Ryan Mason has aimed a thinly-veiled dig at Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp after his criticism of Tottenham’s style last weekend.
Klopp took umbrage with Mason’s post-match comments about Diogo Jota, who caught Oliver Skipp with a head-high tackle during the 4-3 clash but stayed on the pitch to score a stoppage-time winner in the Anfield fixture.
After Mason had made clear his exasperation at Jota being able to avoid a red card, Klopp hit back during an interview with the BBC by suggesting the 31-year-old should “worry about other stuff” before he told Spurs they “can’t just counter-attack” and urged them to “play better football.”
Tottenham’s acting head coach responded before the visit of Crystal Palace on Saturday, where only three points for the hosts will keep alive their top-six hopes.
“Yeah, I mean first of all I respect and admire Jurgen Klopp,” Mason said.
“I also respect Liverpool Football Club, but honestly in my current situation now and regardless of what happens in my coaching career, I don’t believe I will ever be in a position where I can sit here and criticise another football club in the way they are doing things.
“Look, I will not create a war of words. That is my opinion on it. I don’t think it will change in 20 years time.
“I don’t think I will ever be in that position or earn the right to criticise another football club for how they want to try and win the game and how they feel is the best chance for them to win the game in that moment in time.”
The image of Skipp being caught in the head and falling to the floor may have brought back bad memories for Mason, who retired at the age of 26 following a fracture of his skull after a clash of heads with Chelsea’s Gary Cahill during a match for Hull in 2017.
Mason admitted Skipp had been fortunate, adding: “He is a very, very lucky boy. He had a couple of gashes in his head, needed near to 10 stitches and we are talking about a couple of inches away from an eye problem.
“I think the overall feeling this week is we are quite grateful Skippy is okay and nothing too serious.
“Obviously a different situation (to me), different moment as well. One was with a head, one was with a boot so the dangers are different.
“At the same time the head is a vulnerable part of the body. We continue to see that. Thankfully Skippy is okay. He is in contention.”
Skipp is one of two Spurs academy graduates set to feature against Palace alongside vice-captain Harry Kane and the club’s Under-18s were able to secure a second trophy of the season on Thursday night at Villa Park.
A 3-1 win over Aston Villa clinched the Under-18 Premier League Cup to add to the Under-17 version won against Nottingham Forest last month.
Mason has seen plenty of the youth team this season and knows the path they will now attempt to take, but he insisted there can be no set timescale on how long it could take some of Stuart Lewis’ current crop to break into the first-team.
“Absolutely I have seen a lot of them. I work for this football club, I work in the first-team and it is part of my job to pay attention and understand where the academy are at and try bridge that gap,” he explained.
“Of course we have hope for many of them but at 16 and 17, it can be a long road and it can be difficult.
“Sometimes people develop earlier than others and sometimes players seize the moment. Hopefully some of them can make the step up in the coming years.
“From a timescale point of view, it is very difficult to put a time on it but historically this football club has always valued that and we continue to do that now.”
Manchester City 0-4 Tottenham: Guardiola's champions humiliated in fifth straight loss
Manchester City's losing streak stretched to five games across all competitions as Tottenham stunned the Premier League champions with a 4-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium.
On his 28th birthday, James Maddison scored twice in the first 20 minutes as Ange Postecoglou's visitors caught out their hosts on the counterattack.
Maddison was found unmarked at the far post by Dejan Kulusevski for his opener, then exchanged passes with Son Heung-min and dinked a fine finish over Ederson for his second.
City continued to dominate possession but struggled to find a killer pass, and their hopes of a second-half fightback were dashed when Pedro Porro – who spent three years as a City player between 2019 and 2022 – capped another lightning break early in the second half.
Erling Haaland clipped the crossbar but that was as close as City came to making it competitive, with Brennan Johnson completing the rout following fine work from Timo Werner, as the worst run of Pep Guardiola's managerial career continued.
Second-placed City could now find themselves eight points adrift of the summit after Liverpool’s trip to Southampton on Sunday.
Tottenham, meanwhile, climbed to sixth in the table, four points behind City.
Data Debrief: Uncharted territory for Pep
City have now lost five straight matches in all competitions, including two versus Tottenham after they were also beaten in the EFL Cup last month.
They are the first reigning top-flight English champions to lose five games in a row since Chelsea did so in March 1956.
This is the worst losing streak of Guardiola's glittering managerial career, with City last losing six in a row under Stuart Pearce in 2006.
Should their dismal run continue at Liverpool in eight days' time, their title defence may be in tatters before the festive season has even begun.
O'Neil: Pressure has given Wolves 'opportunity' to shine
Wolves boss Gary O'Neil believes his players are beginning to see a deserved reward for their hard work after a difficult start to the Premier League season.
Matheus Cunha's double caught the eye in their 4-1 win against Fulham, alongside goals from Joao Gomes and substitute Goncalo Guedes, as Wolves showed their attacking quality in equal measure to ease some of the tension surrounding O'Neil.
The opening months of the 2024-25 campaign have caused pressure to rise on O'Neil's position after they claimed just one point in their first eight games.
They have now claimed eight points in their last four league games and climbed out of the relegation zone for the first time this season with their victory at Craven Cottage.
O'Neil praised his players at full-time, referencing the battling qualities shown by the squad after key summer exits, and a run of form that could have seen them lose faith in him.
"It's probably one of my favourite performances in my time here as a coach. We knew this was going to be a really tough test with the players we were missing," he told BBC Sport.
"It's been a tough run overall, and we had a tough transfer window. Any team who loses its captain and one of its top players will always have to find a new way to do things in the following season.
"We were given a tough fixture list to start the season with, and the league position brings with it pressure and noise, and that was for us to deal with.
"That pressure also brought an opportunity for us to stand up and show who we are and every single one of them have done just that. We can enjoy this win, but there is still plenty of work to do."
Meanwhile, Fulham have lost three of their last six Premier League games (W2 D1), as many as in their previous 12 games in the competition (W5 D4).
Despite matching Wolves' 10 shots, and creating a similar expected goals (1.01 to Wolves' 1.26), Fulham struggled against their clinical opponents, especially while playing with 10 men following Joachim Andersen's injury, with no substitutions left.
"It was really weird game. That's the Premier League," Marco Silva told BBC Match of the Day. "It's easy for us to say we were really unfortunate. It was a situation [where we had to] play with 10 men without a red card.
"We can't just be looking at the score. The two goals when we were with 10 men didn't reflect the game, in my opinion."
Villa 'deserved more' from draw with Palace, says Emery
Unai Emery suggested Aston Villa "deserved more" than a point after coming from behind twice to draw 2-2 with Crystal Palace at Villa Park.
The result sees Villa's winless streak extend to six matches across all competitions (D2 L4), equalling their longest run without a victory under Emery (also six in April-May 2024).
After Ismaila Sarr's early opener, the hosts needed Ollie Watkins to pull them level before Ross Barkley cancelled out Justin Devenny's strike with 13 minutes to go.
Yet having seen a penalty saved and hitting the woodwork, Emery felt his team should have got more from the match.
"We deserved more, but we made some mistakes that we need to correct. We had chances to score, we came back. The penalty was a key moment," he told Sky Sports.
"In the second half, we pushed and felt close to scoring, but we have to accept one point."
Youri Tielemans had the opportunity to put Villa ahead on the stroke of half-time from the spot but placed his shot at a saveable height for Dean Henderson, who guessed the right way.
It allowed Palace to break down the other end through Sarr, who squared to Devenny to send the visitors into the lead just before the break.
Emery admitted his players are "concerned" about their vulnerability in transitions and rued the mistakes being made.
"Here at home, we were thinking how strong we were, winning 15 games in a row and how we can recover confidence, impose our gameplan. We are losing some opportunities. We are conceding a few chances for the opponent and making some mistakes," he told reporters.
"We are not getting three points but deserving here at home to win. We played well against Arsenal, Bournemouth, Man United and here. But we are making mistakes and they are punishing us.
"Overall we had more chances, we dominated the match. We have to correct matches where we play like we did today and get more points."
Villa led their opponents comfortably on expected goals (xG), accruing a total of 3.18 compared to Palace's 1.27.
The visitors also had key players Eberechi Eze and Adam Wharton out, leading Oliver Glasner to be pleased with his side's fighting display.
"I'm very proud of the team's performance. We’re missing some key players in attack, but we still scored two amazing goals," he said.
"I'm very proud how they played together, worked together, fight together and believed in getting a point here.
"Overall, it was a good performance for us, and we go home very pleased with the point."
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