Even by Jose Mourinho's standards, his first nine months as Tottenham Hotspur manager have been pretty chaotic. First came the flurry of 3-2s, when it looked like the Portuguese had been reborn as a modern attacking manager, then came a troubling downturn that saw Spurs' chances of Champions League football evaporate as critics completely wrote him off. Finally, the post-lockdown surge of classic Mourinho tactics and solid performances.
At the end of it all, he quite fairly pointed out that Spurs sat fourth in the league table on form since his appointment. On top of that, his side's tactical cohesion in June and July showed that this famous master of pre-season just needed a few uninterrupted weeks on the training ground to get his ideas across. Who knew?
State of play
Tottenham looked to have eradicated the last remnants of the Mauricio Pochettino era during Project Restart. Forget the surprisingly progressive 2-3-5 Mourinho deployed over winter, and forget the diabolical form in February and March; these summer months are the first real glimpse of what he will bring to Spurs. What came before can be disregarded as awkward transitional moments.
And so there is an awful lot of pressure on 2020/21. Mourinho has very little goodwill left among pundits or football supporters in this country, meaning his second season at Spurs - traditionally his strongest - needs to start well to avoid another furious round of declarations that the 57-year-old is past it at the highest level. Given how big a hit his reputation took at Manchester United, this is Mourinho's final chance to show the world he is still special.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Spurs won 14 points from their final six league games, conceding just three goals as Mourinho finally found a way to compress the space between the lines and get Spurs playing in a rigidly disciplined mid-block. They have stopped pressing erratically and appear to understand their defensive jobs, relying on quick breaks through Heung-Min Son and Lucas Moura to steal the points.
We've seen that plenty of times before in Mourinho's career, and yet his biggest strength could prove to be a weakness. Most agree that these tactics are no longer relevant to the modern game due to the sheer territorial dominance expected of the richer clubs. As the financial chasm between the 'Big Six' and the rest grows, clubs like Tottenham regularly face deep-lying defensive opponents who concede the vast majority of possession.
In these games, Mourinho's reactive football won't work. Defensive opposition can only be broken down with complex attacking patterns that have been drilled on the training field, whereas the Portuguese expects his attacking players to break on the counter and improvise.
Spurs are also vulnerable in key positions. Central midfield remains a big problem for Mourinho, and a revolving cast throughout the second half of last season conveyed his lack of faith in all but Harry Winks. Serge Aurier is also a huge liability at right-back, and indeed for Spurs to challenge for the top four they need to cut out the unforced errors across the back five.
Transfer business
Mourinho has already secured his number one target, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, and he looks set to be a brilliant signing. The combative central midfielder has the leadership, tackling ability, and intelligence to become the fulcrum of a Mourinho team, as well as give the likes of Winks and Giovani Lo Celso greater freedom of expression. He might even help re-launch Dele Alli's career.
The only other notable signing so far is Ledley King, a popular figure in the Spurs dressing room and terraces, who has become one of Mourinho's assistants. Elsewhere, Spurs are after Wolves wing-back Matt Doherty to replace Aurier, with Atalanta's Timothy Castagne another option. Mourinho has also been linked with South Korea centre-back Kim Min-jae and Napoli striker Arkadiusz Milik.
What supporters expect
After four consecutive seasons in the top four prior to 2019/20, Spurs fans demand a serious assault on the Champions League places this campaign. It is the primary objective, although participation in the Europa League offers an alternative route into Europe's elite competition.
Then again, it has been 12 years since Tottenham last won a trophy, and the lack of silverware under Pochettino became a serious issue towards the end of his tenure. Mourinho would most likely consider it job done if he could lift either the League Cup or the FA Cup, and the Portuguese has become a specialist in the former down the years, winning it four times.
Look out for...
Cult of Mourinho in overload: Most of this Tottenham preview has inevitably been about Mourinho... which says a lot about the cult of Mourinho. He becomes the clubs he manages and the clubs become him, such is his celebrity and allure in English football in particular. Mourinho swallows up the narrative, infects every part of the club, and then, more often than not, spits them out in a bit of a state. The Mourinho-at-Spurs story could swing either way.
Kane back to his best: After several difficult years with injuries, Kane quietly enjoyed something of a renaissance under Mourinho last season, with five goals in his final three games taking him to 18 for the season. With his sharpness back, Kane is a classic Mourinho striker and exactly the sort of driven, hard-working player who will love working with the Portuguese. Back Kane to win the golden boot at 5/1.
Europa League success: Mourinho's cautious defensive football is particularly effective in two-legged ties while the siege mentality his persona creates generally makes his teams over-perform in knockout football - hence his two Champions League and two Europa League winners' medals. As one of the strongest teams in the competition, Tottenham ought to at least make it to the final eight this season.