Nuno echoes Mourinho sing-song, cut out the mistakes!

 

Nuno Espirito Santo sounded a little like Jose Mourinho in imploring Tottenham to cut out the mistakes after beating Wolves.

Spurs squandered a two-goal lead in their Carabao Cup third-round match at Molineux, having established a commanding advantage through goals from Tanguy Ndombele and Harry Kane.

Leander Dendoncker halved the deficit for Wolves shortly before half-time, with Daniel Podence equalising after almost an hour as the hosts fought back in impressive fashion.

Tottenham eventually won out on penalties after a 2-2 draw and while Nuno was happy that his players “were controlling the game”, the two Wolves goals left him frustrated.

Dendoncker netted with a header from a corner and Podence struck when Ndombele was dispossessed in his own half and Wolves capitalised.

Nuno, the anti-Mourinho managerial appointment, sounded an awful lot like his predecessor when imploring players to “minimise these mistakes”.

“I think it was a good game, well played,” he told Spurs TV after the match.

“We started very well, playing really nicely, we scored two beautiful goals, we had clear chances, then a set-piece against us and something that we really need to work on and improve.

“We cannot repeat the same mistakes over again. To learn and to grow, we must avoid and minimise these mistakes because that’s what makes the game harder.

“Honestly, the way we were controlling the game, we didn’t allow anything until the time we conceded.

“Then, again, we lost a little bit of control, in the second half we started strong, we had chances to score but Wolves at home, it’s tough, we had to defend and then finally the penalties.”

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Nuno dismissed any suggestion that Spurs advanced to the fifth round through fortune in the shootout, with Ruben Neves and Conor Coady both missing and Pierluigi Gollini saving from Leander Dendoncker.

Three Spurs players  Kane, Sergio Reguilon and Bryan Gil  scored, while Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg had his effort saved.

“Penalties is not luck, penalties we have to work on and the boys really practice, they did it very well and Gollini was good,” Nuno said.