Jose Mourinho has criticised the attitude of some of his Tottenham Hotspur squad by comparing their approach to Europa League matches with the same issues encountered during his time at Manchester United.
The Portuguese manager won the Europa League trophy for United three years ago as United overcame a gruelling campaign to win the only major trophy missing from their collection.
Despite their success back in 2017 it was far from plain sailing for United with Mourinho often finding it difficult to motivate his players for some of the less glamorous ties.
Tottenham appear to be experiencing a similar issue following their 3-3 draw with LASK Linz on Thursday night, with Mourinho comparing their performance to one of his former United side.
“I have a feeling from my experience that some of the players feel that they shouldn’t be here,” he said.
“I think it's a question of attitude, which I've experienced before.
"Even at Manchester United I had a similar situation when we lost two matches away in the group phase and when we get to the knockouts you get better opponents and more difficulties, the team faces matches in a different way.
"The fact is that the Europa League group phase doesn’t motivate some of the players. I knew it. Some players are fundamental for us and I always need them on the pitch in any circumstance.
"I need a couple of these players to give a little bit of balance to the team, as an example [Pierre-Emile] Hojbjerg and [Heung-min] Son - without them I don’t think we would have a positive result."
