SPURS ARE NOT A SPENT FORCE Mourinho is defiant despite lack of cash to splash on players DELE BAN ‘UNFAIR’
No plain sailing for top-flight journeys
ARSENAL were forced to make extraordinary travel arrangements for Wednesday’s trip to Manchester City.
And that will be the “new norm” for every club facing a lengthy journey, which can turn into a nightmare for away games.
Arsenal players drove themselves to Stansted, ate at the airport, and then flew to Manchester.
After they had landed, they then took coaches to the Etihad to arrive 90 minutes before kick-off.
After the game, Mikel Arteta’s squad had to be ferried to Liverpool to get a flight home. Some of Arsenal’s players did not get to bed until 3am – hardly ideal preparation for tomorrow’s trip to Brighton.
But under the new Project Restart protocols, clubs are being encouraged to get flights where possible as it is easier to socially distance than using three or four coaches. All clubs will have to make similar plans because there are few functioning hotels.
JOSE MOURINHO has launched a passionate defence of Dele Alli and claimed his FA ban is a “contradiction”.
Alli, below, will miss tonight’s clash with Manchester United after being hit with a one-game suspension by the Football Association for posting a video on social media which was deemed to be mocking coronavirus and a man of Asian appearance.
But Aston
Villa’s Jack
Grealish and Manchester
City’s Kyle
Walker both broke Government lockdown guidelines and played for their respective clubs on Wednesday night.
Tottenham boss Mourinho, who was warned by his club after taking an impromptu training session, said of Alli: “I feel that it’s for everybody or it’s for nobody and I feel it’s quite unfair for a kid who made a mistake and apologised for it, I really don’t agree with it.”
JOSE MOURINHO is relishing trying to defy the odds and big-spending rivals to get Tottenham back into the Champions League.
Mourinho has been the manager making huge signings in the past while in charge of Chelsea, Inter Milan, Manchester United and Real Madrid.
But he openly admits Tottenham will not be breaking the bank this summer.
Instead, they will rebuild using cheap deals, swaps and free transfers, while Chelsea have already spent more than £80million on Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech for next season.
The Spurs boss faces his former club United tonight knowing he is under pressure to get his new side into the top four. But he already feels handicapped.
He said: “The battle for the top four would be amazing if we all started on the same number of points. Unfortunately that is not the case. We start with minus seven with Chelsea, minus 12 to Leicester.
“It’s a strange battle to fight but it’s a great challenge, a great motivation.
“I’m not expecting us to be in a position of great
Vspending, I’m expecting my club to be very balanced and very honest.
“We know we are going to be in the same league as clubs that are going to do things completely different to us. “You have examples already of clubs making important movement in the market and we are still nine matches from the end of the season.
“Would
I expect us not to do anything?
I would say no. I expect us to do some little important things and if we improve in two, three positions that we need to improve, I am open to the challenge, I am completely supportive to the board, to the owners.
“Let’s go for it. But I am not even thinking about that because I am focused on these nine matches.”
Having to work with what he has is a huge test but also a chance for Mourinho to re-establish his reputation as one of the world’s top coaches.
They want Paris SaintGermain’s Belgium defender Thomas Meunier on a free transfer, Southampton’s Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and maybe Ryan Fraser, who will be out of contract at Bournemouth this summer.
Harry Kane is back after suffering hamstring