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Tottenham's new coach Ryan Mason: "I want us to play courageously and aggressively"
Photo: Sean Ryan / IPS / Shutterstock / imago images / Shutterstock
Tottenham Hotspur managing director Daniel Levy regretted on Tuesday "the fear and resentment" that he had triggered in the annex of the club. The apology was for the club's entry into the »Super League«, which died young, but could just as well have concerned the no less unsuccessful engagement of José Mourinho at White Hart Lane. The Portuguese had completely unnerved both the environment and many players with his unsightly defensive football, the expulsion of the grim old master on Monday had become inevitable.
With Ryan Mason, Levy has now at least temporarily appointed a successor who, in terms of age, origin and footballing socialization, represents the absolute opposite of Mourinho, not entirely by chance.
Mason, nicknamed "Mase", is the youngest coach in Premier League history at the age of 29. The 2-1 win over Southampton on Wednesday was his first game as coach of a first team.
He grew up in the north London suburb of Enfield, a few minutes from today's Spurs training center.
Serious skull fracture ended his career
He joined the club at the age of eight, he was 17 when he made his debut, but was only able to play in the first team six years later. Harry Redknapp, André Villas-Boas and Tim Sherwood had awarded him several seasons to lower-class clubs (Yeovil Town, Doncaster Rovers, Millwall, Swindon Town) and to France (Lorient). Mauricio Pochettino alone recognized his strategic talent and within a year turned him into the mainstay of a young, ambitious team that, after years of sporting insignificance, made the Spurs a championship competitor and regular guest in the Champions League.
Mason became an international and moved to Hull City in 2016.
After six months, he suffered a severe fractured skull in a collision with Chelsea's Gary Cahill and was in mortal danger for several days.
If you want, you can look at the collision on the Internet, but you shouldn't do that - it hurts just looking at it.
"Trainer, I was there"
When Pochettino later visited him in the hospital, the first thing Mason wanted to talk about was tactics.
"Coach, I was there," he said proudly;
In the fateful action he had defended exactly the space that the Argentine had always assigned him at corners.
Pochettino is said to have been amazed by the conversation; he remembered it.
Mason was evidently one of those rare professionals who pondered over the smallest details of the game even while in bed.
Mason tried everything to get back to the field after his successful operation - he was fitted with fourteen metal plates - the doctors advised against the risk of being too great.
The career ended at 26 before it really started.
He then came to Spurs as a youth coach via the former Tottenham academy boss, John McDermott, and Pochettino promoted his promotion to coordinator of all youth teams.
"When I think about what has happened to me as a player ..." he said at his first press conference on Tuesday.
“And now I'm sitting here.
Football is crazy. "
Last track 2008
A win against Manchester City in the league cup final on Sunday (5.30 p.m., Stream: DAZN) would make the whole thing a bit crazier. Tottenham is the clear outsider against Pep Guardiola's team, and the use of star striker Harry Kane is in danger.
Mourinho had stayed in office in recent months, not least because of his strong record in the competition, with Chelsea won the trophy three times. Of course, Mason also wants to win the club's first title since 2008, but he emphasized in advance that, in contrast to his predecessor, who was solely focused on short-term success, he is more concerned with the big picture: “We want to take the last step, that's clear . But it doesn't help if we win on Sunday but don't make it forward as a club. It's about the structure, and the DNA, the feeling of how things are going with this club. I want us to play courageously and aggressively, to be a team that our fans can be proud of. "
Whether Mason has what it takes to implement this vision remains to be seen. But considering the heated mood after the Super League / Mourinho double debacle, his promotion is also something like Levy's attempt to pacify the appendix. The return to the basic values of this club, which has seldom been successful in the long term, but has traditionally always strived for a beautiful game - it has never been more urgent.
