Jose Mourinho blamed fatigue as Tottenham surrendered two late goals in their 3-2 win against West Ham.

The north London side took a three-goal lead by the 49th minute, with Son Heung-min, Lucas Moura and Harry Kane all scoring.

Despite a predominantly comfortable match for the visitors, they conceded twice to Michail Antonio and Angelo Ogbonna before claiming the three points.

READ MORE: Jose Mourinho makes winning start to life at Tottenham with victory at West Ham

READ MORE: Mourinho to bring 'passion' and 'happiness' to Tottenham

Mourinho was appointed as Tottenham manager on Wednesday after the dramatic sacking of Mauricio Pochettino on Tuesday night.

It followed an international break which saw the likes of stars Kane and Son travel to Kosovo and Lebanon respectively.

And the former Chelsea and Manchester United boss mischievously hinted at scheduling issues once again - a trademark of his tenure in England - by claiming the West Ham goals were a product of fatigue.

“I was happy for an hour, we were playing very well,” He told BT Sport. “We were bringing to the game some things we had trained on a little bit.

• Watch exclusive live Premier League football on Prime Video. Sign up today.

“We spoke a lot about it and I was really happy and we had the chance to kill the game.

“I think we are lucky that I have so many years in the Premier League, that I told the players at half-time, ‘even if the score is 3-0, in minute 85 the game will be open’ and I think they understood that.

“But for the last 20 minutes of course, fatigue – people coming from their national teams and all the emotions of losing their manager and another one coming.”

Dele Alli was an immediate subject of the new manager’s attention - with the England international questioned on the boss’s first day in the job.

It seemed to provoke an immediate response from former MK Dons man Alli - who played a pivotal role in the first two goals Tottenham scored.

And Mourinho was impressed with Alli’s response in his first match.

“I was happy with everyone, but if you ask if I was happy with Dele, then yes,” Mourinho added. “I spent a few minutes with him in training and also in our social life, outside the pitch.

“The best Dele has to be back. He’s too good not to be in the national team, he’s too good to not be a fundamental player for Spurs and he’s too good to not be one of the best players in the world.

“So he has to develop. He has to start from now, hopefully, without injuries and with some stability from a tactical point of view.

“He’s a fantastic player and today he showed that so I’m happy for him.”

Featured from our writers:

• Jose Mourinho makes winning start to life at Tottenham with victory at West Ham

• Glenn Hoddle: Chelsea's young players could 'challenge for title'

• Former Spurs midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng to start anti-racism task force

Yahoo Sport UK presents Tailgate