Tottenham were on their knees in March. Exhausted and ravaged by injuries, their form was atrocious and getting worse by the game. Every effort Jose Mourinho made to address a problem seemed to backfire.
They crashed out of the FA Cup on penalties with Eric Dier in the crowd at loggerheads with a Spurs fan. They were thrashed in Leipzig and dumped out of the Champions League. The suspension of the season, for all the problems and complications it has thrown up, must have come as a blessed relief at White Hart Lane.
‘It is a second chance,’ agreed Mourinho, with a smile and the healthy glow of a garden tan to support the broader theory that his team are in a stronger position to make a run for a Champions League place after the return from injury of Harry Kane, Son Heung-min and Moussa Sissoko.