Jose Mourinho has given Tottenham a winning mentality, says Moussa Sissoko after Brentford semi-final triumph

Dan Kilpatrick @Dan_KP6 January 2021

Moussa Sissoko says Jose Mourinho is changing the mentality at Tottenham and insisted winning the Carabao Cup could just be the start for the club this season.

Man-of-the-match Sissoko opened the scoring as Spurs set up a final date against either Manchester City or Manchester United with a 2-0 home win over Brentford on Tuesday night.

The Wembley showpiece on April 25 will be Spurs' first domestic final since 2015 and leaves them within touching distance of ending a 13-year wait for silverware in Mourinho's first full season in charge.

Spurs suffered a succession of near misses under former manager Mauricio Pochettino, including losing the 2019 Champions League final, but Sissoko says the trophy-laded Portuguese is gradually turning the squad into winners.

"Yeah, we can say that," Sissoko told Standard Sport. "Because we know what type of manager Jose is and what he did in the past. I think the chairman brought him here to win trophies and he’s tried to bring that mentality to the team. I will not say we didn’t have it before with the old manager but the team is working a lot on it and he pushes hard every day on it.

"It’s good that we reach the final, now we have to win it.

"It’s time to win a trophy. I think it's been the time for many years but we always missed that kind of opportunity and now we want to take it. We have qualified for one final, I hope we are going to win it. There’s still plenty of games before that final and we can still do a lot of things.

"We are still in the race for the League, we’ve got the other [domestic] cup to play, the Europa League as well, so there’s plenty of things to do with the team this season. Let’s believe in ourselves, let’s keep fighting and let’s try to win every game and see what we can do."

Mourinho afterwards talked up the significance of Spurs' achievement, insisting the Premier League's top clubs care about the Carabao Cup and "want to win it".

The manager had called on the rest of his squad to relieve the goalscoring burden on Harry Kane and Heung-min Son, but Sissoko appeared an unlikely candidate before he planted a header into the top corner from Sergio Reguilon's cross to break the deadlock. It was his first goal since December 2019 with his first shot of the season.

Moussa Sissoko was an unlikely goalscorer in Tottenham’s Carabao Cup semi-final win over Brentford on Tuesday
Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images

Son made the game safe after the interval, taking Tanguy Ndombele's pass in his stride to sprint clear of the Bees defence and finish for his 16th goal of the campaign.

"Of course I would like to score more goals and make more assists but it depends on the system we are going to play," added Sissoko.

"This time, without the ball I was playing as a number six but with the ball I was higher, another eight with Tanguy. So I could be in front and make that run. It’s easier to score when I get in the box than when I play as a number six."

Brentford finished the night with 10 men after Josh Dasilva was sent off for raking the shin of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, prompting fury on the Brentford bench.

"It was for sure a bad tackle because he is bleeding a lot and the shin pad is broken," said Mourinho. "That is football. Dasilva is a young guy and a good player so in the heat of the game there is nothing to be critical of. Pierre has a big cut but he didn't even want me to [take him off] in the last five minutes."

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