Jose Mourinho has said he is still 'not ready to discuss' Tottenham's 2-1 north London derby defeat at Arsenal on Sunday, but partly attributed the result to the weirdly controversial penalty the Gunners were awarded.
Spurs largely sat off their rivals at the Emirates Stadium, but managed to break the deadlock through Erik Lamela's incredible rabona. Martin Odegaard equalised for Arsenal before Alexandre Lacazette won the derby after converting from the penalty spot.
Mourinho was criticised for how Spurs set up, and ahead of their crucial Europa League last 16 second leg with Dinamo Zagreb, said he is not ready for a more public inquest into what went wrong on Sunday.
"I'm not ready to discuss this with you because this is about analysing the game, analysing the performance, analysing the reasons for a disappointing performance. It's not something I'm ready to discuss with you, especially two or three days after and 24 hours ahead of another important game that we have," he said.
The Spurs boss did add that while his side weren't up to scratch in the first half, the game changed when referee Michael Oliver awarded Arsenal a penalty after Davinson Sanchez clattered Lacazette.
"[It's] easy to say what I told after the game - we didn't play well at all and I think that's a very honest way to approach the situation," Mourinho added.
"The performance from minute one was poor. And then what happened in the second half with a bad refereeing decision - but let me make it very clear, for me, Michael is a very good referee.
"In spite of me being normally very unlucky with him, I have no problem at all to have him being my referee for the next game.
"He's a good player, an honest guy, just unlucky with his decisions. But for me, one of the best referees in the Premier League and European football."
Spurs are currently 2-0 up in their Europa League tie with Dinamo Zagreb, who will have a new manager in the dugout for the second leg in the Croatian capital.
Zoran Mamic, who was still in charge for the first leg at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last week, resigned after he was sentenced to nearly five years in jail for fraud.
His assistant, Damir Krznar, has been placed in caretaker charge.
Source : 90min