The result was better than the performance – Mourinho unhappy with Spurs after LASK draw

Jose Mourinho was left with few positives to take from Tottenham’s 3-3 Europa League draw with LASK, as his side scraped through to the knockout stage.

Dele Alli’s late penalty seemed set to seal an undeserved win for a lacklustre Spurs, who face north London rivals Arsenal in the Premier League on Sunday.

Yet Mamoudou Karamoko’s superb late effort secured a share of the spoils for LASK, with Peter Michorl and Johannes Eggestein having netted for the hosts either side of Gareth Bale’s 200th career goal and a Son Heung-min strike.

Tottenham had eight attempts compared to LASK’s 14, with the Austrian side also having more possession (54.2 per cent) and completing a higher percentage of their passes (70.7 per cent).

A point was enough to ensure Spurs’ progress from Group J, but Mourinho was far from pleased.

“Not good,” he told a news conference. “The result was better than the performance. The second half better than the first half.

“Some players individually had very good performances but some players individually had very poor performances. The only good thing I take from the game is that we are qualified.

“We have qualified and we don’t have the pressure on that in our last match, but we have to win our last match and I believe we will do that.”

Harry Kane, who has registered nine assists and seven goals in the Premier League this season, was absent in Linz, with Mourinho confirming his star striker is receiving treatment on a minor injury.

12 – Only Harry Kane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin (13 each) have scored more goals among Premier League players in all competitions this season than Son Heung-Min (12). Superb. #UEL

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 3, 2020

However, having already outlined his belief that Kane will be fit to play against Arsenal this weekend, Mourinho reiterated that sentiment.

“I believe Kane is going to be fit,” he said.

“He’s having treatment but I could be doing some bluff and pretend he’s in trouble, but he’s not and I think he’ll play [against Arsenal].”

Bale’s 200th career goal came from the penalty spot on the stroke of half-time, with the Wales international lasting 82 minutes before he was replaced by Serge Aurier.

It was the 31-year-old’s first away goal for Spurs in a European match since he scored a famous hat-trick against Inter in the 2010-11 Champions League.

“I took him out 10-15 minutes before the end to save the last couple of runs,” Mourinho said of his decision to take Bale off.

“He has lots of positive things in his game and of course you can see that there are little bits that he has to improve.”

10y 44d – Excluding qualifiers, Gareth Bale’s penalty for Spurs was his first away goal in UEFA European competition for the club since scoring a hat-trick at the San Siro against Inter Milan in the Champions League in October 2010, 10 years & 44 days ago. Equaliser. pic.twitter.com/drmtwyHzmL

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 3, 2020