Jose Mourinho: “If you want to blame somebody for that, it’s me. I was critical of my boys because they are not in my opinion critical enough with themselves”
Jose Mourinho labelled Spurs’ half-time bust-up during their win over Everton as “beautiful” after asking his players to be more critical of one another.
A furious Hugo Lloris exchanged angry words with Heung-Min Son at half-time of the 1-0 home win, with the pair needing to be separated by Giovani Lo Celso as the captain continued to criticise his team-mate for failing to track an Everton run just before the interval.
Mourinho shed some light on the reasoning behind the dispute after the game, and added his delight in the show of passion from his two players.
“It’s beautiful,” he told Sky Sports. “It’s a consequence, probably, of our meetings. If you want to blame somebody for that, it’s me. I was critical of my boys because they are not in my opinion critical enough with themselves, I asked them to demand more from others, I asked them to put their colleagues under the pressure of the team spirit you have to give.
“It was a situation where an amazing kid, who everybody loves, Sonny, the captain [Lloris] thought he had to do more for the team and give a different effort.
“There were a couple of bad words, but I think it was something very important for the team to grow up, for that to happen you need to demand more of each other and be strong personalities. At half-time, I said when I saw the reaction I had no doubts they would stick together until the end.”
In his post-match press conference, Mourinho said he has no interest in winning the “Fair Play Cup”, and the spat between Lloris and Son should have taken place in the dressing room rather than on the pitch, but that was where his disapproval ended.
“A team of good boys, a team of nice boys, the only thing they can win at the end of the season is the Fair Play Cup. Something I have never won and have no interest in winning that,” he said.
“You have to have certain characteristics. I don’t like a team without communication in a critical way.
“What happened should not happen on the pitch, it should happen inside the dressing room, but I promise you my winning teams we had big fights, big fights in the team.
“When I was arriving (in the dressing room) I saw the back of it, everything was over and they were hugging each other. In the last minute of the first half it ended with a Richarlison shot, Hugo thought that in that minute of the game attacking players should do a little bit more.
“Hugo was arguing with Son and Son with him, I wanted to make sure the players understood I was happy with that. When I told them that I think they realised that nothing was wrong.”
The Spurs captain said: “It just belongs to the changing room. Outside you can say whatever you want. There is a lot of respect between all the players. What happened between me and Son is just something that is part of football sometimes, but there is no problem at all.
“You can see at the end of the game we are more than happy to be part of the team and to have the three points. To concede a chance six seconds before half time because we don’t press properly. It annoyed me but it’s part of football, no problem, we move on.”
“For the Richarlison chance just before half-time, Son gives up on the ball. There’s a reaction, Lloris is proud, he doesn’t want to see anyone running at his back four. He shouts at Son, it’s probably the most exciting thing that’s happened in the half!
“This might be a consequence of what happened in the Sheffield United game, when he did make a challenge. He runs up to him, he puts Lo Celso in the way almost.
“I’ve seen it with Steve McManaman, Bruce Grobbelaar, and at least it shows they care. There wasn’t enough of that against Sheffield United, in the dressing room it’ll be sorted out quickly, they’ll shake hands, they’ll get on with it. You’ve got to have that sometimes.
“It’s not the first time it’s happened in football and it won’t be the last. You want to see players showing a bit of passion, and if he’s not doing his job Son, he’s got to get back, and he didn’t! Sometimes you have to let people know.
“That’s exactly what you want [as a manager]. You want your players to take responsibility rather than it always be the manager or the coaches. It’s put to bed now. They’ve got three points and Jose will be delighted with that.”
SOURCE
SkySports
