TOTTENHAM manager Jose Mourinho has labelled the club’s congested fixture list as ‘not human’ – but vowed to give each competition his best shot.
Chairman Daniel Levy revealed in Amazon’s All or Nothing documentary that he is demanding trophies from Mourinho.
Mourinho has bemoaned his side’s challenging fixture listCredit: Getty Images – Getty
But the 57-year-old’s task has been made more difficult by the horror run of fixtures that his side will face in the opening weeks of the season.
Including Europa League qualifiers and Carabao Cup action, Tottenham could face NINE games in just 24 days as they get their 2020-21 season up and running.
And the players themselves know they are in for a tall order.
Mourinho said of the daunting prospect: “If I think too much about it, I will get depressed.
“I want to go to every match positive. But the other day I made a challenge with my boys, asking them which one of them thinks they can play all these nine matches for 90 minutes – and nobody told me ‘I can’.
“It is a big risk in terms of our ambitions, first of all, because it is very, very possible you lose one of these matches.
“The Premier League you can lose and stay in competition, but if you lose in the Europa League, you go out. If you lose in the Carabao Cup, you go out too. It is a big risk.
“Injuries obviously [are also a risk]. This is something unique. It has never happened, never happened.
Tottenham came sixth in Mourinho’s first season at the helmCredit: Getty Images – Getty
“If we decide that one of these competitions is not important for us, we go against the nature of the club, we go against our own nature, we go against our ambitions because in the Europa League and the League Cup, we have our ambitions. We have our rights to try and fight for the competitions.
“In the end, we end by asking ‘which professionals? Who are the people? Who are the illuminated that make these decisions?’
“Because this is not about Tottenham. This is about an English club. It was Tottenham but it could be Wolves, it could be Sheffield United.”
In questioning authorities’ decision-making with regards to the schedule, Mourinho wondered if they were trying to force him into picking a youth team in the League Cup, as Liverpool did last season.
The Portuguese continued: “It is not about us but I would like to know [who makes these decisions], because in this moment they hide.
“Who makes a team play Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday, Tuesday again, Thursday again, Sunday again.
“Do they want us to play with the youth team in the Carabao Cup? Do they want us? That’s my question.”
Spurs get their Europa League campaign underway against Lokomotiv Plovdiv on September 17, before facing the winner of Leyton Orient and Plymouth Argyle in round three of the League Cup.
And Mourinho, like most supporters, is hopeful of recruiting a new striker in a bid to cope with the fixture congestion.
He added: “After the gift we had from the EFL and Uefa, that gives me after 20 years of football a unique experience of playing Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday for two consecutive weeks, we realise that more than ever we need [a new forward].”
Spurs are hoping to recruit competition for talisman Harry KaneCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Jose Mourinho wants to make leader Harry Kane ‘explode’ at Tottenham in All or Nothing doc
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
