Jose Mourinho has revealed that Toby Alderweireld and Serge Aurier were simply not selected to face Newcastle United this afternoon in the Premier League.
Mourinho opted for Japhet Tanganga at right-back and a partnership of Joe Rodon and Davinson Sanchez in the heart of defence.
Alderweireld and Aurier both featured heavily for their respective nations of Belgium and Ivory Coast during the international break.
The Spurs head coach revealed that the duo only returned to Tottenham training yesterday due to their international commitments and COVID-19 testing.
He claimed that both were fit to play the game but implied he did not want to use them after such little training and preparation for the match today.
Mourinho was also keen to point out that Spurs have lost matches with Aurier and Alderweireld in the team this season anyway.
Despite being 2-1 up with a handful of minutes left on the clock, Tottenham were unable to see out the win over the Magpies this afternoon. All-in-all it could easily be argued that the Lilywhites simply did not deserve it too.
Mourinho said (Alasdair Gold): “Not selected. They came to training just yesterday. They were fit but they reported for training just yesterday and they didn’t make their Covid tests in time to be in training on Thursday. Did we lose matches with them though?”
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