Mourinho`s lads beat hosts at Villa Park 2-0 in a rescheduled match of the 18th round of the English Premier League. Carlos Vinicius opened the scoring and the team leader Harry Kane converted a penalty.
The Londoners recovered from two very serious defeats (Arsenal and Dynamo Zagreb) by beating a tough team of Dean Smith. Two unanswered goals will help Spurs gain confidence and fight for the Champions League places after the Europa League elimination.
Not the most visible, but the most useful on the field was a Brazilian Lucas Moura, who became the Man of the match.
Jose Mourinho said that it is important to spend a lot of time on the mentality of the team, which is difficult at the current time:
“Football nowadays is not easy in relation to that. Selfishness is around. Individual interests are around. Agents are around. The connections between agents and the press are around. Instead of developing a feeling of team, a feeling of empathy, a feeling of you do it for me and I do it for you, a feeling that I win if I play 90 minutes, I win if I am in the stands… This is something that you need time to develop in a group because society and the psychological profile of younger people is not an easy one.”
“Tonight was one of these matches where we had to give everything.”
he continued.
“But my next challenge as their coach is for them to have this attitude every match and not just as a reaction to a bad result. I want to be proud of my players, it does not matter the result. During my career I was proud of my players many times, many times, after defeats. Many times. I was not proud last Thursday. I want to be always proud of them in defeat. So, for the moment, rather than thinking about the result or the position that we are going to end or whether we are going to win or lose the final, we need to develop this spirit that we need. But I cannot do it alone. I have to do it with my club, with the players in my dressing room. But tonight I am really, really happy with what they did. Again, the challenge is that this soul, we must have it every match.”
Don`t miss out 💥: Man Utd and Arsenal go through, Tottenham sensationally OUT.
After this match, Tottenham with 48 points are sixth in the Premier League, three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea. Aston Villa with 41 points are 10th.
- Tottenham have won four of their last five Premier League games, as many as their previous 15 league matches beforehand.
- Aston Villa’s four-game winless run is their longest of the season. They have scored just one goal during those games.
- Tottenham’s Harry Kane has been directly involved in 30 goals in the Premier League this season (17 goals, 13 assists)
