JOSE MOURINHO insisted his decision to take off Dele Alli was “tactical” and criticised Tottenham’s “lazy” pressing.
Spurs suffered a disastrous 1-0 defeat to Everton in their first game of the 2020-21 season.
The decision to take Dele Alli off the pitch was not injury-relatedCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Mourinho stunned fans as hauled off Alli at half-time before Dominic Calvert-Lewin broke the deadlock in the 55th minute.
It was assumed that Moussa Sissoko’s introduction was down to an injury to the England man.
But, after the match, Mourinho insisted it was a purely tactical decision.
He told Sky Sports: “Yes, tactical. They were playing with one pivot, Allan was in that position there.
“Gomes and Doucoure were pressing high, lots of space behind this pressure.
“I needed them to be more dynamic there.”
Mourinho was twice seen calling Alli “lazy” during Spurs’ fly-on-the-wall All Or Nothing documentary series.
And the Spurs boss was again critical of his attackers’ lethargic pressing during their season opener on Sunday.
He said: “We were lazy in our pressing. That is a consequence of bad fitness, bad pre-season. Some players didn’t even have a pre-season.
“Some players had a wrong state of mind. I don’t want to speak about it – I’m not sure about it.
Jose Mourinho lost on the opening matchday of a league for the first time in his managerial careerCredit: Rex Features
“It was too easy for them to play from back to front.
“Technically it was not so easy because some players didn’t have a pre-season for different reasons.
“We had two days with everybody. Two days before the game is not where you can work too much.
“The goal shouldn’t be possible when you have six referees and VAR – to let a free-kick be taken five or six metres in front because it’s a huge difference.
“I’m disappointed with my team. My message is inside [the dressing room].
“I’m so happy no more Amazon because these things can stay in between us.”
Watch Mourinho tell Sky Sports reporter to ‘f*** off’ after he says Tottenham boss is ‘past his best’ in All or Nothing
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
