Jose Mourinho has said the yellow card he received during Tottenham's 1-0 Premier League defeat at Southampton was "fair," because he was "rude to an idiot."

Spurs coach Mourinho was booked by referee Mike Dean on 77 minutes after the Portuguese approached the Southampton bench.

Mourinho seemed to cause an argument by making a comment to members of Southampton's coaching staff, leading Dean to present the yellow card to the former Manchester United boss, who nodded in agreement.

"I clearly deserved the yellow card as I was rude," Mourinho said after the game.

"But I was rude to an idiot. Because I was rude I deserved the yellow card."

Moments earlier the Spurs coach saw his captain Harry Kane depart the pitch with an injury. The England striker limped off while clutching his hamstring, having sustained the issue as he netted an offside strike.

"It is negative, hamstring is always negative," Mourinho said of the injury. "Is it a tear, is it a small thing, is it a spasm, is it a contraction? At this moment I cannot say."

Mourinho was also frustrated by Tanguy Ndombele's first-half injury, which saw the 23-year-old substituted.

"He is always injured," Mourinho said. "He's injured, he's not injured, he plays one match. We are full of hopes and this is since the beginning of the season.

"Of course it is a concern -- you think you have a player, you think the player is in an evolution process, he plays very well against Norwich, you think today he is ready for it and he is not ready for it."

Another source of frustration for the Portuguese was VAR's involvement in the game, which was settled by Danny Ings' 13th league goal of the season.

In particular, Mourinho said Spurs should have been awarded a penalty for a foul on Dele Alli.

"For me, at this moment, the referees are not the referees," he said. "VAR should be called video referees. Our [disallowed] goal I also don't know, but I confess that I didn't watch it yet.

"What I know is that the Dele Alli penalty was a penalty and the VAR didn't interfere. Then they interfered in the analysis of a penalty that from 75 yards away I knew was not a penalty.

"I think they gave the VAR analysis to try to make us blind about the penalty that was a penalty. They decide not even to analyse on the VAR. This is going in a very bad direction."

The defeat saw Spurs remain on 30 points, six behind fourth-placed Chelsea. It also meant the club's wait for a clean sheet away in the Premier League extended to exactly one year.