What will be telling is just departed Dublin manager Jim Gavin next step. Does he withdraw from public life, J D Salinger-style, never to practice his hard-to-define sorcery again? Or, does he do the circuit? asks Colin Sheridan.

Jose Mourinho got a real taste of the size of the job he faces at Tottenham, and fans a taste of their new manager’s incredible influence, as his side came from 2-0 down to beat Olympiacos 4-2 in north London and reach the last 16 of the Champions League.

If José Mourinho did not appreciate the true meaning of the word Spursy before taking over, he surely does now after a topsy-turvy first home game in charge.

Respect. It is not just an Otis Redding song, or Aretha Franklin’s cover version.

Gerry Cox No, argues Gerry Cox

Daniel Storey asks if Mourinho will change for Spurs or if Spurs will change for Mourinho.

Jose Mourinho has been appointed as Tottenham’s new manager following the sacking of Mauricio Pochettino.

Mauricio Pochettino has left Tottenham Hotspur.

Barring any training ground mishaps, two boys in green can be expected to dominate attention in tomorrow night’s friendly against New Zealand at the Aviva.

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has praised Everton captain Seamus Coleman for his reaction after teammate Andre Gomes sustained a horrendous injury.

No one knows why good teams go bad, but they do. The Irish rugby team, for example, who, within the space of a year went from being very good to being really not very good at all.

Tottenham, who travel to Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday, began the job of saving their season with an encouraging 5-0 Champions League victory over Red Star Belgrade that answered Mauricio Pochettino’s prayers and provided genuine hope of a revival.

Daniel Storey with the main talking points from the weekend's Premier League action.

Daniel Storey looks back at the weekend's action.

Daniel Storey Liverpool walk on, but Salah form will cause Klopp some concern

Mauricio Pochettino wore the smile of a proud man after his Tottenham team somehow escaped with a point from the Etihad, but beneath that was the stark realisation that his club is in danger of being left behind in the Premier League arms race.

Appropriately enough for the season in which VAR takes its bow at the elite end of the English club game, the consensus is the new Premier League season will have a strong whiff of deja vu about it.

Tottenham appear to have done good business this summer as Mauricio Pochettino completed the signings of Giovani Lo Celso and Ryan Sessegnon to go along with Tanguy Ndombele, prompting comparisons with three of the most dramatic transfer days in the club’s history — but they have not all ended well.

There are two definitions of ‘charisma’ in the dictionary - and while Jose Mourinho may prefer the description as a ‘divinely conferred power or talent’, we're sticking to the more traditional understanding of the word - a ‘compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others’.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s return to his hometown club was marred by the confirmation that Manchester United defender Eric Bailly faces up to five months out following knee surgery.

Keane will continue his duties with the Republic of Ireland as assistant to Mick McCarthy.

With Robbie Keane weighing up an offer to come in as Jonathan Woodgate’s assistant at Middlesbrough — a move which, of crucial importance, he stresses, would allow him to continue in his role as a coach on Mick McCarthy’s Ireland staff — the 38-year-old Dubliner is on the brink of taking another step along the road he has long intended to follow, from playing to coaching and, ultimately, to management.

They called it the ‘Irish Football Stakeholder Forum’ but really last Friday’s gathering at the Mansion House was a cry for help.

A “lesson in efficiency”, is how Hugo Lloris described Liverpool’s win over Tottenham in Madrid, and while the Frenchman cannot be sure if he will play in another Champions League final, he maintains Spurs are learning all the time.

There are two distinct types of difficult games to watch, depending on your preference.

So there was not to be one last comeback, another dramatic late goal to keep Tottenham in the cup, which did not have their name written on it after all.

Liverpool's final performance never hit the heights of earlier in the competition, but few Reds fans will care after an early Mo Salah penalty and late Divock Origi strike saw Tottenham beaten 2-0 in Saturday evening’s far from classico Champions League final at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium in Madrid.

It is a measure of how under much Hugo Lloris is under-appreciated that commentators regularly refer to Harry Kane as Tottenham captain.

There was a cursory meeting of Arsenal and Tottenham supporters at Frankfurt Airport on Thursday morning, one side beating a retreat from Baku, the other en route to the Champions League final in Madrid.

The mixed zone after a big match can be a brutal place.

Five questions that will decide tomorrow's final at Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, Madrid.

In the interests of generating nuggets of shareable online content, as is the modern parlance, the Virgin Media Sport Twitter feed regularly puts out little chunks of video — goals, bizarre incidents, dollops of punditry, etc.

A modest proposal: Uefa should now do the decent thing and cancel this year’s Champions League final.

Oh what a night.

Mauricio Pochettino has suggested he may look for a new challenge if he can lead Tottenham to Champions League glory.

Mauricio Pochettino says Tottenham are at a crossroads and believes it will be impossible to continue overachieving in the manner they have.

Their technique and composure whilst in possession was of the highest order but Ajax’s ability to press their opponents without the ball was even better.

Quite why United felt it necessary to confirm his announcement before the end of the season is unclear, given that everything was going so well before then. His permanent appointment has coincided with another dismal run of performances.

Football — bloody hell, as a Manchester manager once said after a Champions League match of the highest drama.

Spurs, for many, has long been a byword for a particular sort of flaky flashiness, a sense of style over substance, of glamorous underachievement.

The new stadium which boldly stands only a few feet away from the site of the old White Hart Lane resembles a spaceship which has landed, for some reason, halfway down the Tottenham High Road.

Daniel Storey previews the four Champions League quarter-finals.

Tottenham’s final season at White Hart Lane brought them 18 wins from 19 games, and their first time back on the same site, albeit refurbished to the tune of more than a billion euros, brought another victory, their first in six league games, and a return to third place in the Premier League.

Don’t ask how I’m feeling. You’re reading this, so I’m alive anyway. Weekly updates forthcoming.