We made more mistakes than chances: Jose
London, Thursday
Everton upped the pressure on Jose Mourinho with a thrilling 5-4 victory over Tottenham after extra-time to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals, as Manchester City eased into the last eight by beating Swansea on Wednesday.
Tottenham face a daunting trip to City in the Premier League on Saturday and defeat after a draining 120 minutes was the last thing Mourinho wanted.
Spurs have lost four of their last five games and one of three chances to end the club’s 13-year wait to win a trophy in cup competitions is now gone.
“Attacking football only wins matches when you don’t make more defensive mistakes than you create,” said Mourinho, who once described a 5-4 result as a “hockey score”.
“It was the mouse and the cat. The mouse was our defensive mistakes and the cat was us playing very well, scoring goals, but it wasn’t enough.”
Mourinho’s men made a bright start at Goodison Park as Davinson Sanchez headed them into the lead after just three minutes.
However, the defensive errors that have cost Tottenham dear in recent months were in evidence as Everton struck three times in seven minutes just before half-time through Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison and Gylfi Sigurdsson’s penalty.
Erik Lamela reduced Spurs’ deficit in first-half stoppage time before another rare goal for Sanchez made it 3-3.
Richarlison then smashed home from a narrow angle to restore Everton’s lead.
Mourinho had left Harry Kane on the bench from the start to ease his return from an ankle injury. But the England captain ended up playing for over an hour and met Son Heung-min’s cross at the back post with bullet header seven minutes from time to send the game into extra-time. -AFP
