Mourinho says that two Tottenham stars simply couldn’t play in defence together last night

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Tottenham Hotspur boss Jose Mourinho has told Football London that he knew he couldn’t play just Toby Alderweireld and Japhet Tanganga at the back for his side yesterday.

Tottenham lined up in a three-man defence last night, with Dier picked to play on the left hand side of the central defensive trio.

And Mourinho has praised Dier’s efforts to be around to feature for Tottenham, as he really helped his side.

“What Eric Dier did is not human but I needed that,” Mourinho said.

“I needed that third centre-back. I knew we couldn’t play with Tanganga and Toby in a match of this dimension. First match of the season for Tanganga and I knew I couldn’t.”

It is hardly surprising that Mourinho was cautious over throwing Tanganga and Alderweireld in at the deep end together.

Tanganga has played a reserve role so far this season, while Alderweireld has also generally been overlooked in recent weeks.

Dier seems to have become one of Mourinho’s favoured centre-backs, and it was easy to see why, as Tottenham ended up progressing on penalties yesterday.

Spurs had fallen 1-0 down in the contest in the first-half, but they improved massively in the second, and were well worth their equaliser when Erik Lamela tucked home.

Tottenham then went on to score all five of their penalties, with Mason Mount ultimately missing the crucial spot kick.

Tottenham’s next match comes against Maccabi Haifa in the Europa League tomorrow, but Mourinho has already suggested that Dier won’t be fit to play.