TOTTENHAM’S players are ‘miserable’ as Jose Mourinho faces a fight to save their season — and his job.
And the Spurs manager has risked further damage by accusing some of his flops of being there just for the money.
Mourinho is still reeling from their Europa League exit at Dinamo Zagreb on Thursday when they threw away a 2-0 first-leg lead.
SunSport understands things have got so bad at Spurs that the atmosphere at the training ground has been described as ‘miserable’.
One insider also claimed it is “not a happy camp” as they get ready to face Aston Villa in the Premier League tomorrow.
In his latest blast at his squad after their Euro shame, Mourinho, 58, said: “It was one of the most difficult nights of my career. I don’t know if it’s the most difficult one.
“I’ve had in Europe moments of big pain but pain caused by what football is.
“I lost two Champions League semi-finals on penalties. It hurts you. Maybe still bleeding.
“But the passion for football, the respect for your job is something that hurts me deeply.
“And today I have this very bad feeling. This very bad feeling because maybe for some people in football, football is a job or a way to make money.
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“For me, it’s much more than that. That’s what I never lose — the basics of football, which is the passion, the heart, the desire.”
It was the second time Mourinho slammed his players in a matter of days after he accused them of hiding in the 2-1 loss at Arsenal in the North London derby.
Asked what he wants to see from his stars at Villa Park, he said: “That’s the same question I had after the game against Arsenal — and I didn’t see in Zagreb what I wanted to see. So it’s hard to say because I was expecting a different attitude and we didn’t get that.
“But what do I want against Villa? I want all the ingredients I told to some of the previous questions. They are what I consider the basics of an honest professional.
“At the moment we’re speaking about football but we could be speaking about any other area of society. The basics of any job are honesty, commitment, desire and respect for the people who require you to do a good job.
“That’s what I expect to have every day, every match.”
Mourinho, whose struggling side face Manchester City in next month’s Carabao Cup final, is furious at seeing another chance of lifting a much-needed trophy go begging.
Asked if he still believes he can bring trophies to Spurs, he said: “There are some groups where it’s easy to win. In Zagreb we lost a chance of winning a trophy.
“I’m not saying that by winning there we would have won the Europa League, far from it. I’m not saying that. But we were knocked out of a competition where if we go to the quarter-finals, we have a 12.5 per cent chance of winning the competition. So we can say we lost a competition.
“Of course, the only chance we have to win a trophy this season is the final that we have to play against a very good team, against the next champions. So it’ll be a very difficult final.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
