Jose Mourinho reveals what fringe players need to do to get back into the team

Jose Mourinho has admitted that he wants every single player who comes into the team to give it their all and that he will never accept anything less.

The Spurs boss was critical of the players who started in the 1-0 defeat to Royal Antwerp last week, insisting that they had made his selection decisions easy going forward.

While many of the big names were rested in Belgium last week, Spurs started with a much-stronger side against Ludogorets yesterday, with the likes of Eric Dier, Toby Alderweireld, Moussa Sissoko, Harry Kane and Lucas Moura coming into the side.

Spurs started with much more urgency in Bulgaria and raced into a 2-0 lead, allowing Mourinho to take off the likes of Kane and Sissoko at half-time.

When asked if some of the players had regained his trust after the 3-1 win, the Portuguese coach told Football.London: “We are speaking about top players, we are speaking about Tottenham players, I always expect from them the maximum, so I am quite demanding and I am never happy with little.

“There are a few things in this game that I expect much more from us, but I am happy with the initiative and the responsibility after we scored the first goal and I am happy we won the game quite comfortably.”

Mourinho reiterated that those who get opportunities must show why they deserve to play.

He added: “There are players that clearly by the way they perform they give no chance to other players in that position because they are so, so, so strong in their performances.

“People who are not playing regularly must feel that every minute they are on the pitch is a minute to prove, is a minute to enjoy, is to give the maximum.”

Spurs Web Opinion

In hindsight, it is clear that Jose wanted to send out a message to his players last week that they need to give their all every opportunity they get or they won’t play. That was why he probably made four substitutions at half-time and extremely critical of those who started.

From the evidence of yesterday’s performance, his words seem to have had the desired effect, with those who started as well as the players who came on, working their socks off. However, I just felt that the likes of Vinicius and Bergwijn were almost trying too hard to impress when they came on.

Keep up to date with all the latest Tottenham news and opinion by following SpursWeb’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

Related Topics

Have something to tell us about this article? Let us know