Tottenham Hotspur boss Jose Mourinho is facing a ‘dressing room backlash’ after he openly criticized his squad’s ‘sloppy’ display in Sunday’s defeat to Everton.
Spurs suffered a huge upset in their opening 2020/21 Premier League fixture as they lost 1-0 to Carlo Ancelotti’s men. The Toffees were really the better side throughout the game, especially dominating in the middle of the park.
It’s probably a little more reactionary than I’d like it to be, but Tottenham were miserable to watch on Sunday.
For @90min_Football? https://t.co/8VKceEfd75
— JudeSummerfield (@judesummerfield) September 14, 2020
After the game, a clearly displeased Mourinho claimed his side had been slow to press the ball, allowing their opponents to repeatedly play through them. His comments, however, seem not to have gone down well in the Tottenham dressing room.
The Mirror reports that some players feel his criticism is ‘unfair’ and are ‘outraged’ by his claims as they see them as an attempt to once again shift the blame from themselves.
Mourinho himself has pointed to the fact that Spurs’ preparations for the 2020/21 season have been badly affected by the limited pre-season and the need for players to self-isolate due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Tottenham struggle against a dangerous Everton side / Poll/Getty Images
It’s not the first time Mourinho has been critical of his players, but given the number of factors at play, as well as the fact that it was only the first game of the season, his comments were quite surprising.
After the game, left-back Ben Davies was questioned about Mourinho’s ‘lazy’ comments, but the Welshman was keen to stress that the poor display could not be put down to a lack of effort.
He said, as quoted by football.london: “Look it’s a tough one, I think everyone worked hard. Personally I gave it my all, I have no doubt that the team Everyone in me gave it their all. It’s hard to put it down. “For lack of effort. Sometimes you have days off. But I’m sure in the next few days we will look at it and evaluate it going forward.”
Growing discontent will be a major concern for everyone involved with the club, as will the level of performance shown against Everton. However, with Spurs’ Europa League campaign kicking off on Thursday, Mourinho will look to resolve the dispute and focus his players ahead of a busy run of fixtures.