Mourinho addresses rumours of player unrest at Tottenham

Tottenham Hotspur returning to winning ways last night in the Premier League when they defeated West Ham United 2-0 in North London.

The opener came when a well-delivered Giovani Lo Celso corner deflected in off a West Ham defender, before Harry Kane doubled the lead to seal all three points.

While Erik Lamela, Steven Bergwijn, and Harry Winks all came off the bench to have a positive effect on the game, one man who was not afforded such a luxury was Tanguy Ndombele.

The Frenchman is yet to play a single minute since the Premier League restarted this month, named as an unused substitute for both the Man United and West Ham games.

This is accentuated by the fact that Jose Mourinho is allowed to make five subs per game in the Premier League until the end of the season.

A report from Telefoot has now claimed that Ndombele informed Mourinho in a recent meeting that he no longer wants to play for the Portuguese manager.

Asked about these rumours in his post-match press conference, Mourinho said (Football London): “No. On the bench was Tanguy, Sessegnon, Toby, Vertonghen, Gedson and they didn’t play. That’s football. For me there’s nothing. I had attacking players on the bench, Lamela and Bergwijn. Two great players to bring on and then Winks to give us more consistency. This situation of the five changes, some people maybe think that you have to use all five changes. You don’t have to do it. You have the chances to do it.

“I felt that the team was fine. I never believed that 2-0 was a completely safe result because they were trying everything and one goal could change the state of mind and give them the motivation in the final minutes so I decided to keep the team stable and three changes was enough.

“You know, it’s not just him. I try to do the best for my team. I cannot start the game with 12 or 13 players, I try to do the best for the team. Sometimes I apologise to my players that are not my first choice because I feel their work in training deserves something more than I give but I have to do my job the best I can and I felt for these two matches I didn’t need him.”

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