Jose Mourinho showered midfield duo Giovani Lo Celso and Harry Winks with praise after the way they stopped Manchester City stars Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling in the 2-0 defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
City fell to a second successive defeat in league and cup as second half goals from Spurs debutant Steven Bergwijn and Heung-Min Son registered a first Premier League victory for Spurs over City since 2016.
It was a bad day all round for Pep Guardiola's men as left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko was sent off just moments before Bergwijn's opener.
City, though, did have the chance to get their noses in front in the first half when Ilkay Gundogan's penalty was saved by Hugo Lloris, after VAR deemed Serge Aurier's foul on Sergio Aguero to be a penalty kick.
But unlike so often this season, even De Bruyne and Sterling could not save City's day, with the duo enduring a disappointing day at the office.
Explaining how he got his team to stop City's influential duo, Mourinho told Sky Sports: "They love the ball (Manchester City) and they know better than anyone what to do with the ball, so when they have the ball for the majority of the time it is hard.
"But I think there was fantastic performances and great concentration.
"I think the way (Giovanni) Le Celso and (Harry) Winks controlled Kevin De Bruyne was excellent and the way Lo Celso controls that position where (Raheem) Sterling comes inside and (Ilkay) Gundogan supports them.
"I thought the boys were phenomenal in their efforts."
The defeat for City has left them 22 points behind runaway league leaders Liverpool with just 13 games of the season remaining.
