Another twist in the Alli sub- plot
JOSE MOURINHO laid into midfielder Dele Alli – despite seeing Tottenham cruise into the Carabao Cup semi- finals. Spurs took their place in the last four following a 3- 1 win at Stoke thanks to goals from om Gareth Bale, Ben Davies and Harry Kane. But Mourinho was less than impressed with Alli ( right) and exchanged words with him after hooking the England star minutes after er blaming him for the home side’s goal. Alli has been an outcast for long spells this season and Mourinho said: “In the second half we needed to kill it, but we killed ourselves by losing the ball to allow them to make it 1- 1. “For F me a player in that position po has to link and create, c not create problems for his own team. “In that situation there, it ended with a counter- attack behind our defenders. d That changed a game that was in our hands, so yes, I was upset.” Mourinho, who withdrew Bale at half- time with a calf problem, has reached the EFL Cup semis for the fifth time and has gone on to win the competition on each of the previous four occasions his sides have got to this stage. He added: “We deserved to win. Now, to win this trophy, we need to win two more matches. “I hope we can do it but we know whoever we get in the semi- finals will be a top team.” Potters boss Michael O’neill said: “We expected Spurs to come with a strong team and they have quality all over the pitch. “But I thought we took a lot of credit for our second- half performance. Before that we were a little bit timid.”