Jose on Dele

Jose Mourinho was asked about Dele before he’d taken charge of a game as our new Head Coach – so how was he feeling about him three games in?

Dele was star of the show again after his two goals helped us to a 3-2 win against Bournemouth in the Premier League. That was Jose’s third win in three and lifted us up to fifth in the table on Saturday night.

In those three games, Dele has scored three goals, assisted two and been involved in another two – including his flick on the ground leading to Lucas Moura’s goal at West Ham.

No wonder that he was centre of attention again. Speaking to Spurs TV, Jose said: “Now I don’t need to speak about him because everyone speaks and speaks so well. I think it’s better for him to listen to it and to realise that people love him when he plays in the way he is doing.”

Jose was pressed further in his post-match press conference. “The best thing that can happen to a coach is when you don't need to speak about a player because everybody speaks, all of you, fans, everybody speaks about him and speaks about him for the right reasons. He's playing really, really, really well. I couldn't ask for any more from him. He's playing amazing, scoring goals, assisting, working, fantastic.”

Asked about how he’d found Dele since taking over, Jose answered: “I didn't know him. I only played against him a few times. No contact with him. I don't know the boy, I don't know much. I just know the qualities of the players and that was the direction where I went.

“A player of such quality it's not possible that he's not performing at a high level, okay, sometimes players are not in the best performance level, but normally with a little bit of up and down you need to perform according to your potential.

“I find him a good guy in the group. He's a group guy, not really this kind of selfish person who thinks and speaks only about himself. Not at all. He's a Spurs boy, a group boy. The group is a good family. They have very good empathy between them. I just feel that now it's self-esteem coming up and lots of confidence to play.”

Asked if Jose’s style is suiting Dele, he added: “It's just the position and the principles of play. Every manager has his own ideas and we're all different. Nobody is right and nobody is wrong, but for me, Dele is not a midfield player.

"For me Dele is not a player to play positionally in midfield, he is a player to be like he is playing, close to Harry, following some dynamics that we train but a little bit of freedom to associate with attacking players. This I think is the best position for him.”