Jose telly-ing like it is over packed schedule

JOSE MOURINHO has warned Jurgen Klopp he will never win against the television schedule, and told the Liverpool boss to manage his squad carefully, just as he had to last season.

With eight matches in 28 days ahead in December, and key players missing, Klopp hit out at broadcasters Sky Sports and BT Sport this week, claiming they must work together to minimise the effects on overworked players.

But Mourinho insisted yesterday the scheduling has been as unrelenting since he first came to England in 2004 to manage Chelsea for the first time.

‘I think Klopp arrived by 2014-15, I arrived (in) 2004, so what he knows from 2014-15 I know from 2004 and nothing changed. We have to adapt to it and that’s the way it is,’ he said.

The Portuguese added: ‘Sometimes we have problems and then there is an accumulation of problems. It happened to us last year without Covid.

‘We had a problem with Harry Kane and Sonny (Heung-min Son) was playing every match. We had a problem with Sonny and Lucas (Moura) was playing every game with (Steven) Bergwijn – we didn’t have any other players. Lucas and Bergwijn had to play and play and play.

‘These are moments we have to try to survive and we managed to finish the season in a position that was a target for us (sixth).

‘The big clubs – and of course Liverpool is a big club and big squad full of top players – some are injured, some others are recovering. When one gets injured, another one comes back. I think the big clubs can normally cope with the situation.’

Ahead of tonight’s Europa League visit from Ludogorets, Spurs forward Moura revealed the going was tough.

‘It’s hard, it’s hard for everyone. We know the situation, we have a lot of games in a short period, every two or three days so it’s not easy,’ he said.