‘I usually criticise’: ESPN pundit backs Tottenham man despite recent comments

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Steve Nicol has told ESPN that he would ‘usually criticise’ Jose Mourinho for calling his players out, but this time he backed him for letting rip at the Tottenham players for their recent Europa League performance.

The former Anfield legend believes that Mourinho was ‘spot on’ with the timing of his comments, which saw the Portuguese state that his future team selection choices will now be ‘easy’, as he told Sky Sports.

The fact that Mourinho made four substitutions at half-time spoke volumes and it wasn’t a good sign for those back-up players trying to break into the first-team.

Nicol feels that ‘a couple of them’ have now gone ‘right out of the back door’ following those Mourinho comments and they may never be seen again.

“I usually criticise Mourinho for flinging players under the bus,” said Nicol. “But I think there is a time that you can do it. I think he got his timing spot on because they were awful and they were atrocious.

“He normally singles out people, but he didn’t. He threw every single one of them into the mix, which I think helps. Nobody is going to say he picked me out of everybody – and he was correct.

“I also liked what he said afterwards that he learnt some things about some players because the majority of that XI (that played on Thursday) should be doing everything they can to try and get into this Tottenham side.

“I think there is a couple of them who have gone right out of the back door and might never see the light of day again. I agree with him. I think he timed this right.”

Giovani Lo Celso, Dele Alli, Steven Bergwijn and Carlos Vinicius were the players who were hauled off during the break and it’s pretty clear that Mourinho’s comments were aimed at them.

For someone like Vinicius, he only joined in the summer, so he might find himself getting less heat than others because he’s just walked through the doors.

But for the likes of Alli, Lo Celso and Bergwijn, it doesn’t look great because they haven’t exactly been at the forefront of Mourinho’s plans and that climb back up is going to be doubly hard now.