Mourinho: I clearly deserved the yellow card because I was rude with an idiot

Jose Mourinho accepted that he deserved to be shown a yellow card during Tottenham's defeat at Southampton... but was not impressed by the Saints' coaching staff.

Tottenham were distinctly unimpressive as Danny Ings' first-half goal secured a deserved 1-0 win for Southampton at St Mary's on New Year's Day.

With Spurs chasing the game in the second half, Mourinho was booked by referee Mike Dean after the Spurs boss went over to the Southampton bench after 77 minutes.

Mourinho accepted the booking at the time, but speaking to BT Sport after the game, the Spurs coach said: "I was rude. But I was rude with an idiot.

"I clearly deserved the yellow card. I had bad words with the guy."

This browser does not support the video element.

Regarding the result, Mourinho said: "It was quite a strange game. We had no problems defensively.

"They didn't create great problems. They scored one goal. Danny Ings did well. We were in control apart from that. We didn't create much but enough to score.

"They stopped the game and defended well. The centre-backs gave a hard game to our attacking players who were aggressive and didn't make mistakes."

Harry Kane departed with 15 minutes remaining after suffering a suspected hamstring injury immediately after having an effort ruled out for offside - and Mourinho believes that the absence of both his star striker and the suspended Heung-min Son cost Spurs the chance of a potential comeback.

"In the last part of the game without Harry Kane and another striker, without Son, we were limited in our options," he added.

"I feel it is too harsh the result but it is what it is."