José Mourinho Speaks Out on Dele Alli's Furious Reaction to RB Leipzig Substitution

​Tottenham Hotspur manager José Mourinho has defended Dele Alli furious response to being substituted in Wednesday's 1-0 loss to RB Leipzig, insisting the midfielder was simply frustrated with his own performance.

The 23-year-old endured a largely ineffective 64 minutes on the field before being hauled off, after which he was filmed slamming a water bottle and his boots into the ground in anger.

After the game, Mourinho was asked what he made of ​Alli's response and whether he felt as though the midfielder was aiming that anger towards him, but Mourinho insisted (via football.london) that Alli was simply unhappy with his own performance.

Jose Mourinho,Dele Alli

"I think he was angry with his performance. Not with me," he said. "I think he understood why I took him off and the team improved."

Alli was replaced by returning winger Érik Lamela, who Mourinho confirmed had not even trained with the team in the build-up to the game, and Spurs certainly did seem more dangerous in attack as a result.


One potential reason for Alli's struggles could be that he was deployed as a striker against Leipzig. With both ​Harry Kane and ​Son Heung-min out injured, Mourinho does not have many options and has been forced to get creative - with varying levels of success.


"It is difficult," Mourinho said when asked about playing Alli further forward. "It is even difficult to tell you the direction we are going in the near future because it is big question marks. 

"We are going to for sure change systems and shapes according to the players we have available for the match.

Jose Mourinho

"We are going to try this sort of thing we tried with Lamela. He cannot play from the beginning, but he can come for the last 20 minutes which was a little bit what I did against ​Southampton. I had no Bergwijn in the game. I had only Lucas and Sonny and I wait and wait and wait for Dele Alli, to bring Dele Alli on for the last 20 minutes and then Dele Alli change the game against Southampton.

"We are speaking about a very difficult situation and if I could, if I could I would move immediately to the first of July. And the first of July with Harry Kane, with Sissoko, with Son, with Bergwijn, with Lucas, with Lamela. I would love to be on the first of July, but I am not."


For more from Tom Gott, follow him on Twitter!


Source : 90min