Star who played under Mourinho claims manager criticism drove him on

Jose Mourinho has never been one to mince his words. The Portuguese coach has criticised some of his own players publically in the past, particularly if he felt they had a poor attitude.

Spurs fans will be hoping that Mourinho is now a changed man and won’t repeat the same mistakes in North London.

However, the new Tottenham head coach has already been critical of Tanguy Ndombele to the media, as the midfielder is ‘always injured’ (Football.London), which seems to suggest that he hasn’t completely changed.

Anthony Martial was on the receiving end of a lot of criticism from Mourinho during his time at Old Trafford and the French international has now opened up on his relationship with Mourinho.

While he admitted that he would have preferred the 57-year-old to criticise him privately rather than publically, he did admit that Mourinho’s words had the desired effect on him.

Speaking to RMC Sport (as translated by the Mirror), Martial said: “It’s true that I’d have preferred it if he’d told me directly, there’s no need to say it in front of everybody.

“After that, you definitely want to prove him wrong. He didn’t start me during the first few games and each time I came on, I scored.

“In the end, he told me: ‘You see, now you understand what I wanted’. It can get to you. You just want to show him you deserve to be on the pitch.”

Spurs Web Opinion

This goes to prove that there is usually a method behind Mourinho’s madness. He usually only has a go at a player publically if he feels that player needs a reality check and that the might respond to him. As with Martial, I believe he had identified a lack of desire in Ndombele and is doing is best to get him to fulfil his potential.

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