Jose still has whole Spurs squad’s belief, says Moura
TOTTENHAM’S Lucas Moura insists the whole squad is behind manager Jose Mourinho after they bounced back from a difficult week with a 2-0 victory at Aston Villa.
Spurs followed up a limp defeat in the north London derby with an embarrassing Europa League exit to Dinamo Zagreb last Thursday.
In the aftermath of that loss Mourinho accused his squad of lacking professionalism, while captain Hugo Lloris claimed fringe players were causing trouble and suggested the Europa League result was a consequence of deep-rooted problems at the club.
Moura is a key ally of Mourinho and is currently playing the best football of his Spurs career, setting up Carlos Vinicius’ opener at Villa Park and also having a hand in the move that saw Harry Kane win and then score a penalty.
And the Brazilian says the squad
We are all together. We’re in the same boat. We lose together, we win together
retains belief in Mourinho, despite the recent poor results raising fresh questions about the manager’s future.
‘We are all together. We’re in the same boat. We lose together, we win together,’ said Moura.
‘What happened in Croatia [against Zagreb] was our fault. Everyone is included. When we’re on the pitch, we just want to win.
‘We know there are a lot of fans behind the TV supporting us. We play for our family, we play for pride and we’re all together.
‘We believe in the coach. We believe in the coach because we know his history. We just want to be successful here. The last two games were very bad, the feeling was very bad. Today we showed our nature, we showed attitude.
‘The good thing about football is you don’t have time to cry. You have a lot of games to play and in each game you can do differently.
‘We did differently today, we deserved that win and I’m very happy for that.’
Despite the negativity around the club after those two bad results, the win at Villa kept Spurs in the race for the top four, as they sit three points behind London rivals Chelsea and have identical goal difference.
With nine games to go and a Carabao Cup final against Manchester City to look forward to next month, Spurs’ season is very much alive. ‘Let’s go. With luck. We have nine games to play, we have a final, let’s finish the season well,’ Moura added.
‘[Top four] is still possible, of course.
We’ll fight until the end to give everything. If we play like we played against Villa, we can reach the top four.
‘It’s our objective but let’s think step by step, game by game. We will give everything for this.’