All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur Episode 1 - Rundown, Review & Key Talking Points

At the very generous time of around 11pm on Sunday August 30, Amazon finally dropped the first three episodes of the highly anticipated 'All or Nothing: Tottenham Hotspur', a behind-the-scenes documentary following Spurs through the 2019/20 season.

If you didn't already know, they won nothing, but the ride-along is anticipated to be great fun, like accompanying Homer Simpson on a journey into veganism (in the 1990s when the show's writers knew what they were doing, anyway).

Narrated by the dulcet tones of Tom Hardy, the swear-y doc will stagger the release of episodes, with the first three now available on Amazon Prime.

There's quite a bit to unpack, so without further time-wasting (heh, ironic) Here's our breakdown and review of episode 1 - and there will be spoilers.

The Rundown

Episode 1 begins with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy discussing his role at the club, how important building a new stadium was, how his job can be tough. 'The engine of the club is the team' was the most notable soundbite. Thankfully, this doesn't last too long and we move onto the action we actually care about.

The players reminisce about how the 2018/19 season ended, particularly with reaching the Champions League final in such dramatic fashion after their late comeback at Ajax. But things haven't been so great to start the new campaign.

Mauricio Pochettino - still in charge at the start of the episode - is coming under fire after a poor run of results. "Football is never 'two plus two is four'," he explained. "If a house falls down, everyone sees it fall. But you have to anticipate that the house will fall."

Pochettino is asked if he foresaw this poor run coming then, but he insists the point was a general one.

The rest of the opening 20 minutes documents the grey cloud that was hanging over the club at the back end of Pochettino's tenure, and despite assertions from Son Heung-min and Dele Alli that the squad are giving their all for the boss, the Argentine is sacked.

José Mourinho arrives to begin his first day, and Levy is seen signing the final contract confirming the appointment in the players' restaurant at the training ground. The new era is about to begin.

Mourinho takes a joyful first training session with his new squad ahead of their match with West Ham, before having a private meeting with Kane, informing the striker he can help take his game up a level.

In the final briefing before matchday, Mourinho calls Dele a 'f******' lazy guy in training' and insists his players must become 'c****' in order to turn themselves into winners, in what was probably the most David Brent moment of the first episode.

Key Talking Points

Pochettino Was Unaware He Would Be Sacked

During a discussion the morning after Pochettino's departure, Jan Vertonghen assumes that his former boss must have seen it coming.

But Kane relays that, after a call not long after the announcement, he spoke with the Argentine and was actually caught blindsided by the club's decision.

Though he doesn't say anything aloud, Vertonghen shakes his head in disbelief.

Mourinho Is, Obviously, Box Office

Amazon must have been licking their lips when they heard a star as huge and charismatic as Mourinho was going to take charge at a club where they're filming a documentary.

In what was undoubtedly the highlight of the first episode, Mourinho is taking some notes in his office with the TV on, and pundits are criticising his style. With each point against him, you can see the anguish in Mourinho's face, before finally deciding to switch it off. "F*** off," he mutters.

Sir Alex Ferguson's Advice to Mourinho

One of Mourinho's first observations as coach is that Dele Alli isn't as aggressive or passionate as he would like in training sessions - something he relays to Levy.

The chairman then wanders what's happened to him after beginning his career at Spurs so brightly. Mourinho follows up by saying that Sir Alex Ferguson gave him one piece of advice while at Manchester United - buy Dele.

Mourinho Loves a Bit of Football Manager

During his first tactical briefing with the squad, Mourinho shares his laptop screen onto the projector (and succeeds where most on Zoom have failed in recent months). Just in shot along the dock of his screen is the icon for FM20. Living the dream.

Favourite Quotes

Interviewer: What do they [critics] say?
Mourinho: The guy never smiles. The guy is ruthless. I think this is the perception.
Interviewer: What's the truth?
Mourinho: The truth is that there is some truth in it!

Harry Winks: Never seen so much coverage before. Went on Sky Sports, everything [about the sacking and hiring] was there. Twitter, Instagram...Daily Mail.

Mourinho: How do I say your name correctly?
Japhet Tanganga: 'Tan-gang-ga'.
Mourinho: 'Tan-gang-ga'? I hate to tell the wrong names, man. Everybody says my name wrong, because I am not 'Ho-say'. 'Ho-say' is Argentinian, I'm not Argentinian [pointing to Giovani Lo Celso]. Everybody calls me 'Ho-say', I'm' not 'Ho-say', I'm 'Jo-zay'.

João Sacramento: One of the things that caught my attention - they say [Moussa] Sissoko has great influence in the changing room.
Mourinho: ...F***!

Mourinho: Davinson, you have balls?
Davinson Sanchez: Big.
Mourinho: When you played the [Europa League] final against me with Ajax, everybody s*** yourself.

Mourinho: Sir Alex Ferguson gave me only one [piece of] advice in two-and-a-half years - 'Buy Dele Alli. That guy, that mentality, the way he plays, the aggression he has in his mind, this guy is a Manchester United player'.

Mourinho: I feel that you are, honestly, a very nice group of guys, but for 90 minutes you cannot be nice. For 90 minutes, you have to be a bunch of c****, of intelligent c****. Not stupid c****. Bastards in the sense that you are there to win matches, man. F****** hell.

Review

After reports emerged throughout last season that the first episode would take us straight in at the deep-end with Mourinho's first day, it was beneficial of Amazon to provide context and acknowledge the situation that Spurs had got themselves into.

Some fans (me) are still hurt by the decision to let Pochettino go, but it was at least an understandable one - the mood was sour and, ultimately, results weren't good enough. There had to be a change to reignite the season.

The reaction of the players to the news was important too, allowing more neutral viewers to understand the bond that they had formed with their previous manager in around half a decade of working together.

Ultimately, this was the stage Mourinho was built for. He oozes confidence and plays everything out as if he were in a sitcom, as if he were the general manager of Wernham Hogg paper merchants (Slough branch).

While nothing too insightful was given away (the Amazon series following Manchester City gave away what little there could be shown publicly about a football club), it still made for good viewing.