Jose Mourinho accuses big Tottenham players of ‘hiding’ in Arsenal defeat

According to the Daily Mail, Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho has accused some of his ‘important’ players of hiding in the north London derby against Arsenal.

Tottenham made a poor start to the game and lacked intensity for most of the first half. Despite that, it was they who took the early lead through Erik Lamela’s sensational rabona flick.

However, Martin Odegaard equalised for Arsenal before half-time and Alexandre Lacazette then converted from the penalty spot in the second half to win it for the Gunners.

Speaking after the game, Mourinho blasted the performance of his team in the first-half claiming that it was very poor. At the same time, he questioned the intensity of some of his important players, who he felt were ‘hiding’ on the evening.

“The only two things that were positive in the first half were an amazing goal and the result – 1-1 was not a fair reflection of that first half where they dominated us. We were very poor.

“Some important players hiding. I’m not even going in direction of individuals. I’m as guilty for that first-half as the players.  People hiding themselves, no intensity, no passing and moving. We were poor. As simple as that.”

Two players, in particular, had to face the ire of the manager, with Mourinho singling out Gareth Bale and Tanguy Ndombele for not showing the required intensity.

“Gareth Bale and Tanguy, we need more intensity in that game. We need to press more. We need to be more intense in the game. We needed initially Sissoko to give us that intensity in midfield that Tanguy was not bringing.”

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Neither Bale nor Ndombele had good games against Arsenal. Both players offered little on the ball and weren’t effective in tracking back either.

But that doesn’t take away the fact that the tactics were once again poor from Mourinho. In the latter stages of the game, Tottenham looked so dangerous when the players took the game to Arsenal. One can only wonder why the players weren’t doing the same from the kick-off and were happy to sit deep for large parts.