Jose Mourinho has given a scathing assessment of Dele Alli’s role in Stoke City’s equaliser yesterday, accusing the midfielder of creating ‘problems’ for his side.
Dele looked bright in the first half and was involved in a number of impressive pieces of play in the final third, although he was slightly wasteful in possession on a couple of occasions.
Mourinho’s men did not enjoy a great start to the second half, allowing the home side to draw level within the first ten minutes.
Dele did not cover himself in glory in the build-up to Stoke’s goal when he gave the ball away while attempting a needless flick which allowed the Potters to quickly launch a counter-attack up the field and caught the Spurs backline cold.
The 24-year-old was withdrawn shortly after the home side equalised, with former Crystal Palace forward Clinton Morrison revealing to BBC 5 Live Sport that Mourinho shouted to Dele: “Your flick has cost us that goal.”
The Tottenham boss certainly did not mince his words when asked about the midfielder’s role in goal during his post-match press conference.
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When asked if he is angry with Dele, Mourinho told Football.London: “Yes, for me a player that plays in that position is a player that has to link and create and not to create problems for his own team.
“In that situation, an objective counter-attack would probably end with a goal, and it ended with a counter-attack behind our defenders.
“We were unbalanced because when you are in possession you have full-backs out wide and another midfielder in a different line and they caught us in a counter-attack and they transformed the result of the game that was totally in our hands, so yes I am upset.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Alli has always had the habit of trying low percentage flicks and giving the ball away needlessly and that obviously does not sit well with Mourinho. However, to lay the blame solely on him for Stoke’s equaliser is quite harsh. Our backline had enough time to regroup once their goalkeeper picked up the ball but they were all over the place when the ball was launched forward.
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