‘Lazy pressure’ from Tottenham players frustrates Mourinho

By Nurudeen Obalola

TOTTENHAM  Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho was frustrated by his team’s lacklustre effort in their home defeat to Everton on Sunday.

Carlo Ancelotti’s Everton beat Tottenham 1-0, handing Mourinho his first-ever Premier League opening-fixture defeat.

 Mourinho told Sky Sports after the match: “The struggle started in the way we pressed or, I will say, in the way we didn’t press because our pressure up was very poor.

“I would say it was lazy pressure and when you have lazy pressure, you don’t press and you let opponents build from the back and then they have players with incredible quality, which is not just Everton, it’s almost everybody in the Premier League. When you let them play from the back then they are comfortable with the ball.”

The former Chelsea, Real Madrid and Manchester United manager added: “Lazy pressure. Lazy pressure up front, that is what I am saying, and that creates unbalanced situations for the rest of the team.

“I could also feel that some of my players are not fit. Matt [Doherty] was struggling to play the way he plays and the way you want him to play, as an example.

“We also had other players that were a little bit in trouble from a physical point of view. Two very strange pre-seasons for some and in other cases not even a pre-season, but congratulations to my dear friend Carlo and the Everton boys.”