The Humble One! Jose Mourinho heaps praise on ‘very clever’ Sean Dyche after his Tottenham side snuck a 1-0 win at Burnley… and insists Mauricio Pochettino deserves credit for the incredible partnership between Harry Kane and Son Heung-min
Jose Mourinho heaped praise on ‘very clever’ opposing manager Sean Dyche and predecessor Mauricio Pochettino after Tottenham snuck a narrow 1-0 victory over Burnley.
Son Heung-min combined with Harry Kane for the ninth time this season in the 76th minute to give Spurs the win after a stubborn resistance from the home side.
And after steering the north London side to a third straight away win, Mourinho was eager to deflect praise towards Dyche’s side’s showing, while also highlighting the work done by Pochettino on his match-winning pair before he arrived at Spurs.
Jose Mourinho (left) was full of praise for Sean Dyche after Tottenham narrowly beat Burnley
‘It was exactly what I was expecting. I know Sean, I know how difficult he can make it for the best of attacking teams’, Mourinho told Sky Sports after the victory.
‘He’s very clever, he plays with what he has and he gave us a very difficult match. So congratulations to him and his boys.
‘My players didn’t play the quality football that we want but because of Burnley, not because of us. So I think we did a positive game.’
Son Heung-min (right) combined with Harry Kane (centre) again to earn Spurs a 1-0 victory
Spurs’ deadly duo has been one of the stories of the season so far and took their Premier League goal combinations tally to 29, the second most in top flight history.
The pair have been crucial components to Tottenham’s side for several years since popular former manager Pochettino brought them together after bringing Kane into the first team from the academy and signing Son in 2015.
The current boss made sure credited the Argentine when asked about his prolific pair.
‘I don’t want all the credit because they played together under Mauricio’s time. They’ve played together a long time, probably in a different way,’ Mourinho said.
The Portuguese also credited predecessor Mauricio Pochettino for developing the pair
‘Probably now Harry is not always the nine, he now gets in areas which allows Son to get goals in different areas.’
Individually, Son is the leading goalscorer with eight, while Kane has been involved in 13 goals this season – breaking the record for most goals and assists contributed within six games.
Pochettino was Tottenham manager between 2015 and 2019, guiding them to top-three finishes in three of four seasons and helping them reach the Champions League final in 2019.
