Stats don’t lie admits Mourinho

TOTTENHAM boss Jose Mourinho says the stats make it difficult to argue with pundits’ assessment that his side has a soft underbelly after they lost more points from a winning position against Manchester United.

Sky Sports pundits Roy Keane and Jamie Redknapp were locked in a heated debate before United’s 3-1 win in north London, with Keane saying Spurs had been “soft for the last 40 years”.

It proved a topical conversation as Mourinho’s side went on to squander the lead given to them by Son Heung-min as goals from Fred, Edinson Cavani and Mason Greenwood earned the visitors the points.

The loss means that Spurs have dropped 18 points from winning positions this season, 14 of them coming from goals conceded in the final 15 minutes and Mourinho, without wanting to give his own analysis, says that the statistics speak for themselves.

“The pundits can say what they want. I would say that one thing is opinions, another thing is facts. Opinions can be discussed, but facts, they cannot be discussed.”

FORMER Leeds defender Tony Dorigo says it makes perfect sense for the club to plan for life without Marcelo Bielsa.

Dorigo, 55, who won the league title with Leeds under Howard Wilkinson in 1992, expects Bielsa to stay for another season.

But the former England leftback admitted there was room for doubt due to Bielsa’s preference to sign 12-month contracts, the last of which he signed the day before the current campaign began.

“Marcelo’s successor has always got to be planned for, whenever it comes,” Dorigo said.

CRYSTAL Palace have tied down the future of bright prospect Jesurun Rak-sakyi after he signed a first professional contract with the club yesterday.

The attacker has featured for both the under-23s and under-18s, making 12 appearances and scoring six goals with the latter this season and started to train with the first-team last month.