Despite winning the Man of the Match award and scoring a goal in Tottenham’s Europa League game against Ludogorets, Jose Mourinho still decided to lay into Giovani Lo Celso for his fitness level during the first lockdown.
The Argentinean has struggled to play regularly for Tottenham this season, but when he has been given the chance to play, he has done as well as he could.
Against Ludogorets, he was classy and he had a good game.
He was arguably the best player on the pitch for Tottenham, but Mourinho still found some fault in him.
Fans will have expected the Special One to be full of praise for his Argentine star, but Mourinho was instead critical of his fitness level.
The former Chelsea manager revealed that Lo Celso’s appearance in the game was more like a preseason because he didn’t train while other players at the club did so during the first lockdown.
Mourinho said of Lo Celso via Mail Online: ‘Good with the ball and not very good without the ball. His physical condition is not good. He didn’t have a pre-season.
‘During the lockdown during the previous season he had problems – he didn’t train in that period when other guys were training so he has been up and down in his preparation. So he’s been coming now, step by step.
‘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.’
Can’t score without it
Yep. We ain’t seen no where near the best of celly
A very honest appraisal
I’m not sure Jose puts much value on having the ball! 😂