Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho has opened up on his decision to hook Gareth Bale, Dele Alli and Son Heung-Min in his side’s 4-1 win over Wolfsberger on Thursday night. The trio all sparkled as Spurs picked up the points. And they’ll now be looking to build on that result when they face off against West Ham on Sunday.
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On Son, he said: “Son played 90 minutes against West Brom, and 120 against Everton, 90 against City, and today I just asked him to do his job, and his job was to help us a little bit to get through this match.
“So I believe 3-0, scoring his goal, which for him is a special goal, he is a very sensitive special kid, emotional kid, so he is the last winner of the Puskas Award, and to come here to the Puskas Arena, and score a goal for him has a really special feeling.
“Let Vinicius play. Vinicius is a very hard-working guy, always ready to help the team when we need, so it was always fair for Vinicius to have 45 minutes and to score his goal.”
On Bale and Alli, he added: “The televisions, they made me the same question before the game, and after the game, and before the game and after my answer was the same: the objective here is to win, and I am looking to the team performance and not to individuals.
“This is not an exam for anyone. The Tottenham players are good enough to not be in exams.
“So we had the result, we had the team performance, and for the team to win and to perform is only possible when the team and the players they do their jobs.
“So, I believe so, I believe they were positive like the team was positive.
“I took Gareth off because I know that in this process it’s not so easy for him to play the 90 minutes, because the team at that time needs a little bit more freshness, which Lamela gave us.
“And in Dele’s case, he worked hard, he got a yellow card, when you have a yellow card, and with the referee showing so easily yellow cards to us, it was always a risk, but he managed to stay on the pitch, and was also a little bit of Tanguy because I thought that Tanguy would come fresh and unbalance things to our side again.
Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho was happy for Gareth Bale after Wolfsberger win (Image: GETTY)
“So overall I’m happy with everyone, including the two players that you asked me.”
Meanwhile, Bale was also happy at the final whistle.
And he opened up on what Tottenham players said in the dressing room before the game, adding: "We had the mindset of coming to score as many goals as we could and get some confidence.
"Obviously we haven’t won many lately so it's important to get a win to breed confidence. Hopefully this is the start of a good run.
Tottenham ran out emphatic winners in Wolfsberger clash (Image: GETTY)
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"It was good [to score]. I just chopped inside and hit it. It's nice to get on the scoresheet to help the team.
"It’s good to get four away goals. It’s always good to win a game by that margin. We’ll take the second leg like it’s 0-0."
Tottenham are next in action against West Ham on Sunday.
The two teams played out a 3-3 draw earlier in the season, with Manuel Lanzini striking at the death to earn the Hammers a point.