Frank’s seven up
Mourinho has positively affected his player’s form. The fact the Portuguese has clear plans for him too should not go unnoticed.
“I don’t need to speak about him,” said Spurs’ new boss, teeing up a long monologue. “The best thing that can happen as a coach is when you don’t need to speak about a player.
“Everyone else speaks about him. For the right reasons. He’s playing really, really well. I couldn’t ask any more from him.
“Before I arrived, I didn’t know the boy. I only played against him a few times. I know his quality. And I know a player of such quality is not performing at a high level. I find him a good guy in the group. Not a selfish person that thinks only about himself. Not at all.
“He’s a Spurs boy, a group boy. He’s from a good family. I feel it now that his selfesteem is coming up.”
Interestingly, it appears that Mourinho also has plans to continue cultivating that talent.
He added: “For me, Dele is not a midfield player. He’s not a player to play a position in midfield, he needs to be close to Harry, having the freedom to associate with the attacking players. This is the best position for him.”
Alli scored two goals that were the product of long passes by Toby Alderweireld. Heung-min Son set the first into his path in the 21st minute and right after the restart Alli picked up a ball between Jack Stacey and Steve Cook for his second.
A magnificent sweeping move then saw Son feed Alli who crossed for Moussa Sissoko to acrobatically volley home the third with 20 minutes to go. It was his first strike in the top flight for over two years.
Bournemouth gambled by pushing forwards and were rewarded with two goals from substitute Harry Wilson’s left foot. The first was a trademark free-kick, the second came in the dying seconds from Arnaud Groeneveld’s pull-back.
Cherries’ boss Eddie Howe called it right, saying: “The key moments were the first two goals. You have to defend those positions better. The third goal you have to hold your hands up, it was a great move.
“At three down it’s difficult. In general, the lads played well today. You saw what we are capable of, but we need to show it over 90 minutes.”
Spurs are now up to fifth, six points behind Chelsea.
Mourinho added: “When I arrived, we were 12 points behind the Champions League positions. If we thought about it, we would be depressed. We want to play European football.”
They sang Alli’s name from the stands. And Sissoko – who “scores when he wants”.
They’re not yet singing Mourinho’s. Much more of this and they will be.
THOMAS FRANK said his rampant Brentford side are trying to give their iconic ground a decent send-off before next season’s move to a shiny brand new stadium.
Josh Dasilva netted his first-ever hat-trick as the hosts went goal-crazy against Luton – by half-time brilliant Brentford were five goals to the good.
Frank (above) said: “We’ve all been working hard to create magical moments at Griffin Park because this is our last season here. I’m very pleased to be part of that.
“The first half was one of the best at Griffin Park for many, many years, not just because of the 5-0 score but because of the way we created the chances and scored the goals.”
Bryan Mbeumo punished a shocking mix-up between Dan Potts and Hatters keeper James Shea to score the sixthminute opener.
Ollie Watkins slotted in the hosts’ second on 29 minutes before Mathias Jensen scored four minutes later.
Then Dasilva bagged a brace to go in 5-0 at the break.
Said Benrahma rolled in a 71st-minute penalty after Watkins was fouled. Dasilva scored his third from the spot when Benrahma was felled by Potts.
Luton also lost Izzy Brown and Brendan Galloway to injuries.
Under-fire Hatters chief Jones admitted: “I was embarrassed by that performance. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong.”
He added: “We must make sure this is never repeated again.”
BRENTFORD LUTON 12.......Shots on Target ..........1 4 ........Shots off Target .........2 9 ................Corners .................3 7 .................. Fouls.................. 10 0 ............... Offsides .................2 89.2..Passing Success %...73.3 679....... Total Passes.........281 70.9.....Possession % ...... 29.1 58.1 ..Territorial Adv %...41.9