Jose Mourinho demands more goals as Tottenham impress against Leeds

Tottenham Hotspur v Leeds United – Premier League – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
(Image credit: Ian Walton)

Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho said his side showed the desired attacking intent in the 3-0 victory over Leeds which ended a four-game winless run in the Premier League.

Harry Kane and Son Heung-min were the stars of the show as they equalled the Premier League record for most goal combinations in a season, levelling Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton’s tally of 13 from 1994-95.

This was done in just 16 games, though, as after Kane had opened the scoring from the spot, he teed up Son for his 100th goal for the club.

Toby Alderweireld’s second-half header killed the game, but Spurs could have won by a bigger margin as they went for more goals, a stark contrast to recent weeks.

It was the first time Spurs scored three times in a league game since they drew 3-3 with West Ham in October as the shackles finally came off after a month of sitting on leads.

Mourinho, who has copped flak for the negative style, said this was how he wanted his side to play.

“We could have scored more goals. We had good opportunities to score, and not just from the traditional Sonny and Kane,” he said.

“We had good scoring opportunities, good shooting positions – Tanguy (Ndombele), (Pierre-Emile) Hojbjerg, (Steven) Bergwijn twice. And that pleases me also, because I want the team to play with this kind of dynamic.

Harry Kane, left, and Son Heung-min embrace

Harry Kane, left, and Son Heung-min embrace (Andy Rain/PA)

“I want more goals, especially from other players.

“And of course the result is important. We didn’t play the last match and the run of results in the least few weeks was not good so we needed these three points so we go up a little bit in the table.”

On Kane and Son, Mourinho added: “They are very good players as you know for many years. They play together of course for many years too. That together, plus the way we want them to interact, brings goals.”

Kane bagged his 17th goal of the season from the spot after Leeds goalkeeper Illan Meslier put his team in trouble with a misplaced pass and the England captain set up Son for the eighth time this season as the South Korean joined the 100 club.

Alderweireld was the beneficiary of another Meslier error as the keeper allowed a header to squirm in for Spurs’ third.

Leeds showed promise and peppered the Spurs goal with 18 shots, but never really looked like scoring.

Boss Marcelo Bielsa knew the difference in quality in attacking areas was the difference.

“In the game we created 10 chances and didn’t score any goals and our opponents created 12 and they scored three,” said Bielsa.

Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa tries to encourage his side

Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa tries to encourage his side (Ian Walton/PA)

“The fundamental difference was the efficiency and the fact that their offensive game came about through errors we could have avoided.

“The capacity for our forwards to unbalance their defence was sufficient and the capacity to defend was also good.

“The situations that came about from us made it very difficult to defend from our own half and this is where we must polish our performance.

“This game is comparable to the ones against Chelsea and Manchester United and in that sense we have improved and today we were in condition to have a closer game.

“We didn’t manage it because we made mistakes that could be avoided. We have gone through similar problems and it is not through a lack of experience because we are in condition to take better decisions.”