Jose Mourinho says Troy Parrott has to work hard to improve and feels the Tottenham teenager’s ineffective outing against Norwich shows he was right to leave him out of the side for so long.
There were loud cheers from supporters when the 18-year-old came off the bench at the start of extra-time in Wednesday’s FA Cup fifth-round tie, though he struggled to make an impact as the match went to a penalty shootout.
The Republic of Ireland youngster bravely stepped up to take Spurs’ fourth penalty, which was saved by Tim Krul, with Gedson Fernandes’ effort also stopped as Tottenham limped out of the competition.
While Mourinho defended Parrott over his penalty miss, he was quick to point out that the young striker had not impressed in his cameo appearance and is still not ready for a bigger role in the side despite the clamour from fans to see more of him.
Mourinho said of Parrott: “The penalty is nothing. He is a penalty taker in the under-23s, he scores every one in the unders.
“He was so confident, he wanted to take one, he wanted to take the responsibility, it’s an experience in his career.
“The problem is not his experience. The problem is the 30 minutes.
“Now people can see that he has to work a lot so don’t think that Parrott is the second Harry Kane because he’s just a young kid that needs to work.
Parrott was only involved because Tottenham’s squad has been stretched to breaking point with injuries and Mourinho says the club cannot put out their strongest team against both Burnley at the weekend and RB Leipzig in midweek.
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