JOSE MOURINHO has hit out at what he sees as unfair questioning over his Tottenham team selection.
After being quizzed over Steven Bergwijn’s recent omission from his starting line-ups, the Spurs boss complained that Frank Lampard, Pep Guardiola and Co do not face the same criticism.
Jose Mourinho railed against unfair treatment from the press after the win over NewcastleCredit: AP:Associated Press
After Dutch winger was left out of the XI that took on Newcastle on Wednesday, he came off the bench and made an instant impact by setting up Harry Kane’s winning goal.
That prompted a question in Mourinho’s post-match press conference over why Bergwijn has only started once in Tottenham’s last four matches.
The 57-year-old was unhappy that, in his opinion, Chelsea boss Frank Lampard had been given a free pass over benching Callum Hudson-Odoi and Pep Guardiola was rarely questioned over leaving Bernardo Silva out.
He remarked: “Look, that is a question you normally do to me but you do not do to Frank Lampard, to Jurgen Klopp, to Pep, to all the coaches of the big clubs with big players.
“Frank Lampard plays [Christian] Pulisic, you don’t ask him why he doesn’t start Hudson-Odoi or something.
“When Pep Guardiola plays someone and Bernardo Silva is on the bench, you never ask about Bernardo Silva.
“It looks like I am the only guy that has to play 15 players from the start, or I am the only guy who doesn’t have the right to have good players on the bench.
“If I start with Bergwijn today, you would now be asking me what Lucas has to do to start, what Son has to do to start.”
Mourinho explained that his players must be content with not starting every game if that is for the betterment of the team.
Tottenham were unchanged from the North London derby as they beat Newcastle 3-1 to go seventh in the table.
He continued: “They have to do nothing. They have to be team players and team players are players that start, that go on the bench, that come in for half an hour, that come in for one minute.
“How many times has Nuno [Espirito Santo] left [Adama] Traore on the bench to win matches in the last 30 minutes.
“You don’t ask Nuno why Traore is on the bench and why he’s playing [Diogo] Jota or [Daniel] Podence or [Leander] Dendoncker. It’s just me.
“So he doesn’t have to do anything else, he’s a team player.
“He plays for Tottenham and if Tottenham wants to try and compete against the best teams, Tottenham cannot have 11 good players, they need more and we’ll have them on the bench.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
