Jose Mourinho: Every word from Tottenham coach's press conference after Bournemouth - Alli and Sissoko praised

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Standard Sport30 November 2019

Jose Mourinho reflects on Tottenham's 3-2 win over Bournemouth on Saturday - a result which makes it three wins out of three for the Spurs boss.

Three wins from three, you must be really pleased with how the players are doing what you are asking them to?

I am happy with many things in the game and I have to improve with many aspects which is normal. We didn't start well again, we didn't finish well, we played well for a long, long period of the game. I am pleased with the victory, the points, with the flair, with the quality, with the goals, with some dynamics that we trained, even defensively with some principals that we are working.

I am happy with many things, I am happy with the effort, but of course the Premier League is the Premier League, games are never finished and even in our best period, where I think everybody had the feeling that the result could go for four or five because it was 3-0 and we had so many opportunities to transition to score more goals.

Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I

The result is a bit strange, but that is OK, that is the difficulty of the Premier League, the emotion of the Premier League. I can say we conceded four goals in three days at home but I prefer to say we scored seven goals at home in three days, which is fantastic.

You must have been happy with Moussa Sissoko's performance?

We have options. Of course I am very happy. Of course the goal is absolutely incredible but we have other options.

I am happy with the way Lucas [Moura] played in the previous two matches, I am happy now with Moussa. We have options, we have quality, it is important for the players to feel that we need everybody, opportunities arrive for everybody.

Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty I

Today I changed three or four players, maybe in the next game I will do the same. That is very, very important. It is a great feeling, it is the best feeling a player can have is at home to have his fans with him, amazing song [Oh Moussa Sissoko], beautiful really.

I was singing along, or trying to and it is fantastic for him. The goal is magnificent for him, the action is the same, even Sonny [Heung-min Son] not scoring a goal, two assists and the beautiful cross is half of a goal.

Do you think you have brought the season to life again?

When I arrived we were 12 points behind the last Champions League position and I didn't want to think about it, I just wanted to play matches. I think we were eight or nine from a Europa League position and I said if we thought about it too much we would be depressed because we want to play European football next season.

Action Images via Reuters

So, don't get depressed, play game after game and see what is going to happen. Now the distance is smaller, we won two matches, we are going into a period with lots of matches, the Christmas period is match, match, match, match. So you have the chance of both.

You have the chance to break down, we have the chance to put pressure on the opponent. We play Chelsea at the end of December, if the game was tomorrow, we would play them with six points difference, it would be a fantastic situation to play them, but we play them in the end of December. We have to keep close, as close as possible. But we have a lot to work and a lot to improve.

What did you make of Dele Alli today?

Dele, I don't need to speak about. The best thing that can happen to a coach is when you don't need to speak about a player because everybody speaks, all of you, fans, everybody speaks about him and speaks about him for the right reasons. He's playing really, really, really well. I couldn't ask for any more from him. He's playing amazing, scoring goals, assisting, working, fantastic.

REUTERS

There was some criticism of Dele's attitude before you took over, how have you found him?

I didn't know him. I only played against him a few times. No contact with him. I don't know the boy, I don't know much. I just know the qualities of the players and that was the direction where I went.

A player of such quality it's not possible that he's not performing at a high level. Okay, sometimes players are not in the best performance level but normally with a little bit of up and down you need to perform according to your potential.

I find him a good guy in the group. He's a group guy, not really this kind of selfish person who thinks and speaks only about himself. Not at all. He's a Spurs boy, a group boy. The group is a good family. They have very good empathy in between them. I just feel that now it's self esteem coming up and lots of confidence to play.

Getty Images

Is there something in particular that you've been able to unlock with Dele? It's noticeable that both his goals were direct, is it about getting him into those areas quicker?

With teams that want to play and try to press you up, if you don't explore space behind it's very difficult. With teams that play low blocks it's easy to play from the back and in between the lines and in the pockets. It depends. We knew Bournemouth is quite an aggressive team, aggressive in the right way of the word.

They bring the lines up. They are not a very tall team, even the centre-backs, so they don't like to play a low block. I think Eddie [Howe] does well to bring the line up. You have to explore these positions which we did and we did more and we had more chances to score goals. That's why a little bit of frustration with this 3-2 result because I felt at 3-0 that the game was going in exactly the opposite direction.

REUTERS

Does the simpler style suit Dele though?

It's not a simple style. It's just the position and the principles of play. Every manager has his own ideas and we're all different. Nobody is right and nobody is wrong, but for me, Dele is not a midfield player.

For me Dele is not a player to play positionally in midfield, he is a player to be like he is playing, close to Harry [Kane], following some dynamics that we train but a little bit of freedom to associate with attacking players. This I think is the best position for him.

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