No way, Jose! Mourinho rubbishes claims that three-goal collapse to West Ham proved ‘SPURSY’ stereotype as Tottenham boss insists ‘the past is not important to me’
Jose Mourinho has dismissed suggestions that Tottenham’s implosion against West Ham was another example of their ‘Spursy’ stereotype.
Tottenham threw away a 3-0 lead in the final 10 minutes of Sunday’s Premier League clash with West Ham, with Manuel Lanzini denying them victory with the last kick of the game.
To their detractors, it was another example of Spurs’ tendency to enjoy success before throwing it away.
Jose Mourinho was strong in response to suggestions his side were ‘Spursy’ against West Ham
The Hammers came back from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 and critics felt it was typical of Tottenham
But speaking ahead of Thursday’s Europa League clash with LASK, Mourinho insisted their collapse was an aberration in an otherwise impressive campaign.
‘That denomination is not important for me. The past is not important for me. The future is of course important for me,’ he said.
‘What can I say? We’re a team in evolution. I believe that nobody has played better than us with the ball, which is a big evolution from us last season.
‘We are a very exciting to watch, I believe, and that is very important. That’s the DNA we want to have. Is that enough to win football matches? No and you have the proof – we have only eight points when we played so amazing in every match apart from against Everton.
Gareth Bale’s homecoming was spoiled but Mourinho refused to point to an old stereotype
Manuel Lanzini (right) scored a spectacular equaliser deep into stoppage time to make it 3-3
‘Southampton, Man United, Newcastle, West Ham – we played amazing football and this is very difficult to do.
‘We are doing that but of course we need to play for a result and we have to learn how to do it.’
When pressed on whether his side needed to improve their mentality or game management, Mourinho insisted: ‘To be honest what happened is a little bit out of context of what happened this season… I believe winning 3-0 minute 80, we can play 50 more matches and it’s not going to happen again.
‘So I don’t want to be stuck on this or no stories about ‘Spursy’ or this kind of thing. We have just to defend set pieces better because the team – even defensively – is playing very well. We have conceded one single goal from open play against Southampton.
‘Apart from that penalties, lateral free-kicks, VAR goals and we are quite solid.’
Mourinho insisted his side are ‘still evolving’ and he added that ‘the past does not concern me’
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