Former Manchester United and England centre-back Rio Ferdinand has admitted that he "feels sorry" for Jose Mourinho following Tottenham Hotspur's FA Cup exit.
Spurs bowed out of the FA Cup on Wednesday night following a dramatic nine-goal thriller against Everton at Goodison Park, losing 5-4 after 120 minutes of classic cup action.
Spurs took the lead early on through Davinson Sanchez but were stunned by their hosts when they scored three times in just seven minutes to go 3-1 up. Mourinho's side, however, refused to throw the towel in, pulling one back through Erik Lamela to make it 3-2 at half time.
Spurs completed the comeback 12 minutes after half time when Sanchez bagged his second of the night to make it 3-3.
Everton, however, restored their advantage through Richarlison's second goal of the night before Harry Kane made it 4-4 to force the tie to extra time. However, the Toffees were to have the final say on a memorable night of FA Cup action, winning it in the 97th-minute thanks to a smart finish from Brazilian winger Bernard.
In recent weeks, Spurs have been criticised by pundits over what has been described as a defensive-minded approach, looking to sit deep and then counter-attack sides. Against Everton, however, Mourinho opted to make his team a little bit more fluid and expansive, even though it resulted in them shipping five goals.
Despite that, Ferdinand has admitted that he feels a sense of sympathy for Mourinho, as he showed a willingness to change his tactics against Everton, only for his players to make individual errors.
“I actually feel sorry for Mourinho in some ways, because in recent weeks he has changed quite a few times in the way they have approached games," Ferdinand told BT Sport.
“West Brom was a bit different but it changed when Harry Kane wasn’t playing for example, and now tonight they were open and expansive.
“But each and every one of those times recently they are being undone by individual moments and errors.
“As a manager you can prepare all you like for each game, but these individual errors are killing you, so in that sense I feel sorry for him because sometimes it derails his whole plan that he has worked on all week.
“It is a quality thing. [There are] too many players consistently making mistakes.
“Until they get that right and eradicate those type of mistakes, they can never really consider themselves a team that is really going to challenge consistently.
“Mistakes lead to goals, which leave you chasing and leave you open and that causes problems consistently.”
