Jose Mourinho has defended Tottenham's tactics in the 1-0 loss to Liverpool and claimed his side have to be 'pragmatic'.

Mourinho selected five defenders for Saturday night's game, using both Serge Aurier and youngster Japhet Tanganga, making his debut for the north London side, at right-back.

It led to them posting just 28 per cent possession in the first half and there was criticism of the style from Gary Neville.

Jose Mourinho has defended his Spurs' team's style of play against Liverpool on Saturday

Gary Neville said he was not sure whether fans would accept that style of play from Spurs

The Sky Sports pundit suggested he was not sure fans would be okay with the 'pragmatic style of play' and compared it to Jurgen Klopp's more 'progressive football'.

But Mourinho defended the performance and pointed out how his team had improved after the introduction of Erik Lamela and Giovani Lo Celso, while explaining they could not have played the full 90 minutes.

The Portuguese manager told the Evening Standard: 'It helps to [always] have the mentality to win the next match. It doesn't matter which competition it is, how many injuries we have or what you're trying to be.

'To have imagination, to be creative, to try to build something that can make you believe you can win the match, just like we were convinced we could beat Liverpool, that's the way you create a winning mentality.

Dele Alli shows some intensity during a tackle on Andy Robertson during the clash

'You go for every game and you try, even if you have to be more strategic than philosophical. Philosophical is when you follow a certain philosophy and everything is in place to follow it.

'But another thing is when you're in trouble and you have to be pragmatic, creative and try to build something. That's what we did against Liverpool.

'We tried to create something. Even the game plan, not just the way we started the game but the overall game plan, we tried to be in conditions to win. If I start the game the same way we played the last 25 minutes, we couldn't [maintain it]. (Erik) Lamela couldn't play 90 minutes that way, Giovani (Lo Celso) didn't have the intensity to play that game for 90 minutes.

'You have to try to give the players that winning mentality even when you are in a difficult situation like we are. And that's what we want to do. So [on Tuesday] we try again, we try to win again.'

Spurs face Middlesbrough in their FA Cup third-round replay on Tuesday evening.