Spurs were less than impressed to hear this week that Spurs players reportedly ignored Jose Mourinho’s instructions in the 2-1 defeat against Manchester United.
According to Standard Sport (via TranSPURS), Moussa Sissoko was quick to absolve Mourinho of any blame after the defeat, saying: “We knew that they were going to be aggressive at the beginning of the 1st half and 2nd half. The gaffer told us, we did the opposite, and that’s why they scored.” It was Mourinho’s first defeat as Spurs boss since being appointed in November, with two Marcus Rashford goals enough to see off the North London side on Wednesday night.
It was especially unfortunate for Mourinho that his players didn’t heed his instructions, as we will have surely not enjoyed losing at the club he was sacked by last December. The result sees Spurs move back below United in the Premier League table and demonstrates that the Special One certainly have things all his own way at his new club, as he looks to push them back into Champions League contention.
What was to blame for Spurs' loss at United?
Player performance
Poor tactics
Reaction from Spurs fans to Sissoko’s admission can be seen in the tweets below.
We need new players that will listen. Clearly the current lot aren’t paying enough attention.
— Levy’s New Barnet (@LevysBarnet) December 6, 2019
Like why would they listen, its not like they’ve been good enough to know better or it’s not like they’ve been told too by one of the most successful managers of all time.
— SpursMan (@SpursMa70313861) December 6, 2019
This needs sorting out asap
— Musa (@Musathfc28) December 6, 2019
Why?
— TheGoatMessi (@Thomas93458559) December 6, 2019
Well at least someone owned up pic.twitter.com/vqHpzcSZMF
— Chris Killebrew (@ChrisKillebrew3) December 6, 2019
— Rizzla (@loopyrizla) December 6, 2019
José ain’t gonna tolerate it. He probably made them own up to it immediately, but under Poch he woulda shrugged it off.
— Ben (@MolesBen) December 6, 2019
These Spurs fans were clearly not impressed with the player’s decision to apparently ignore Mourinho’s tactics and will be hoping to see a better performance against Burnley on Saturday.
What do we think?
It seems strange that Sissoko, who is valued at £22.5 million (as per Transfermarkt), is admitting that they didn’t listen to Mourinho’s tactics but perhaps also shows mental strength that they are willing to take the blame when perhaps it would be easy to try and remain blameless following a poor display against United. It will be interesting to see how both Mourinho and his players react to the defeat against Solksjaer’s side in what is a hugely important festive period for the North London club.