There was no sense of festive goodwill from Jose Mourinho after he was yellow-carded in Tottenham’s loss at Southampton for appearing to read the tactics being jotted down by a member of the opposition coaching staff.
Tottenham suffered a 1-0 defeat on the south coast as the in-form Danny Ings scored a sublime first-half goal, flicking the ball over Toby Alderweireld before firing past Paulo Gazzaniga in the Spurs goal.
A largely listless Spurs suffered the loss of striker Harry Kane with a leg injury in the second half, moments after the England man had seen a goal disallowed for offside.
Spurs’ frustrations were borne out by Mourinho being handed a yellow card after he marched over the Southampton technical area and appeared to look at the notes being jotted down by a member of the Saints’ coaching staff.
In classic Mourinho fashion, he later explained that he had deserved the card for “being rude,” but that he had been “rude to an idiot.”
The witticism set off social media, with many noting that Mourinho’s charm offensive since taking over at Spurs in November was well and truly over.
The result lifted Southampton up to 11th in the Premier League table on 25 points, while Spurs’ bid for the top four took a blow as they remain on 30 points – six behind Chelsea in the Champions League spots.