Jose Mourinho reacts to Giovani Lo Celso’s display in Spurs win

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Jose Mourinho has claimed, in comments reported by Football London, that Giovani Lo Celso is not looking like the player he knows he can be – after watching the midfielder score in Tottenham Hotspur’s win over Ludogorets on Thursday night.

Lo Celso has been handed a peripheral role so far this term. But he was included in the starting lineup in Bulgaria. And he seemed to vindicate Mourinho’s decision.

He looked bright and created some really good openings for his teammates. And shortly before he was taken off, he bagged Tottenham’s third goal by tapping in Son Heung-min’s pass across the box.

From the outside, it looked to be a really positive night for Lo Celso. However, Mourinho seemed to have a different opinion of the Argentinian’s display.

“Good with the ball and not very good without the ball. His physical condition is not good. He didn’t have a preseason,” he said, as reported by Football London.

“I feel that when he plays he’s not the Gio that we know, not the Gio that we know that he can be an amazing player. But with the ball of course great criteria and he knows what he’s doing of course, and understands the way we want to play. But we need more intensity to be fitter, to be more intense and to be stronger in the transitions.

“But of course he played more than an hour, and for that hour of course was a football match that we needed to win but it was also let’s say a training session to improve his match fitness.”

TBR View: Exciting prospect for Spurs fans if there’s more to come from Lo Celso

It may look perplexing to see Mourinho speak so honestly about being disappointed by Lo Celso. But the Spurs boss is probably confident that his comments may help the 24-year-old get back to his best.

On the other hand, it is an incredibly exciting thought if Mourinho is expecting a lot more from Lo Celso. It seemed to be a really good performance from him on Thursday.

But Spurs fans will welcome seeing even more from him in the future.