Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho rejects suggestion he has an informant in the Chelsea camp

Jose Mourinho dismissed suggestions that he had a mole in the Chelsea camp who was leaking team instructions to him.

The Tottenham manager insinuated during the week that he knew how the Blues would line up and matched Chelsea’s switch to a 3-4-3 with his own variation of the same system.

It did not, ultimately, lead to Tottenham being able to match Chelsea’s approach during the game, with Frank Lampard‘s team emerging 2-1 victors at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Even so, some suggested that Mourinho was benefitting from a form of inside knowledge, with Lampard after the game saying he wasn’t being “sinister” in feeling it could be the case - but Mourinho rejected the idea in his post-match press conference.

Instead, the Spurs boss says he foresaw Chelsea’s tactical change as it’s a route they have taken previously when needing a reaction.

“I guess because there is a logic,” Mourinho said. “When they have a run of bad results, they go to five, when they have a run of bad results they go to [Marcos] Alonso, against Lille, against us in the first match, that’s what I knew they would do today again.

“I think it’s obvious. In good results, different systems; when bad results, five at the back. Nobody leaked me anything, they are loyal to him.”

Tactical approaches aside, Spurs failed to really show any measure of control in the Premier League clash, with Chelsea largely dominating proceedings from early on and only sitting off once they had established a two-goal lead.

Mourinho was not about to deride his players for any shortcomings, however, saying circumstances have dictated the issues Tottenham currently have in posing an attacking threat.

“I have no complaints about my players,” he said. ”That’s for sure. The result could be different, could be 3-1, 2-2, but difficult to do better than what they did.

“The situation we live in the moment, it’s very difficult to do better especially when the opponent scores first.”

More fully explaining his thoughts, Mourinho once more pointed to a lack of strikers being available as hindering Tottenham’s build-up options, while also forcing those who remain fit to play the majority of games.

“If they press us high, we go long, we don’t win one single ball. If they drop the block and play a low block, it’s very difficult to get in the box, especially from the sides. We’re in trouble if they score first. They fought though, I cannot ask more from them.

“Especially Lucas [Moura], [Giovani] Lo Celso, [Steven] Bergwijn; they play every minute and try to do miracles in positions that are not their positions.

“I’m going to be repetitive, I’d love to be on 1 July, for pre-season, with [Harry] Kane, Sonny [Son Heung-min]; we have three long months to go in three competitions, it’ll be three long months for us, they will learn a lot from that, they will learn about relience, effort, going to the limits. It’s a good experience for the future.”

Mourinho also criticised the time between games for Tottenham, playing Leipzig before an early kick-off against Chelsea with just two full days between fixtures, and said that the tactical approach was a direct result of the lack of recovery time for his squad.

“Yes, we knew tactically [it was] very important for us to play in a certain way. Very important for us to try with fast people when they are fresh.

“We have strange game plans, but we need to have them, there is not another way. Why [Erik] Lamela played so well but only for 20 minutes, you must think I’m an idiot. Even in the warm-up, he was in communication with me, ‘can I go or not?’ That guy in the last 20 minutes was not sure he can go. Amazing guy, fantastic player. Lucas and Berg are more or less fresh and we try, we didn’t score, [Willy] Caballero made a great save, we cannot create great chances.

“The plan in the end is to bring Lamela, we don’t have a presence in the box, let’s try a bit with Dele [Alli]. It’s very difficult for us. Nothing at all to criticise my players. Nothing at all, the opposite.”

Spurs managed just five shots during the game against Chelsea, with their late consolation an own goal off Antonio Rudiger.