This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Dele Alli has revealed what Jose Mourinho told his Tottenham Hotspur players at half-time of the Champions League win against Olympiacos, per The London Evening Standard.
What’s he said?
Spurs fell 2-0 behind in a game that they needed to win to secure qualification for the knockout stages of the competition.
However, Alli pulled a goal back on the stroke of half-time after a grievous error in defence.
Spurs went on to win the game 4-2 thanks to a brace from Harry Kane and a sweet half-volley from Serge Aurier.
And Alli has now lifted the lid on exactly what Mourinho said in the dressing room.
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He said: “Basically, (Mourinho) told us at half-time we couldn’t get any worse. We knew that already. And (he said) that we had to go out in the second half with freedom, be calmer on the ball, play the way we know we can and we did that.
“We knew what we had to do. In the end, it was a great positive result. I think it was down to character and belief, the quality we have in the squad. Personally, I felt like I was at fault for their second goal and I wanted to help the team.
“To get the goal just before half-time gave us the momentum going into the second half. I think we showed our quality in the second half.”
New mentality
Would Spurs have come back under Mauricio Pochettino’s management?
One has to wonder.
But Mourinho’s honesty at half-time, coupled with his back-to-basics approach that has routinely seen the goalkeeper kick long and has skipped the tiki-taka-esque build-up play, saw Spurs roar back to book their place in the knockout stages.
It is a good thing too.
Mourinho appeared to go for broke before the half-hour stage as he substituted Eric Dier and replaced him with Christian Eriksen, perhaps because he knows the chances of beating Bayern Munich in Germany are slim at best. That’s the Bayern that beat Pochettino’s team 7-2.
Having a manager that has a win-at-all-costs mentality could change things for Spurs and Tuesday was just the latest evidence of that.
This was a major win that was pulled from the fire; think back to the clash in Greece, when Spurs surrendered a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2. Mourinho wouldn’t have stood for that, just like he didn’t stand for this first-half performance.
Mourinho didn’t stand for Eric Dier’s performance, either, substituting him in the first-half. Take a look at what fans said about his display!
