VILLAIN? JOSE IS THE TRUTHFUL ONE
Mourinho is right, we cannot be selfish ... football must adapt and get on with it
HE may be everyone’s favourite pantomime villain but Jose Mourinho has a point.
If top- f light clubs really do want to prevent the financial meltdown of a suspended season then they really will have t o a d a p t t o t h e changing ci rcumstances.
With the Premier L e a g u e b e n d i n g over backwards to keep clubs happy, to keep rule- breakers i n c h e c k, and t o ke e p t h e government from shutting down football, Fulham’s fury at having to step in for Covid- hit Aston Villa at Spurs t onight – i nst ead of hosting Chelsea on Friday – had Mourinho shaking his head in dismay.
In response to Fulham’s anger, the Spurs boss reiterated just what is at stake.
“Do you want to finish the season or not?” he asked. “Do you want football to keep going or not? Do we want to be the only country in Europe without football or not? Do we want the e n d o f t h e s e a s o n w i t h champions, with cup winners, with relegation, with Europe, or not? That’s the main question.
“Do you football journalists want to keep working or not?
Do we want to have our salaries, yes or no? What do we want?
“Since pre- season, when I was told that if you have 14 players available you play, I thought: ‘ We are going to play, we are going to end the season and we are not going to have problems.’
“That r ul e, f or s o m e r e a s o n , changed . We had matches postponed a n d , s i n c e t h a t moment, the situation became a little bit more difficult.
“Right then, we needed leadership. We needed decisions to be made. So if we all are very selfish, or if you all want th e per f ect situation for yourselves, it i s going to be very, very difficult for the Premier League.”
Fulham should be in a decent position to field a strong side against Spurs tonight having made SEVEN changes for their FA Cup third- round win at QPR ( below). That game, which they won in extra time, was their first since Boxing Day.
For Mourinho, whose Carabao Cup finalists are also in the
Europa League, the FA Cup, and the title race, the fixture pile- up is set to reach breaking point.
Referring to Villa’s Under- 23 side that lost 4- 1 to Liverpool in the FA Cup last Friday, the Spurs boss added: “I could also ask why Aston Villa played against Liverpool in the FA Cup but they do not play against me tomorrow.
“I ’m not c r y i ng about that. I ’m crying about the fact that for Europa
League t eams w e c a n n o t afford to have a n y m o r e m a t c h e s postponed.
“L e t ’ s w a i t until .
To m o r - r ow. L et ’s s e e Ful ham’s team, their starting lineup, their bench and the players not involved in the game. Then we can all feel sorry for them.
“Or t hen we can al l think that maybe they shouldn’t complain.”