Jose Mourinho has slammed many of his ‘important’ Tottenham players for ‘hiding’ in their north London derby defeat to Arsenal on Sunday.
Spurs led at the home of their rivals thanks to Erik Lamela’s clever ‘rabona’ flick but Martin Odegaard brought the Gunners level at the break before an action-packed second-half took the game away from Mourinho’s men.
Alexandre Lacazette won then scored a controversial penalty for Arsenal before Lamela was sent off for two yellow cards. Harry Kane then hit the post in the dying moments as Spurs came away from the derby empty-handed.
Mourinho claimed his side were ‘poor’ in the opening exchanges against Arsenal and lacked intensity in one of their biggest matches of the season.
The Spurs manager said after the game: ‘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.’
Spurs improved after the half-time whistle and created several chances before and after Lacazette’s winner from the penalty spot.
Mourinho made two significant second-half changes by taking off Gareth Bale and Tanguy Ndombele for Moussa Sissoko and Dele Alli, with the Portuguese coach claiming the two players who came off were not showing enough intensity.
When asked why Bale and Ndombele came off, Mourinho told his post-match press conference: ‘Intensity. Gareth Bale and Tanguy, we need more intensity in that game.
‘We need to press more. We need to get more depth. 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.’
Spurs became more of a threat after the two changes. Alli came inches away from scoring a header from inside the penalty area, Kane’s late free-kick struck the woodwork before Davinson Sanchez’s shot was blocked on the line by Arsenal defender Gabriel.
Mourinho claimed his side did all they could to level the tie in their bid to recover from a disappointing opening 45 minutes.
‘The second half was under control, we recovered what we lost in the first half. We made changes to try and win it and then it’s a penalty.
‘After the penalty a second yellow for Lamela, but even so the team in the last 20 minutes, we did what we could and tried to get a result.’