Mourinho explains how Tottenham outclassed Man Utd; aims subtle dig at old club

Jose Mourinho said that Manchester United could not control Tottenham after his side claimed a 6-1 victory against his old club.

Mourinho returned to haunt United at Old Trafford, as Tottenham responded quickly to going behind early on to record another huge win.

For large parts of the game, Tottenham were playing against 10 men, after Anthony Martial had been sent off for a coming together with Erik Lamela.

But even with a full complement of players, United would have struggled to deal with Spurs’ attack – as Mourinho was keen to point out.

He told Sky Sports: “Manchester United doesn’t lose many matches, to lose by six is of course not every day. Historical victory but in the end three points and three very important points because we lost five points at home.

“We prepared ourselves very well tactically and also psychologically, the team was ready. So ready that a penalty in the first minute and going 1-0 down did not affect the team at all.

“Some people can say you play against 10 men for a long time which is true but for me it is also true that 11 v 11 we were playing extremely well, we were creating huge problems, we were winning 2-1 and they could not find solutions to control us.”

The red card was the game’s most controversial moment, with Lamela making the most of Martial’s contact after he too had raised his hand to his opponent.

Mourinho, though, was in no mood to suggest that Tottenham were a little fortunate in that moment, aiming a subtle dig at United for the way decisions supposedly go in their favour.

“I didn’t watch it,” he said of the incident. “Maybe later I will.

“If someone can cry about the VAR decisions it is Tottenham and if someone cannot cry about VAR it is Manchester United for sure.

“I don’t know, the only thing I know is we played extremely well. I told my players that a good result here would be to win and we did that.”

Mourinho praises Dele Alli

As the transfer deadline approaches, Mourinho was asked once again about Dele Alli, who came on as a substitute in the second half.

The England midfielder has fallen out of favour recently, but has come back into contention in the last couple of games.

And Mourinho only had words of praise for the way Alli has responded in training, insisting he does not have an issue with him.

“He has never stopped showing, I always told that I never had a problem with him,” Mourinho said. “Very polite, very educated, behaving always well, he is training well, sometimes I want different things from him on the pitch.

“That is more about his qualities as a player than other things. He is a fantastic player as everyone knows.

“We have a very good squad, it is going to be difficult for everyone to play. We managed to play a crazy week with four matches and managed to play all four with players of quality and today we had fresh legs.”

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