Jose Mourinho has defended Serge Aurier after his error yesterday, telling Sky Sports that he believes the Ivorian was Tottenham Hotspur’s best player against Liverpool recently.
Aurier was once again guilty of some clumsy defending as he barged over Wesley Fofana and gave away a penalty, during Spurs’s 2-0 defeat to Leicester City yesterday.
But Aurier has generally cut the errors out of his game this season.
And Mourinho did not want to call out the right-back after the game, as he felt he had been so impressive in midweek against Liverpool.
“It was a mistake from Serge,” Mourinho said.
“You’ve got to know about the area you are in. I know my players, I know their qualities and their little problems.
“Serge was phenomenal against Liverpool, probably our best player, and today he made this mistake. Did it cost us the three points? I think it’s unfair to say that. If I was to go into individuals I could go into a different direction – some of their attitudes I did not like.”
Aurier’s rashness has not been seen much this season, but the mistake was a reminder of why Tottenham seemingly were keen to replace him in the summer.
Spurs brought in Matt Doherty to be their first choice right-back, but Aurier has since held off the challenge with some good performances.
It will now be interesting to see if Mourinho sticks by Aurier to opts to put Doherty into his starting line-up, after the former PSG man’s latest mishap.
Tottenham’s latest defeat to Leicester has seen them fall out of the top four, and they will be under pressure to get back to winning ways against Wolves in their next league match just after Christmas.
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