I would like to have made 11 changes at half-time: Mourinho

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Royal Antwerp's Lior Refaelov scoring in the 30th minute after an error by Ben Davies in Tottenham's 1-0 loss in the Europa League. Dele Alli, Steven Bergwijn, Giovani lo Celso and Carlos Vinicius were all replaced at half-time.

ANTWERP • Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho has said the disappointing performances of his fringe players in Thursday’s 1-0 Europa League loss at Royal Antwerp would influence his future team selections, making it “very easy” to pick his first XI going forward.

The Portuguese made nine changes to the line-up from Monday’s 1-0 Premier League win at Burnley, but Spurs fell behind inside 30 minutes after an error from Ben Davies allowed Lior Refaelov to score from close range.

Dele Alli, Steven Bergwijn, Giovani lo Celso and Carlos Vinicius were all replaced at half-time, but Spurs were unable to get back on level terms in their Group J meeting despite the likes of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min appearing off the bench.

It was their first defeat since losing 1-0 to Everton on the Premier League’s opening weekend in September, with Mourinho hinting that some of his players did not deserve more game time.

“I would like to have made 11 changes at half-time,” he told reporters. “I didn’t make five as I was afraid of a long 45 minutes.

“I always like to think the players deserve an opportunity. We have a big squad with lots of good players.

“It’s my responsibility to give them opportunities but it’s also their opportunity to catch the chance with both hands and ask for more.

“Tonight shows my future choices are going to be very easy.”

In Group B, a flurry of goals either side of half-time from Eddie Nketiah, Joe Willock and Nicolas Pepe gave north London rivals Arsenal a comfortable 3-0 Europa League win over Irish side Dundalk at the Emirates.

The visitors rarely managed to threaten a makeshift Gunners defence that saw midfielder Granit Xhaka feature as a centre-back, as the hosts maintained their 100 per cent record in Europe.

Unlike Mourinho, Arsenal counterpart Mikel Arteta later claimed some of his players had played their way into contention for tomorrow’s Premier League game at Manchester United, saying they were “in the frame”.

REUTERS

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