Mourinho Reacts To Alli Tantrum
By Kurt Buckerfield – SL
After being substituted in Tottenham Hotspurs’ loss to RB Leipzig in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday night, Dele Alli angrily threw his boots and a bottle at the ground in frustration. After the game, Jose Mourinho addressed his player’s tantrum.
The Lilywhites suffered a 1-0 defeat at home to Leipzig in the first leg of their round of 16 tie, with Timo Werner’s penalty enough to secure the victory for the Bundesliga side.
After 64 minutes, Mourinho tried to inject energy into his team by making a double change, replacing Gedson Fernandes and Deli Alli with Tanguy Ndombele and Erik Lamela.
Alli, 23, appeared to be furious as he made his way to the dugout, first throwing the water bottle that was handed to him to the ground in a fit of rage, then doing the same with his boots.
Mourinho believes Alli was frustrated with himself more than anything, and insisted that the England international knows why he was taken off.
“I think he was angry with his performance, not me,” the manager said, according to Fox Sports.
“I think he understands why I took him off – and the team improved.”
The Portuguese tactician also opened up about the injuries struggles his team is currently riddled with.
“Let’s be loyal to the boys and say that they did everything they could do,” he continued.
“Lamela, do you know how many training sessions he had with the team? Zero. Direct from injury, to recovering on the pitch with the physios to 20 minutes of a game in the Champions League.
“That is our team. You can look at it and see two perspectives. One perspective is of an amazing group with amazing guys that try everything, from another side you see how we are in this moment.
“You look at the other guys, they play with (Patrik) Schick, (Timo) Werner and (Christopher) Nkunku. Nkunku is tired, get out, on comes (Emil) Forsberg. Schick is tired, come off, there’s (Yussuf) Poulsen.
“This is our situation, it’s like going to a fight with a gun without bullets. So, we did what we could do, and I think if we scored before them the game would be different.”
