'Beautiful' Lloris-Son row a sign Spurs are growing up, says manager Jose Mourinho

Reuters photo

The sight of Tottenham Hotspur team mates Hugo Lloris and Son Heung-min clashing at halftime during their 1-0 victory over Everton on Monday was "beautiful" and a sign that the team are growing up, manager Jose Mourinho has said.

Goalkeeper Lloris and forward Son had to be held apart by team mates shortly after Everton`s Richarlison had gone close to an equaliser, with Lloris clearly angry at Son for not tracking back in the build-up to the chance.

Mourinho said his players were fired up by his criticism of their limp performance in Thursday`s 3-1 defeat by Sheffield United and said the incident showed they were demanding more of each other.

"It`s beautiful," the Portuguese added. "If you want to blame somebody for that, it`s me, because I was critical of my boys, because they are not critical enough with themselves, with each other. It`s something very important for the team to grow and for that you need to demand from each other and be strong personalities. A team of nice boys, the only thing they can win is the Fair Play Cup, which is something that I never won and I am not interested in," he noted.

The victory was Mourinho`s 200th in the Premier League and moved Spurs up to eighth.