Jose Mourinho insists Dele Alli is feeling Tottenham Hotspur's poor start to the Premier League season after cutting a dejected figure in the changing room.
Spurs were outplayed by a vibrant Everton outfit at White Hart Lane to lose 1-0 in their opening game of the campaign.
Alli started the match but made little impact in the first 45 minutes before being replaced at half-time for Moussa Sissoko.
Mourinho admits that while the 24-year-old was unhappy at being replaced he was 'one of many' left feeling the frustration of a laboured performance.
'Dele was quiet, he was sad,' Mourinho said ahead of Tottenham's Europa League qualifier against Lokomotiv Plovdiv. 'After the game, he was just one of many.
'He's a good boy, very, very polite and I never saw from him a strong reaction. A good boy, a really good boy.'
Alli's first-team future is in doubt at White Hart Lane amid reports of a sensational return to the club of fan favourite Gareth Bale on loan.
Mourinho though remained coy on Tottenham's approach to bring the Welsh forward back to the club from Real Madrid where they sold him for a world record £86million fee in 2013 shortly after Mourinho tried to sign him from Spurs while he was in charge at the Bernabeu.
'I tried to sign him for Real Madrid which was not possible to do during my time there,' he added.
'But the president followed my instinct and my knowledge and the season I left he brought Gareth to the club.
'There is no secret on that. Even Gareth knows that. But I'm not going to speak about him anymore because he is a Real Madrid player.'
HajjChelsea
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Mourinho has coached the best players in the world and all players who knew him and worked with him say good stuffs about him and the only players who say bad things about him are the lazy rude players who to want to accept criticism to improve as players. Christiano Ronaldo was just complaining and nagging about any knock or tackled he received from opponents but Mourinho coming to Madrid changed his mentality and made Ronaldo strong that his most prolific scoring year in Madrid colours was under the Portuguese. Luke Shaw has improved due to accepting criticism from Jose about his performance and today he is very good if not for his injuries. Only lazy players will criticise and talk ill about Mourinho . Ozil played under Jose and was the best Attacking Midfielder in the world at that time. Deco , Lampard , Lucio Drogba , Ibrahimovic and a whole lot of stars played under him and they all have good memories with Jose. If Alli wants to be the best in his position then he must work hard and the form will surely return . Should the players buy into his idea then I can bet on my life and say Tottenham in two years time with win the PL. Real Madrid forgot how to win Trophies until Jose came and installed the winning mentality in the players . Changing Ramos from Right Back to the best Center Back in the game now. The most stupid opinions are the fans who know nothing about football but only go around insulting Jose Mourinho that he destroys players careers. Can those fans tell me if there is a coach or manager in this world who has never fall out with players .