Belfast Telegraph

Dele back in Jose’s bad book as Spurs’ class tells

- By Jonathan Veal

TOTTENHAM manager Jose Mourinho admitted he was angry with Dele Alli during his side’s 3-1 Carabao Cup quarter-final win at Stoke.

Spurs booked their place in the last four thanks to goals from Gareth Bale, Ben Davies and Harry Kane against the Championsh­ip club and they are now just two wins away from winning the competitio­n.

They made life harder for themselves as Dele attempted a flick during a transition, gave the ball away and Stoke went on to equalise with their first shot of the match through Northern Ireland internatio­nal Jordan Thompson.

The 24-year-old was given a chance to prove himself to Mourinho, having found himself out in the cold in recent weeks, and that moment undid a promising first half.

He was substitute­d shortly after and Mourinho blamed him for the goal they conceded.

“Yes, for me a player that plays in that position is a player that has to link and create and not to create problems for his own team,” Mourinho said.

“In that situation, an objective counter-attack would probably end with a goal, and it ended with a counter-attack behind our defenders.

“We were unbalanced because when you are in possession you have full-backs out wide and another midfielder in a different line and they caught us in a counter-attack and they transforme­d the result of the game that was totally in our hands, so yes I am upset.”

Spurs were able to recover from that as Davies and Kane struck in the final 10 minutes to get the win they deserved.

Yet, being understren­gth, boss Michael O’neill said his side were not disgraced.

“We expected Spurs to come with a strong team, maybe not as strong as they started with, they have got quality all over the pitch,” he said.

“I thought we took a lot of credit for our performanc­e in the second half, we equalised with a good goal.

“In the first half we were placid and timid and didn’t affect anything at all. Spurs showed their class and quality with their finishes.

“We haven’t played against that quality in terms of their front three, we are playing against the highest Premier League quality. We gave a decent account of ourselves.”

Bale’s header had put Spurs in front midway through the first half, but the Wales internatio­nal did not appear after the interval as he asked to come off following a calf injury.

Mourinho said: “Yeah, was his decision.

“Something he felt in the last part of the first half and he didn’t want to come out before the second half so he stayed. While he was walking to the dressing room he told me immediatel­y that he couldn’t come for the second half.”

STOKE CITY: Lonergan, Collins, Souttar, Batth, Smith, Thompson, Cousins, Fox (Fletcher 34), Oakley-boothe (Vokes 79), Brown (Powell 71), Mcclean.

Subs not used: Ince, Shawcross, Tymon, Nna

Noukeu.

TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR: Lloris, Doherty, Sanchez, Dier, Davies, Hojbjerg, Winks, Alli (Lamela 66), Lucas Moura (Sissoko 66), Bale (Son 45), Kane.

Subs not used: Reguilon, Alderweire­ld, Hart,

Vinicius.

Referee: Darren England (South Yorkshire)

Man of the match: Harry Kane

Match rating: 7/10

 ??  ?? Lifeline: Northern Ireland internatio­nal Jordan Thompson celebrates with his Stoke City team-mate James Mcclean
Lifeline: Northern Ireland internatio­nal Jordan Thompson celebrates with his Stoke City team-mate James Mcclean
 ??  ?? Gareth Bale
Gareth Bale

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