Mourinho Not Happy with Tottenham Carabao Cup Performance

Following a relatively convincing Tottenham win over Brentford in the Carabao Cup, rather than being joyous and celebratory Coach José Mourinho was not happy.

Following the Tottenham victory over Brentford to advance to the finals of the Carabao Cup, rather than feeling good about the accomplishment, Coach José Mourinho was looking to get more from his team. More for coach Mourinho means better decisions, fewer mistakes, and above all more goals. So, what exactly did the coach have to say after the match?

Tottenham Always in Control

Overall, Mourinho said that Tottenham was good defensively and “were always in control”, although the disallowed goal was something he pointed out. Likewise, José mentioned the play where Davinson Sanchez “was very clever for not” touching DaSilva in the box.

Of DaSilva, Mourinho said he “was very honest not to dive like some players would” as José mimicked a diving motion. Of course, that quote from Mourinho has gone viral, not for his compliment of Sanchez or even his compliment to DaSilva but rather the perceived dig at other teams.

https://twitter.com/footballdaily/status/1346582960787566592?s=20

Outside of the two chances Mourinho felt Tottenham “were always in control with the ball”. However, he also said that the team has “to do better”. Although some of Tottenham not doing what they wanted was up to Brentford going for it, whom Mourinho complimented “for the game, for the responsibility, for the ambition” the Bees showed.

Spurs Need to Get Better

While Mourinho thought Spurs were in control, there were areas he sought more. José said, “we have to play better” because the team made some “bad decision” and some “technical mistakes”. One specific area of this he noted was related to ball recovery and the aggression or lack thereof after getting the ball back.

Mourinho said that “many times recovering the ball and not being vertical and playing backward, we have to do better”. This is particularly poignant as it helps to better understand some of the long balls and quick forward passing, we have seen. There is a balance the team is trying to find between attacking from recovering the ball and creating some measure of possession.

“I think we have to play better.”

– José Mourinho on Tottenham vs Brentford

Ultimately, Mourinho wants to see more aggressiveness and vertical play because he wants more goals. While Spurs “scored two goals we could score a couple more, but I’m not happy, I think we have to play better”.

Mourinho is Right

While some may think this is Mourinho the curmudgeon, this is more of Mourinho the pragmatist. While Spurs were good against Brentford, is Raheem Sterling going to miss his chances? Likely not too many, which is the point. You can only beat the team in front of you, but you are playing to be the best team you can each match, so you can beat that team.

With more consistent decision making and fewer technical mistakes, Spurs will produce more goals and keep more clean sheets. If Tottenham can do those two things the belief needed to sustain a winning run grows. I have no doubt behind closed doors José Mourinho celebrated the victory a little, but that celebration was short-lived as there is much more business to do. If Tottenham can keep pushing that goal of the trophy can be theirs and now it is only 1 match away.