'My players were not mentally strong enough' - Jose Mourinho slams Spurs

ByAlexander Netherton

Updated 02/07/2020 at 20:54 GMT

Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho criticised his team's mentality after they failed to come back against Sheffield United following a controversial refereeing decision.

Spurs were trailing 1-0 to Sheffield United before a controversial VAR decision saw Harry Kane's equaliser chalked off for a harsh handball decision.

Speaking after the match to the BBC, Mourinho said he was not surprised by the decision to disallow the goal.

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"The way football is, yes, I can believe it," he said.

"I think that's an insult around forensic, because forensic, they do an incredible job around the world to find incredible things for the good of society, and that's not forensic at all.

"It's a lack of respect to people who works very seriously at forensic level."

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Mourinho blamed the decision in part for the defeat but levelled the accusation at his players that they did not have the resilience to fight back against the setback.

"I think that moment is game over. I think in the second half my players were not mentally strong enough to cope with that disappointment and they have to be," he said.

"I'm not going to say that goal is the cause of everything, because it would be very easy for me to do that. I don't want to go in that direction. I have to say that mentally we were not strong enough in the second half.

"We tried but we didn't try with real conviction, with that desire, with that belief that we would change the game.

"The second and the third we cannot concede. If you don't concede you have chances until the last minute."

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He added: "I can't say what I think, because I would be in trouble, suspended, and I don't want to be."

Asked if he had spoken to the referee, Chris Kavanagh, continued: "Which one? The referee is hidden in some office. This man on the pitch is not the referee."

Additional reporting from Reuters

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