Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho explained having two 16 year-olds on the bench for victory over Aston Villa.
The manager made seven changes from Thursday's Europa League defeat at Dinamo Zagreb, with Carlos Vinicius starting only a second League match and for the first time alongside Harry Kane. Giovani Lo Celso made his first domestic appearance since December and young defenders Joe Rodon and Japhet Tanganga also came in. Harry Winks and Matt Doherty were conspicuous by their absence from the squad, particularly with two 16-year-olds, Alfie Devine and Dane Scarlett, among Mourinho's substitutes.
“My thinking was we need angry people, we need fresh and positive feelings," said Mourinho, who described the Dinamo defeat as a “scar" that would not quickly heal.
“We need kids on the bench that live a dream, kids that if you play them 10 seconds, they play them like the last seconds of their career. I need people on the pitch that I know the match is really important for them — Tanganga and Rodon are these kind of players.
“They deserve this individual praise — crazy performances by Lucas. Harry and Pierre [Hojbjerg] — we had some fantastic individual performances but, for me, this is the victory of the dressing room, the victory of their spirit, the victory of the group that felt ashamed of what happened in the last week.
