Wed 16 December 2020, 11:17
Tottenham HotspurJose Mourinho’s exclusive sit down with Spurs TV ahead of our huge Premier League clash against Liverpool at Anfield this evening (8pm).
1 - Team news
Jose reported that Gareth Bale was still struggling with illness, and that Erik Lamela and Japhet Tanganga would remain sidelined.
Jose: “I don’t think we have any (new) problems, but also, I don’t think we will have any players recovering from the problems they have.”
They play to win... and we are going to have the Tottenham of this season, which goes into every match to win
2 - Liverpool
What is Jose expecting at Anfield this evening?
Jose: “I expect a game where Liverpool will want to win, like they always do, and the record they have at Anfield speaks for itself. They play to win, and they win the majority of their matches. And we are going to have the Tottenham of this season, which goes into every match to win.”
3 - The key...
Without giving anything away tactically, what will the team need to do to bring something home from Merseyside?
Jose: “Being pragmatic in my answer, against a team that scores so many goals and is so powerful going forward, you have to defend well. But if you want to win, you have to score goals. So, when you don’t have the ball, you have to defend in a very consistent and organised way and when you have the ball, you cannot have any kind of fear or limitation, you have to try to score goals and win the match.”
4 - Mentality
It was put to Jose how Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg described the mood as ‘disappointing’ in the dressing room after the draw at Palace, and that was the mentality now instilled in this team...
Jose: “Yes, even after the draw at Stamford Bridge, where people probably got the idea that we were very happy because we stayed top of the league and we didn’t lose against a direct rival, I told you that the feeling in the dressing was not great. We know that we’ve lost a match and we will probably lose more, and we’ve had a few draws and we’ll have a few more, for sure, but the objective of the team is to go to every match to win.”
5 - Turning to Europe...
Since we’d last spoken to Jose, we’d been paired with Austrian side Wolfsberger in the last 32 of the UEFA Europa League. What did he make of the draw?
Jose: “ By playing against LASK was have an idea of Austrian football, because we had to analyse them and watch a few matches, and if you look to the table, clearly Salzburg is the best team, that’s why they were in the Champions League, but the reality is if you look to the group phase, they beat Feyenoord, home and a away. I lost against Feyenoord a couple of years ago. They beat CSKA Moscow, one of the best teams in Russia. So, for them to beat Feyenoord and CSKA Moscow and progress in the group, it’s because there is some quality there and something we will have to respect.”
