Sun 21 March 2021, 23:16
Tottenham HotspurAfter a tough week, Jose Mourinho pointed to a ‘positive energy’ that took us to a much-needed victory at Aston Villa on Sunday.
Always in control, the team responded impressively to defeats against Arsenal and Dinamo Zagreb to run out deserved 2-0 winners at Villa Park and move up to sixth in the Premier League, three points off Chelsea in fourth.
Carlos Vinicius marked his second start in the Premier League with his first goal in the division to open the scoring on 29 minutes. Harry Kane was then fouled by Matty Cash and dispatched the penalty on 68. Villa responded, but we stayed solid defensively to make it four league wins in our last five.
The team was always high, pressing high, compact and not playing amazingly well, but we were always in control.
Jose said: “In the first half, speaking with the analysts at half-time, it was clear – zero shots on target conceded. The game was totally in control, and it was totally in control because Harry Kane and Vinicius, they were our best two defenders.
“The team was always high, pressing high, compact and not playing amazingly well, but we were always in control, even when the opponent had the ball.
“The second half, the feeling was, okay, they had a reaction, a couple of crosses, they played more direct, they had a couple of shots that were blocked, Hugo had one simple save, but the feeling was the game was always under control, the team was always a team, the effort was always there.
“Lucas, Vinicius, Harry, they never stopped pressing high, the guys in midfield working hard, people with cramp going until the last seconds, these are things that should never be negotiable, these should be always… again, I repeat, you can lose, but you cannot lose like we did in the last couple of matches.”
