Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho is miffed at some of his players saying they lacked motivation after they struggled in even eking out a 3-3 draw away to LASK in the Europa League.
Tottenham needed just one point to seal their qualification into the last 32. The three goals were scored by Gareth Bale, Heung-Min Son and Dele Alli. With still a game to spare, the visitors were not in great shape in Austria.
LASK appeared to be the dominating side in the first half and gave significant problems throughout, with the away side’s back-up goalkeeper Joe Hart at fault for two of the goals.
When Mourinho was asked about what he learnt at the Linzer Stadion, he said: “Nothing new really. The fact that the Europa League group phase doesn’t motivate some of the players, I knew it. “
He said some players are fundamental to the team and he can always pitch them in any circumstance. These couple of players can give a little bit of balance to the team, he added.
“As an example, (Pierre-Emile) Hojbjerg and Sonny, without them I don’t think we would have a positive result. Nothing really that I learn. The players know and I share my feelings with them, I am normally right.
“When I saw the warm-up before the game I had a feeling and I told the players before the game that there was a huge difference in intensity, communication and enthusiasm in their warm-up and our warm-up because I was looking at both. Nothing surprises me.”
Talking about Kane, Mourinho shared a positive update on Harry Kane. He said that the striker is “not in big trouble” and should be fit to face Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday.
Mourinho had told on Wednesday that the England captain would miss Thursday’s travel to Austria with an unconfirmed issue, and that the striker had “a chance” of being fit for the north London derby.
“I believe he is going to be fit,” Mourinho said in his post-match press conference.