Jose fears Son is out for season
Mourinho crushed by Son injury but vows Spurs will fight until they drop
JOSE MOurinhO claimed Tottenham’s injury situation ‘couldn’t be worse’ after Son heung-min was potentially ruled out for the rest of the season with a broken arm. The South Korea forward will have surgery this week and Mourinho is not expecting 27-year-old Son to play again this campaign. Son suffered the injury in Sunday’s 3-2 win over Aston Villa, in which he scored twice. Tottenham are already without harry Kane after he tore a hamstring last month. Tottenham’s press officer suggested Son could return for the closing games of the season and Mourinho said: ‘i hope he’s right but in my mind, no. i’m not thinking about that.’ Mourinho was speaking in the build up to tonight’s Champions League last-16 first leg against rB Leipzig. With 18-year-old Troy Parrott ‘not ready’, Mourinho is left with ‘no strikers, no market, no players, nothing’. he added: ‘The situation couldn’t be worse in terms of options. That’s a very, very, very obvious situation. There is nothing you can do. ‘in some periods i was worried about not having attacking options on the bench. now i don’t have attacking options on the pitch.’ Midfielder harry Winks said: ‘it’s a massive blow for us. Son’s been in such good form.’
FOR Jose Mourinho, the challenge of Tottenham’s Champions League clash with RB Leipzig tonight falls somewhere between Rocky Balboa and Mission: Impossible.
‘You know I like analogies,’ the Spurs manager began. ‘Sometimes I do good ones, sometimes I do silly ones.’
He was contemplating the injury to Son Heung-min, who suffered a fractured arm at Aston Villa on Sunday and has been ruled out.
‘When I arrived we were on the 12th floor,’ Mourinho said. ‘We got to the stairs and started climbing. But immediately at the beginning the stairs, they broke. So we were in trouble and we were finding a way to try to get up.
‘We found a way, we started climbing... lots of work, lots of effort... and when we are arriving on the fourth floor, which is where we wanted to arrive, somebody came and took the stairs away. So now we are in trouble.
‘Now we are with our arms on the balcony on the fourth floor and now we have two options: one is to give up and fall and normally die because it’s the fourth floor. Another way is to fight with what we have — no stairs, but arms. We are going to be on that balcony fighting with everything.’
And so it went on. Stirring stuff, but neither the smiles or wacky metaphors could mask Mourinho’s frustration. And no wonder.
The news that Son could miss the rest of the season compounds Spurs’ misery after Harry Kane’s serious hamstring injury.
Between them, Son and Kane have netted 33 goals this season. Among the supporting acts, Dele Alli is the most prolific, with eight.
So heading into this first leg, the prognosis from Mourinho was stark: ‘No strikers, no market, no players, nothing.’
Midfielder Harry Winks said: ‘It’s a massive blow for us. Son’s a top player and in such good form. He brings more than just his goals.’ Against Villa on Sunday, it appears Son played with a broken arm for most of the game, yet still found a last-gasp winner, his second goal in the 3-2 victory.
Mourinho said: ‘ The only help we can have now, especially playing at home, is our crowd. I cannot ask more than what the players are giving. They have to cope with this mental situation of losing Sonny after losing Harry a few months ago. I never ask anything from our supporters. I ask this time, maybe they want to give me what I ask. I believe so, because the players deserve it.’
Winks has been at Spurs a lot longer than Mourinho but even he has never known anything this bad in terms of injuries. ‘ For the last few years we have always found ways to get results,’ he said. ‘I am sure this game will be no different.’
Certainly, on last year’s run to the Champions League final, Spurs scaled the mountain time and again — against Barcelona, against Manchester City and then at Ajax.
‘There’s no reason why it should be any different this season,’ Winks said. ‘We’ve got the mental strength in the side and we have got the experience now as well.’
They have not coped too badly without Kane, so far, and are unbeaten in their last seven matches. ‘ That’s about work, players’ mentality, but the situation couldn’t be worse in terms of options,’ Mourinho said. ‘That’s a very, very, very obvious situation. There is nothing that you can do.
‘It’s very, very unfair — if you want to say that — for the players after such hard work because they’ve recovered the 11 points to fourth position in the Premier League.
‘When we arrive in this moment full of hope, very enthusiastic... and yesterday the bad news — the first thing was to break our hearts and the second thing was to break our team. But we have to recover from broken hearts and we have to fight.
‘Let’s go with a smile, let’s go strong. I’m not going to give up and probably opponents are thinking, “Wow, now is the time to kill them”. I understand why they think that way, but we are going to give everything and I don’t think it’s going to be easy for Leipzig to play against us.’ And he added, thinking ahead to Saturday: ‘I don’t think it’s going to be easy for Chelsea to play against us.’
Spurs’ makeshift side will have their work cut out, mind.
For all that Leipzig lack in European pedigree, they make up for it in ambition and quality. Only Bayern are ahead of them in the Bundesliga. ‘To be second, one point behind and to be fighting for the title, I think that tells a lot,’ Mourinho said.
The saving grace for Spurs is that Leipzig are also hit by injuries and suspensions. Their young coach, Julian Nagelsmann, has his own headaches to solve. But there’s a reason he was also a candidate to replace Mauricio Pochettino.
Does Jose have something to prove? ‘To prove? After 20 years of career and 25 titles?’ he smirked.
He can just focus on clinging to that balcony.