Jose Mourinho has praised Gareth Bale and Harry Winks after Tottenham left it late to book their place in the FA Cup’s fifth round with a 4-1 win at Wycombe.
Spurs found themselves in danger of an FA Cup upset after falling behind to the Championship’s bottom club on Monday night, Fred Onyedinma opening the scoring before Gareth Bale brought the north Londoners level on the stroke of half-time.
Wycombe proved stubborn opposition throughout though the quality of the visitors eventually found a breakthrough four minutes from full time, Winks curling in a delightful goal to put Spurs ahead before a late double from Tanguy Ndombele added gloss to the final result.
Mourinho chose to rotate his options ahead of the club’s huge midweek clash with Liverpool, and the Portuguese was pleased with the display of Gareth Bale as the Welshman’s smartly-taken equaliser helped book a fifth-round tie at Everton.
“It was good,” Mourinho said at his post-match press conference. “Some good movement. Some one-against-ones, beating people, attacking people, creating chances. Of course, scoring a goal.
“Apart from that, I never felt he couldn’t play the 90 minutes. I never felt that I needed to change him and that is good.
“Of course, the Championship is a good, competitive level and the aggression is high and the intensity is good. So I’m happy.”
Mourinho also reserved praise for Winks who was named as the man of the match, the England international having endured a frustrating season to date after finding himself on the fringes following the summer signing of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
“We had some good performances from the boys that started the game,” he added.
“Of course, [Harry] Winks was man of the match, which is very much deserved because I thought he was very, very good in everything he did, apart from the goal.
“The goal is just a very small important detail but I’m happy because I think the attitude of the team was very professional and it’s the kind of game that, even if we lose because we don’t take chances and they score in the last minutes, let’s say that I wouldn’t be sad because it was a very professional performance.”
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