Tottenham Hotspur's efforts in their 2-1 loss against Liverpool have been praised.
In a huge top-of-the-table clash in the Premier League on Wednesday evening, Roberto Firmino's late goal proved to be the difference between the two sides at Anfield.
Mohamed Salah opened the scoring with a deflected effort, but Son Heung-min equalised shortly after the half hour mark and Spurs had chances in the second half to leave with all three points.
Better finishing from the likes of Steven Bergwijn and Harry Kane and Jose Mourinho's side could have been the sole leaders at the Premier League summit.
However, Belgium national team manager and former Everton boss Roberto Martinez noticed something about Spurs' performance that should encourage supporters.
Speaking after the game, the Spaniard revealed that the Lilywhites proved they have the mentality to compete for the title thanks to the resilience instilled in the squad by Mourinho.
"I think we've seen that Spurs have got the mentality to compete for the title," Martinez said on Amazon Prime. "With the first-half we saw from Liverpool, it’d have been very easy to give up.
"There's a big difference in playing well and winning games and winning titles and trophies.
"To win titles, you need to be the worst side in the game sometimes and find a way to stay in the game and come up with the talent and quality that you have and we saw that in some stages tonight.
"If you're gonna lose a game, you want to lose it like Spurs did today.
"Moments in the first-half, they were outplayed because of Liverpool’s record here. You cannot stop them in many ways but to go 1-1 at half-time, it shows their mentality and resilience that Mourinho is building."
Mourinho, himself, felt the better team lost after watching his side waste a couple of big chances in the second half.
"Yes, of course. I think even a draw would have left us with not the best taste because we had them there to win it," he said during the post-match press conference. "It was not just the big chances, it was the moment of the big chances and the moment was when they were in trouble, in their worst moment, and we had it there to kill it, but we missed it.
"Then normally in matches at this level you pay for it. I thought we were going to pay for it in just taking a point but in the end we didn't even take a point and it was very disappointing."
