Boss Jose Mourinho insists he was happy to see Tottenham team-mates Hugo Lloris and Son Heung-min fight at half-time of their 1-0 win over Everton on Monday night, saying 'nice boys win nothing'.
Spurs captain Lloris and the South Korean were involved in a heated exchange on the way to the tunnel, which involved pushing and shoving, and had to be separated by team-mates.
France goalkeeper Lloris appeared angry at Son’s perceived lack of effort, but they soon made up and were hugging on the pitch at the end of the game, celebrating three points that came courtesy of Michael Keane’s first-half own-goal.
Mourinho said the spat should have taken place in the dressing room rather than on the pitch, but that is where his disapproval ended.
“A team of good boys, a team of nice boys, the only thing they can win at the end of the season is the Fair Play Cup. Something I have never won and have no interest in winning that,” he said.
“You have to have a certain characteristics. I don’t like a team without communication in a critical way.
“What happened should not happen on the pitch, it should happen inside the dressing room, but I promise you my winning teams we had big fights, big fights in the team.
“When I was arriving (in the dressing room) I saw the back of it, everything was over and they were hugging each other. In the last minute of the first half it ended with a Richarlison shot, Hugo thought that in that minute of the game attacking players should do a little bit more.
👀 When teammates collide...
— Sporting Life Football (@SportingLifeFC) July 6, 2020
🥊 Hugo Lloris and Heung-min Son come to blows (kind of) on the stroke of half-time.
💪 The best show of aggression we have seen all game!
👇 #THFC #TOTEVE pic.twitter.com/kQZwlBfMYK
“Hugo was arguing with Son and Son with him, I wanted to make sure the players understood I was happy with that.
“When I told them that I think they realised that nothing was wrong.”
Lloris also played down the incident, saying that the disagreement is part of football.
He told Sky Sports: “It just belongs to the changing room. Outside you can say whatever you want. What happened is just part of football sometimes.
“There is no problem at all, you could see after the game we were fine. I think to concede a chance a few seconds before half-time because we didn’t make a press annoyed me but yeah, that’s football.”
That drama was the main talking point of an insipid game, settled by Keane’s first-half own goal.
The win reignites Spurs’ European hopes as they move back into eighth ahead of a midweek round of Premier League fixtures.
