Tottenham Hotspur boss Jose Mourinho took a subtle swipe at his critics last weekend.
Spurs beat Crystal Palace 4-1 to reach the 100-goal barrier for the 2020-21 campaign.
And a proud Mourinho used the statistic to make a tongue-in-cheek comment, claiming scoring that amount of goals isn’t bad for a defensive team.
The Portuguese is often criticised for his negative style of football but the proof is in the pudding – Tottenham have scored a lot of goals this season.
But Paul Merson isn’t buying Mourinho’s comments at all.
Of their 102 goals this season, 37 have come against majorly inferior opposition and another nine against Marine and Wycome Wanderers in the FA Cup.
And Merson, writing in the Daily Star, has diminished the Lilywhites’ goal return, saying: “Jose Mourinho says scoring over 100 goals this season is not bad for a “negative team” like Tottenham. But who’s he trying to kid? Look at the quality of the teams they’ve played. Seriously.
“They scored five against Marine. Four against Wycombe. And then eight against a bog-average Wolfsberger team in the Europa League.
“Don’t forget the seven they scored against mighty Maccabi Haifa in the qualifying round as well. That’s 24 of their goals already. Come on. Be honest.”
Merson does have a point, but it’s worth mentioning that Mourinho’s side have also dismantled some very good Premier League teams this season.
Back in October, they turned up at Old Trafford and left with a 6-1 win against the same Manchester United players who are now second in the table but, by the same token, there’s no denying that they’ve made the most of the inferior sides they have come across, too.
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