Tottenham goalkeeper, Hugo Lloris, has explained that the clash with the striker, Son Heung Min, during the half time of the team’s 1-0 win over Everton, was because he was annoyed at the forward’s lack of pressing during the game.
The skipper rushed over to confront the forward immediately after the half time whistle as the teams were going into the tunnel.
Spurs were able to get the maximum points courtesy of Michael Keane’s first-half own goal in a mostly dull match. Richarlison even missed a chance to equalise for the visitors towards the end of the first half, much to captain Lloris’ chagrin.
As Lloris rushed over to confront Son, the two players were held apart by their team-mates, and they made up before the second half.
Playing down the incident as a flare-up in the heat of the moment, told Skye Sports that players respect each other a lot and whatever happens belongs in the changing room.
“Outside, you can say whatever you want. There is a lot of respect between the players in the changing room. What happened between Sonny and me is just something that’s part of football sometimes. But there’s no problem at all.”
While noting that the team was happy at the end of the game and after getting the maximum points, Lloris said his side conceded a chance a few seconds before half-time because the team didn’t press properly.
“Yeah, it annoyed me, but it’s part of football. We move on. As I said before, we are in a situation that we need to fight against,” Lloris added.
While stating that the team is not happy with its position on the log, the Frenchman said the most important thing was to stay focused on the side and do everything to finish as high as they can.
“I repeat, we can only do it as a team. When you play a season like this one, it’s very easy to fall apart as a team, to think about disinterest, but today we showed that we are still together and ready to compete and fight until the end.”
“Everyone was involved, making runs and doing the job. There was a lot of communication on the pitch.”
💬 Hugo Lloris#THFC ⚪️ #COYS pic.twitter.com/Ex0yRzVxSF
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) July 6, 2020
Mourinho glad to see Lloris and Son temper
Reacting to the situation after the match, Spurs manager, Jose Mourinho was glad to see tempers flaring between his players. The Portugues noted that after their 3-1 defeat at Bramall Lane against Sheffield United, there was a ‘disturbing’ lack of desire from his team.
Spurs now occupy the eight position behind Arsenal as they are also in the quest of European football, hoping to catch up on Manchester United and Wolves.
“It’s not a performance of incredible quality, but it’s a team performance against a very good team.”
💬 Jose Mourinho on tonight’s win#THFC ⚪️ #COYS pic.twitter.com/b5ysRrS5ja
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) July 6, 2020
Tottenham Hotspurs VS Everton highlight
🎞️ 𝗛𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗦: 𝗦𝗽𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝟭-𝟬 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗼𝗻#THFC ⚪️ #COYS pic.twitter.com/zbxDDt7M0H
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) July 6, 2020