20, 2019

"To be able to attract a manager that's won everything in the game is an incredible feat. To get him over the line, it's the perfect time for him to take over, the club will kick on now, we'll move on, he'll bring his own stamp in and I think you're going to see Spurs competing for trophies very, very soon."

Mourinho, a three-time Premier League title winner with Chelsea, had been out of work for 11 months since being axed by United.

O'Hara is confident the Portuguese will be financially backed by chairman Daniel Levy and expects Tottenham's defence to be completely rejuvenated in the coming months.

"I think he'll have money, for sure. I think he definitely wouldn't have taken this job if there wasn't a good budget," O'Hara added.

"I think he's got a good squad now where he can galvanise the squad to try and get us up the table. Once January comes, I think you'll be looking at a whole new back four. I think he's going to bring in a left-back, a right-back and a centre-half. Mourinho's teams, when they've won trophies and dominated, had the best back four you could ever ask for, and I think that's now where he's going to put all his money."