Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has revealed that he would not have hung Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Tanguy Ndombele out to dry like Jose Mourinho did following Spurs' 1-1 draw with Burnley at Turf Moor on Saturday.
The France international, who has struggled to have a significant impact at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium since signing for a fee north of £50million last summer, was hauled off at half time by Mourinho at the weekend, with the Spurs boss far from impressed with the midfielder's performance.
And if withdrawing Ndombele after just 45 minutes was not enough for the former Lyon man, Mourinho blasted his performance after the full time whistle.
Mourinho's decision to single out Ndombele has been met with a mixed reaction, with some people believing Mourinho was well within his right to criticise him, whilst some felt the former Manchester United boss went too far.
And Eriksson's opinion tallies with the latter of those two statements, with the Swede admitting that he would not have torn into his player so publicly.
Eriksson, appearing on Monday Night Football for Sky Sports, said: "I don't really know. But of course he is very disappointed with the result.
"But they have their own style, of course. But personally, I would be afraid to do what Mourinho did because I would be afraid of losing the player for a long time.
"Maybe Mourinho will not lose him because, maybe, he can do things Monday and Tuesday and so on. But maybe it is fair, the criticism. But I would have done it in the dressing room together with him or in my office."
Directly asked if he would have acted in the same manner as Mourinho if he had a player performing in the same manner of Ndombele, Eriksson continued: "No, not while they are playing. Maybe if they behaved badly in front of the referee, then I make it in front of everyone.
"If they are failing to play football well, then no. I prefer to do that privately. That’s what I do and I am not saying it is right."
Even though Eriksson was not overly pleased with Mourinho's handling of the situation, he did understand why the Frenchman came in for such heavy criticism for his performance.
"It was worse than I thought," he added. "I mean, this is not for the Premier League. If you don’t run, you can not play. That is the first rule.
"And you can see when he gets the ball he is a great footballer, so he needs to add to that something that belongs to the Premier League, otherwise he will never be a Premier League player.”
