If Manchester United fans are looking at Tottenham Hotspur at the moment with a strange sense of deja vu, that is totally justified.

As often happens with Jose Mourinho, things are starting to unravel at a rapid pace – only that’s happening earlier than usual and more quickly this time.

After losing 2-1 to West Ham on Sunday – their fifth defeat in six league matches – leaving his team in ninth place and nine points behind the top four, Mourinho was left denying a crisis at Tottenham.

“I don’t know what the crisis means,” the Portuguese responded to a reporter at the London stadium.

“If the crisis is frustration and sadness in the dressing room, I will say that because no one is happy.”

He was asked if the poor results for Spurs had achieved Mourinho He replied, “No, not at all. Not at all. Zero.”

“Because sometimes the results are the result of multiple situations in football, and I and the methods of the coaching staff that I work with are second after anyone in the world.”

It was the kind of fight talk we expected from Mourinho.

Special One was never the one to be defeated while lying down, but the habit of winning that title at Chelsea in the mid-2000s quickly eluded him. Looking at Mourinho’s career path now he is seeing a very clear downward spiral, which feeds those critics who believe his management style is outdated.

He hadn’t won a league title since 2014/15 with Chelsea and only held minor titles during his time At United. His second spell at Stamford Bridge and his time at Old Trafford ended in disaster.

Something similar is definitely around the corner at Tottenham, unless something miraculous happens.

Mourinho’s mighty army of his supporters – of which there are many – is running out of excuses. His personality cult is eroding.

Mourinho’s supporters were decommissioned in December 2018, when United relieved him of his duties with club morale at an all-time low. Paul Pogba, Luke Shaw and others were denied the right to vote by the Portuguese, and last summer saw an intense dispute between management and the board over the contracting of a center back.

Mourinho, who has spent more than £ 30m each on Eric Bailey and Victor Lindelof, has not been given the funds to sign a third defender in three years. He earned just £ 70m from Ed Woodward to bring Fred and Diogo Dalot over, despite his total spending of £ 362m on 11 players in Five Windows.

So it’s no wonder that Mourinho’s current grips at Tottenham – suggesting his team are not fit for purpose – seem so familiar to United fans.

“I think we have had problems in the team for a long time that I cannot solve myself as a coach,” he said, casting a shadow over his players.

However, he has previously claimed that the Tottenham squad that he inherited from Mauricio Pochettino in November 2019 was among the best he coached at any club: “The quality in the team excites me”.

Clash with Dele Alli, Tanguy Ndombele and Gareth Bale at various stages and have Mourinho’s original meltdown.

Manchester United got bad weather with a 3-1 victory over Newcastle, eventually getting the job done at Old Trafford.

Marcus Rashford, Daniel James and Bruno Fernandez were all on the scorers’ list as Basem United are back to their winning ways In the league. They have the Europa League home game against Real Sociedad on Thursday.

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All the elements are present and correct: the offers without offensive fluency, the tensions with the board and the fans, the quarrels with the players … they are the ingredients that led to the collapse of Mourinho’s champion Chelsea’s teams and proved his defeat at United as well.

The difference in recent years is that Mourinho no longer wins the biggest titles to justify losing. It’s just a bad result away from becoming unemployed at elite clubs. The session is inevitable. Mourinho can’t stop the rot anymore.

So United will sit down and watch everything unfold, safe in the knowledge that their decision to put out a toxic and turbulent system was justified.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer He might not bring the best trophies for Manchester United, but he has put back the sunshine, building a cheerful venture with his trademark of eye catching and eye-catching football.

Mourinho summons only the dark clouds over Tottenham Hotspur, and many at Old Trafford could have anticipated that.