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Jose Mourinho: 'I have faith in my entire squad'

Jose Mourinho: 'I have faith in my entire squad'
© Reuters
Jose Mourinho made seven changes to his side for Thursday's Europa League clash with Dinamo Zagreb.

Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho said he now has full trust in his entire squad ahead of Sunday's north London derby.

Mourinho made seven changes to his side for Thursday's Europa League clash with Dinamo Zagreb in order to give the likes of Gareth Bale, Sergio Reguilon, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Toby Alderweireld a rest.

Being able to make so many changes for an important knockout game is progress for Mourinho, who vowed not to do it again after a Europa League group game with Royal Antwerp.

He changed almost his entire XI and was stung by a poor performance in a 1-0 defeat in Belgium.

"The reason why on Thursday we changed seven players from the last match was because I trust all the guys," he said.

"The last time I did this, we lost against Antwerp and everybody was killing me. And rightly so, because I made these decisions but in that match I felt a little let down by attitude and it was a moment where not everybody was working well and hard and trying to play.

"I change seven in a very important match and I did it because of trust. To be honest I didn't change 11 because I didn't want to give the team a feeling of it's too much or I'm gambling or something like that because I could have perfectly changed.

"I felt bad for my decision not to play Joe Hart, one of the best goalkeepers in this country, no doubt one of the best English goalkeepers.

"I didn't want to play him not because of a question of trust but more because of a feeling to the dressing room that I couldn't change 11 players, the game is difficult.

"But I have everybody. The question was about Serge and Matt but I went in other directions with my answer. But the reality is we have that, we have everybody playing well."

Spurs are set to have everyone available expect for Giovani Lo Celso, who is struggling with a back injury.

The Argentinian has been out since December with a hamstring injury, and picked up a niggle in his return to first-team training.

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