Brian Clough used to place the ball in the centre of the dressing room and tell his players to go out and pass it to each other. One wonders what the Jose Mourinho equivalent would be.
Football without the ball. It is a concept that continues to divide opinion.
Some see it as an affront. Anti-football, they call it. Others see the value of the work of a defensive coach. After all, effective counter-attacking does not happen by accident.
Whatever the case, for Tottenham under Mourinho it is the way it has been of late and the chances are it is the way it will continue to be.