Jose Mourinho tried his level best to inspire Tottenham Hotspur to a win against RB Leipzig in the Champions League but the Lilywhites were totally outplayed by the German outfit.
Spurs lost the match 1-0 meaning the two-legged tie is still wide open but on Wednesday, the Premier League club had their backs to the wall for most of the match and it was only a couple of substitutions from Jose Mourinho which helped his side come back into the final during the final quarter of the game.
Next up, Tottenham Hotspur take on Chelsea in the London Derby and it looks like Jose Mourinho already has an excuse ready in case his side were to falter against the Stamford Bridge outfit.
‘I’m not worried with the 1-0 – we can go there [to Leipzig] and win,’ Mourinho told BT Sport after the match, as quoted by Metro.
‘What worries me is that these are our players for the next however many matches.
‘Moura was absolutely dead, Bergwijn was absolutely dead, Lo Celso was absolutely dead.
‘We are really in trouble. If it was just this game I’d say no problem but we have FA Cup and Premier League games.
‘I know Lamela could only give us 20 minutes and I knew Ndombele could not play for 90 minutes. I tried to manage the pieces I had.
‘Don’t tell me Lamela and Ndombele could have started the game, they couldn’t have started the game.
‘Here we go, Chelsea, drinking sparkling water with lemon. Saturday morning [looking at the BT Sport interviewer] – thank you very much for the choice.’
Verdict on Jose Mourinho:
Yes, Jose Mourinho was without Son and Harry Kane in midweek and that really made a lot of difference but in reality, for most of the match, the veteran manager was schooled by his 32-year-old counterpart.
And there’s every chance that the Spurs boss is staring down at another defeat this coming weekend at the Bridge which would mean that Chelsea will once again be able to open up a gap for the fourth spot on the table.
