Mourinho had publicly slandered the player prior to a Champions League encounter
Ever since Jose Mourinho has taken over the reigns at Tottenham, the side’s head coach has been involved in a string of squabbles with his players. Dele Alli, Gareth Bale and Serge Aurier have all been subjected to the coach’s petulant nature with Mourinho’s willingness to pick fracases with his squad seeing the trio be subjected to his ire.
While Alli and Bale have also ended up losing out on their spots in the club’s gameplan, Aurier has somehow managed to hold onto his spot. Despite being engaged in a string of calamitous and contentious moments with his boss, the fullback has featured for a large amount in the Premier League.
Mourinho And Aurier Go At Loggerheads
The first moment of animosity between him and Mourinho was shed light on in the Amazon Prime show on Tottenham. The series showcased Mourinho taking a jibe at Aurier in a team meeting.
Mourinho had gone onto question Aurier’s ability as a player prior to the side’s Champions League showdown with Olympiacos. Mourinho had gone onto say that he was afraid of paying Aurier as he feared the defender would concede a penalty, one which would be picked up by VAR.
Aurier had recently stormed down the tunnel as well after being substituted at halftime by Mourinho. The Frenchman has now gone onto talk about the incidents and reveal what he feels about Mourinho.
Aurier Talks About Squabbles With Mourinho
in an interview with Soccer Stories – Oh My Goal, Aurier given his side of that dressing down before the match against Olympiacos.
“In the past I would have responded directly, because if you’re scared of me, you don’t pick me,” said the right-back.
“If you don’t trust someone, you don’t let them deal with your stuff, right? So if you’re scared of me, pick someone else.
“So I was about to say, I swear, I was about to say it. ‘Pick someone else!'”
“I promise you, I didn’t tell him, because first of all, the coach had just arrived. He needs to feel that the group supports him. If I respond, it’s not good. It’s not good for him, who just got there, right before his first Champions League game.
“So there is also the pressure if I respond automatically, it sends a negative message to him. It means that if the coach talks to me I need to answer because he spoke to me in front of everyone.
“He has the right to tell me that I suck in front of everyone, and if it’s true I will accept it. He has the right to criticise me and to speak his mind and I have the right to respond.
“However, I didn’t respond because it’s not the best moment, firstly, and secondly, in fact I grew up.”
He added: “In the past, because I was hot-headed, I would have talked back right away.
“You see, I’m like this, I am processing it. No, to be honest, at the moment I was like ‘what the hell are you doing? what are you doing to do? Do you respond or do you not respond?’ But in my mind I said, let it go to cool down. There is too much going on around.
“If you respond by sending a negative message. You see, the coach just got here, he trusts you already, so I let it go. It was nothing.
“I would have said ‘you’re cute and all that but I came here from PSG, I had a reputation so I have to play’. In the past I would have said that. Many times I have accepted coach’s decisions that I didn’t like. In the locker rooms I was gutted. I knew that as soon as I went on the pitch everything was forgotten.”
“Me, like you, I heard what people said from the outside but it’s not the same person that I see here,” he said.
“I also think with the sabbatical year he took, he questions his methods. We are all humans, so questioning yourself is not bad.
“Maybe he managed to erase his flaws. Today, regarding what I heard about him before, he is not the same coach any more.
“He is a bit more with the players and he hangs out a bit more with the players and I like that.”
At Manchester United Mourinho reportedly clashed with Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial, but Aurier said you cannot apply other people’s experiences to your own.
“They are people I know well , personally, they are like family,” he said of the United duo. “Today you can’t compare what he did before and now. I’m mostly concerned with what’s happening in the present and what’s coming in the future.
“Perhaps he doesn’t have a good relationship with certain players and it hasn’t gone well with others, but he is still a good coach.”
