Souness: He’s finding excuses
No choice but to pick the kids, fumes Jose
Hull City, have anything riding on their meeting. Mourinho has Champions League qualification and his second trophy of the season, after lifting the EFL Cup, to play for when they meet Ajax at the Friends Arena in Stockholm next Wednesday but believes they have no support from the fixture schedulers. ‘In any country in the world, the match would be Saturday. We are sixth, it doesn’t matter. Crystal Palace are safe. So I think after Crystal Palace beat Hull City and Hull City is relegated, and Swansea is safe, I think in that moment the match has to be Saturday.’ Mourinho has not bothered to contact the Premier League with his grievance. ‘I don’t fight the battle,’ he said. ‘I am here already seven years and I never saw
any detail of trying to care about the English teams in European competitions.’ United’s manager named five youngsters who will play a part against Palace: Joel Castro Pereira, Scott McTominay, Axel Tuanzebe, Josh Harrop and Zachary Dearnley. Seniors Eric Bailly, who is banned for the final, and Paul Pogba, who has not trained since the death of his father, will provide some experience. Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness, who won the European Cup three times with Liverpool, criticised Mourinho for gifting his players excuses. ‘If you get to the later stages of European cups, you have to deal with lots of games. It’s nothing new,’ he said. ‘I never ever felt tired. ‘The manager is constantly telling them they’re tired, handing them an excuse. People say the game has changed, but has it changed that much?’
JOSE MOURINHO is furious that Manchester United have to play their final game of the season against Crystal Palace on Sunday — three days before the Europa League final — and declared he will field a seriously weakened team.
‘I hope you don’t kill me when you see my team,’ he said. ‘I hope Big Sam shows he’s a good friend and he goes slow. Tell Wilfried Zaha to go slow, leave Christian Benteke at home. I hope he goes soft on us.’
The Portuguese claims that in any other league in the world the match would have been rescheduled to the day before when it was confirmed last weekend that neither United, who are stuck in sixth even after a goalless draw with Southampton last night, and Palace, who are safe after relegating