Here are your Tottenham Hotspur evening headlines for Friday, January 15.
Skipp’s texts from Mourinho
Tottenham midfielder Oliver Skipp has opened up on the support he has received from Jose Mourinho this season.
Skipp is currently on loan at Championship side Norwich City this term and despite not being back at Spurs with Mourinho, the young midfielder has had regularly support from Mourinho.
“I’m not Harry Kane or Hugo Lloris, but he still gave me the respect that I could go and talk to him. In terms of his man-management, he is brilliant. He knows when to push someone or when to give them some love,” Skipp told the Evening Standard.
“He’s messaged me a few times this season actually, which is a really nice touch, just to show he’s watching and aware of what I’m doing. He’s been really positive.”
Bale extension not discussed
Mourinho has not held talks with Gareth Bale yet over extending his loan deal at Tottenham beyond the end of this season.
Bale has struggled to hit the heights that fans had hoped for since arriving on loan from Real Madrid in October, scoring three times in all competitions since returning to north London.
Mourinho said that he has not held any discussions with Bale on his club future beyond this season.
"There was not even a second of discussion about that," admitted the 57-year-old. "Gareth is a player on loan until the end of the season.
"Not one second of discussion. We are speaking about, of course, Gareth, himself, Real Madrid, Tottenham, but I promise you, not one second of discussion."
Mourinho’s penalty influence on Rashford
Manchester United forward Marcus Rahsford admits that Mourinho had a big influence on the high number of penalties won by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side.
In an interview with the Manchester Evening News, Rashford revealed that Mourinho’s advice to make United’s forward line more savvy around the penalty area whilst he was their manager has played a big impact on the Red Devils’ current squad.
"I remember when Jose [Mourinho] was manager, there were five or six times where I should have had a penalty and Jose ended up saying to me: 'if you are not savvy about the way you do it, then you are not going to (get) give(n) it.'
"After that, we started to get a few penalties.
"It was something in terms of development you have to learn that and understand it."
