Mourinho blasts Dele Alli for “creating problems for his own team”
Jose Mourinho accused Dele Alli of “creating problems for his own team” in Tottenham’s 3-1 Carabao Cup quarter-final win over Stoke City.
Alli, making his first start since 26 November, gave the ball away from which Stoke went on to score.
“A player in that position is a player that has to link and create and not to create problems for his own team,” said Mourinho.
Alli has been linked with a loan move to Paris St-Germain in January.
The England midfielder has managed just five starts in 2020-21 and has twice been replaced at half-time against Everton and, in the Europa League, Royal Antwerp.
In September, Mourinho suggested the 24-year-old needed to improve, saying at the time: “It’s important for him to perform.”
On Wednesday, Spurs were leading 1-0 through Gareth Bale’s flicked header when Stoke equalised after Alli’s mistake before goals by Ben Davies and Harry Kane saw off the Championship team.
Alli was substituted soon after Stoke equalised.
Speaking about Stoke’s equaliser, Mourinho said: “In that situation, an objective counter-attack would probably end with a goal, and it ended with a counter-attack behind our defenders.
“We were unbalanced because when you are in possession you have full-backs out wide and another midfielder in a different line and they caught us in a counter-attack and they transformed the result of the game that was totally in our hands, so yes I am upset.”
©BBC Sports
