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Jamie O’Hara has fumed at Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho for his comments about Dele Alli on Wednesday night.

Spurs set up a Carabao Cup semi-final with Brentford after winning away at Stoke City in midweek, which required a couple of goals in the final 20 minutes to secure a 3-1 victory.

Mourinho explained after the game that he was “upset” with Dele Alli for losing possession in the build-up to a Stoke equaliser that made it 1-1 shortly after half-time.

“Yes, for me a player that plays in that position is a player that has to link and create and not to create problems for his own team. In that situation, an objective counter-attack would probably end with a goal, and it ended with a counter-attack behind our defenders,” Mourinho said (Football.London) when asked if he was angry with Alli for losing possession.

“We were unbalanced because when you are in possession you have full-backs out wide and another midfielder in a different line and they caught us in a counter-attack and they transformed the result of the game that was totally in our hands, so yes I am upset.”

Alli, 24, has mainly been on the fringes so far this season, but was given a spot in the starting XI against Stoke.

The attacking midfielder showed some promising glimpses before being withdrawn midway through the second-half and it looks like he’s still failing to win over his manager, who was outspoken with his criticism of him post-match.

Ex-Spurs midfielder O’Hara has explained he’s not impressed with Mourinho’s handling of Alli, suggesting he’s denting his confidence even further.

“What’s he gaining out of coming out in the press and digging out that single performance? It’s just killing his (Alli’s) confidence more,” O’Hara told talkSPORT.

“He’s an investment for the club, he’s an asset to the football club whether he’s in your plans or not. You don’t want to really kill his confidence so much that you totally lose him.

“I didn’t like the way that Mourinho dug him out and he comes out and keeps singling him out. For me, it doesn’t sit right the way he keeps digging out Dele Alli.”

TBR’s View:

It looks like there is a long road back for Alli to change the mind of Mourinho, which is why a move away may be best for all parties while he’s still in change.

Aged 24, the creative playmaker still has so much time to get over a small blip in his career and it’s worth noting he’s a big talent that has already earned 37 senior caps for England despite not being in the current international squad.

He doesn’t seem to fit into the style that Mourinho wants to play and the player is in a tough situation right now.