Mourinho: Dele left us in the lurch and they scored

JOSE MOURINHO blasted unsettled midfielder Dele Alli despite Spurs cruising into the Carabao Cup semi- finals.

The Spurs boss admitted a mistake by Alli – which gifted the ball to Stoke and led to their equaliser – left him fuming.

Asked whether he was upset with Alli, who is out of favour at the club and now a rare starter, Mourinho said: “Yes. A player that plays in that position has to be a player that links and creates, not one that creates problems for his team on the counter- attack. In that situation when they were able to counter- attack behind our defence we were unbalanced.

“Our full- backs were wide and one midfielder was also out of position. They caught us on the counter- attack, so I was upset.”

Gareth Bale put a smile on Mourinho’s face with his third goal l f for the th club but the striker did not make it out for the secon second half after feeling a twinge in his calf. c “It was his decision to come off. It was something he felt in the last part of the first half and he didn’t want to come out,” said Mourinho.

Victory puts Spurs one match away aw from Wembley, given the semi- finals are over one leg with home h advantage d being determined by the first team drawn. Mourinho refused to say it was Spurs’ best chance of silverware, saying: “We need to win two matches but of course they will be difficult matches.”

Stoke boss Michael O’Neill lamented a slow start from his men.

“In the first half we were a little timid and passive but in the second we were far more positive in our approach,” he said. “We got ourselves level but unfortunately their players showed their class.”