Journalist asks Mourinho what Bergwijn has to do to earn a start at Tottenham

Tottenham Hotspur recorded their second Premier League win in a row last night as they defeated Newcastle United 3-1 at St James’ Park.

The Lilywhites defeated Arsenal in the North London Derby just three days before, with the six points doing wonders for their Europa League pursuit.

Despite not starting either game for Tottenham, Steven Bergwijn was given more than half an hour to impress Jose Mourinho last night against the Magpies.

The Dutchman was subbed on in the 57th minute for a tired and injured Lucas Moura before making an instant impression on the game.

Bergwijn picked the ball up on the right-wing and whipped in a delicious cross for Harry Kane to nod home the all-important second Spurs goal, just ten minutes after the former was introduced.

In his post-match press conference, Mourinho was asked what Bergwijn has to do to earn a start at the moment, with Kane, Moura, and Son seemingly the first choices.

Mourinho said (Football London): “Look, that is the question that normally you do to me but you don’t do to Frank Lampard, Jurgen Klopp, Pep, all the coaches of the big clubs with big players. Frank Lampard plays Pulisic, you don’t ask him why he doesn’t play Hudson-Odoi. With Pep, he plays this guy and plays Bernardo Silva on the bench, you never ask about Bernardo Silva.

“It looks like I am the only guy that has to play 15 players from the start or I am the only guy that doesn’t have the right to have good players on the bench.

“If I start with Bergwijn you would be now asking what Lucas has to do to start, what Son has to do to start. They have to do nothing, they have to be team players, and team players are players that start, that go on the bench, that come in for half an hour, that come in for one minute.

“How many times has Nuno left Traore on the bench to win matches in the last 30 minutes? You don’t ask Nuno why Traore is on the bench and why he is playing Jota or Podence or Dendoncker, it’s just me.

“So he doesn’t have to do anything else – he’s a team player, he plays for Tottenham and if Tottenham wants to try and compete against the best teams, Tottenham cannot have 11 good players. It needs more, and we had them on the bench.”

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