Jose Mourinho takes positives from loss to Brighton but says Tottenham are in a 'difficult moment'
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Updated 01/02/2021 at 07:23 GMT
Spurs were beaten 1-0 at Brighton on Sunday, which follows the loss to Liverpool on Thursday. Jose Mourinho's side are now sixth in the Premier League table, 11 points behind leaders Manchester City and the Portuguese feels his players are low on confidence. Gareth Bale started the game but was subbed after an hour.
Manager of Tottenham Hotspur Jose Mourinho reacts
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Jose Mourinho has admitted Tottenham are in a "difficult moment" and that the players are struggling for confidence.
Spurs lost ground in the title race this week, with a defeat to Brighton on Sunday following on the heels of a loss to Liverpool on Thursday.
The Liverpool game dealt a double blow to Spurs as they lost captain and talisman Harry Kane to injury.
Mourinho intimated that Kane’s injury hit the rest of the squad hard, and they were suffering with confidence prior to taking on Brighton.
“Every team in the Premier League has ups and downs,” Mourinho told Sky Sports. “Of course now we are in a difficult moment with results, injuries and of course self esteem.
"A team with confidence is much better than one suffering with sadness. At this time we have problems and we are going to go over them.
“At the end of the season we will see where we are in terms of the Premier League and the cups that we are in.”
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Gareth Bale was handed a start, but he offered little by way of an attacking threat and was substituted with half an hour remaining.
Mourinho did not openly criticise Bale, but felt his team improved in the final 30 minutes.
“Second half, especially the last 25-30 minutes, I saw a team with a different soul, one that was ready to give everything, ready to gamble everything,” Mourinho said.
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“In the way we finished, probably the boys deserved more than what we got. Because the last feeling is the one you take home, I go with positive feelings to my boys because in the last 30 minutes they wanted everything.
We did not start well. My feeling is the team was a bit sad. To concede a goal in the beginning of the game brought more sadness and the self esteem.
“The team in the first half was suffering. The second half was different. The spirit in the last 30 minutes was good, I saw people trying hard and I saw people with fatigue but trying to the last second.
“The defeat is a bad feeling, but I leave with a positive feeling to my boys.”
When asked directly to comment on Bale’s performance, Mourinho said: “I don’t want to individualise. I would say that we tried to start with a team to give Sonny [Son Heung-min] the same dynamic.
"There is no replacement for Harry but we tried that with Bale coming into the positions to connect with him. We were not successful, but that is not Bale that is us.
"We tried to change the direction of the game. Vinicius gave us a target point and he brought energy and a threat to the opponents.
"The team improved, that is the reality.”
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