London, July 7 (IANS) Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho has referred to the on-filed clash between goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and winger Heung-min Son as beautiful during their 1-0 win over Everton in the Premier League on Monday.
Spurs captain Lloris was livid with Son after the latter failed to track back Everton forward Richarlison and the Frenchman confronted him after referee blew the half-time whistle.
The two players had to separated by teammates and when Mourinho was asked regarding the bust-up after the match, as per Goal.com, he said: “Beautiful.”
“It’s probably the consequence of our meetings. If you want to blame somebody for that, it’s me. I was critical of my boys because they are not, in my opinion, critical enough of themselves or each other.
“I’ve asked them to be more demanding. I’ve asked them to demand more from others. I asked them to put their colleagues and the pressure of that team spirit that you have to give everything for everybody,” the Portuguese said.
Just before coming out on the pitch for the second half, Lloris and Son seemingly patched up and were seen embracing each other in the tunnel. Mourinho stated that he was pleased that the players were taking responsibility for the betterment of the team.
“It was a situation at the end of the first half where an amazing kid that everybody loves like Sonny, a team boy, but in that situation the captain thought he had to do more for the team, you have to give a different effort than you gave.
“A couple of bad words, I’m not sure if there was a push or not, but it’s something very important for the team to grow up because for a team to grow up you need to demand from each other, you need to be strong personalities.
“I was really pleased. At half-time I told them, when you had this reaction then I had no doubts that you would stick together until the end.”
Courtesy of this latest victory via a Michael Keane own goal, Spurs find themselves at eighth spot in the league with 48 points, just one point behind Arsenal.
–IANS
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