IT IS by no means the first time Jose Mourinho has made football enemies in west London.
The Tottenham boss has almost made a career out of it ever since first arriving in this country to take charge of Chelsea nearly 17 years ago.
Jose Mourinho has hit back at Fulham boss Scott ParkerCredit: PA:Press Association
He may not have always been in the right but on this occasion he has a point when he says Fulham are wrong to complain about the late rescheduling of their clash at Spurs for tonight.
Mourinho was left fuming when last month’s original fixture got called off less than three hours before kick-off due to a Covid outbreak at the Cottagers.
It left his Carabao Cup finalists facing an even greater fixture pile-up.
That was set to worsen when Tottenham’s scheduled trip to Aston Villa tonight also had to be postponed due to more positive tests in their opponents’ camp.
Premier League chiefs announced on Monday that Spurs would host Fulham — leaving the Cottagers and their manager Scott Parker complaining about the lack of preparation time.
But needs must in these uncertain and unprecedented times in football.
Mourinho said: “Do you want to finish the season or not? Do you want football to keep going or not? Do you want to be the only country in Europe without football or not?
“Do we want the end of the season with champions, cup winners, relegation and with Europe, or we don’t? That’s the main question.
Fulham boss Scott Parker was seething at the Premier LeagueCredit: Reuters
Mourinho and Parker know each other well from their time at ChelseaCredit: News Group Newspapers Ltd
“Do you football journalists want to keep working or not? Do we want to have our salaries, yes or no?
“What do we want?
“Come on, let’s play football. Let’s behave the best we can. Let’s protect our industry. Let’s protect our image and let’s play football.”
And that was a political broadcast by the sometimes Monster Raving Loony Portuguese, who was manifestly speaking sense.
Parker claims had he known his club would be called into action this midweek he would have fielded a different line-up in their FA Cup third-round tie at QPR on Saturday.
But following their return from Covid, he made SEVEN changes and played a number of fringe players as they won 2-0 after extra time in what was their first match since Boxing Day.
So it is hard to see Parker’s point.
Parker would no doubt prefer to play Tottenham later in the season when their Wembley showpiece and possible appearances in the latter stages of the Europa League and FA Cup could increase the likelihood of their rivals fielding a “weakened” line-up.
The prospect of facing a Tottenham team which will see many of their top stars returning after being rested for Sunday’s 5-0 FA Cup win at non-league Marine, will not be a mouth-watering one for Parker and his players.
But, as Mourinho says, it is the correct call. Asked if he believes the season will finish, he said: “Since pre-season, when I was told that if you have 14 players available you play football, since that moment I thought we are going to play to end the season.
“That rule for some reason changed and we had some matches postponed and since that moment the situation becomes a little bit more difficult.
“Then we need decisions to be made and if we all are very selfish or if we all want the perfect situation for ourselves, it’s going to be very, very difficult for the Premier League.
“I could also ask why Aston Villa played Liverpool in the Cup on Friday and don’t play against me on Wednesday.
“Why don’t I play? And you want me now to be crying about that?
“I’m not crying about that. I’m crying about we cannot have more matches postponed, we can’t. The team in the Europa League is impossible to have more matches postponed.”
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
