The Portuguese was unhappy with the match official after seeing his side lose their third game in a row
Jose Mourinho has criticised Andre Marriner for giving Chelsea their winning penalty against Tottenham, admitting he “didn’t like” the referee’s performance.
Tottenham slipped to eighth in the Premier League standings after losing 1-0 to Chelsea in a London derby encounter on Thursday night.
Jorginho’s 24th minute penalty was enough for the Blues to earn all three points, with Mourinho suffering back-to-back home defeats for the first time in his managerial career.
There were few complaints from Spurs’ players when Marriner pointed to the spot after Eric Dier chopped Timo Werner down in the box, as the England international got nowhere near the ball with a needless challenge from the floor.
Mourinho felt the match official was in the wrong, however, and said he was frustrated to lose the match on the basis of such a decision after a spirited display from his side.
“It was a bit of a struggle but how many chances did they have? We didn’t have the ball, correct, we didn’t create in the first half, correct,” the Portuguese told BT Sport.
“But the struggle was the penalty. In the end a penalty decides the game. In the end they score a penalty which is not a penalty that you say is a dangerous situation, one on one, almost scoring. It’s a penalty that is difficult to accept and to lose the game like this is a bit painful.
“But in the second half we were different and Lucas [Moura] and [Erik] Lamela helped to change the dynamic. The feeling I have is that we kept together until the end. To finish with a positive spirit helps.
“Vinicius is a player with an incredible spirit but his understanding of how to press is something he’s still not comfortable with. Then in the second half it was much more difficult for them, we pressed them much better and higher and in the second half I believe we deserved a little bit more.”
Mourinho added on Marriner’s officiating: “I didn’t like his performance. I have a good relationship with him and that gives me a good position to tell him I don’t like his performance.”
The Tottenham head coach went on to insist his players can take plenty of positives from their latest performance, before expressing his hope that Harry Kane will return from injury next week.
“We had a great chance by Vinicius, we can analyse the game from the first to the last minute. If you want to be pragmatic, one penalty, one goal, 1-0,” Mourinho told BBC Sport.
“When a team is in a difficult game against Chelsea, you concede that penalty and are affected by it. By the end of the first half, I saw a team that was struggling but it was totally the opposite in the second half.
“We miss a lot of important players but the spirit in the second half is untouchable.
“We don’t like it (the form) but the way we finished the game gives me positive feelings. It is not that that stops the defensive mistakes but it gives us a difficult smile on the face and to stick together and go tomorrow.
“Hopefully next week Harry Kane will be back but not any of the others. We play Sunday against West Brom and they need points as much as us for different reasons.”
