BLAME ENGLAND!
Jose: Kane injury down to playing in all qualifiers
Jose Mourinho says if too much football drove harry Kane to injury then england are to blame and not Tottenham.
Kane, who has played 31 games for club and country this season, is having surgery on a torn hamstring this weekend and has been ruled out until April.
‘if he played too many matches, they were the national team friendlies,’ said Tottenham boss Mourinho.
england have played no friendlies this season, but they have played six euro 2020 qualifiers, five of which were one-sided. Kane started them all.
At spurs, he has played virtually non- stop because the squad is low on alternatives at centre forward.
‘Give him a break to play who?’ said Mourinho when asked if he might have rested Kane. ‘no, not really. Apart from Burnley, when we won with a substantial difference, every game was tight and so difficult. no conditions to leave such an important and unique player out.’
Tottenham are in the transfer market for cover and have made enquiries for Krzysztof Piatek of AC Milan, Andre silva, on loan from AC Milan at eintracht Frankfurt and Lyon’s Moussa Dembele.
The FA have offered more live rights for FA Cup matches to the BBC and BT Sport after ending their exclusive deal with betting websites, but only one additional game will be streamed live in the fourth round.
The FA announced yesterday that every Cup tie outside the 3pm blackout will be broadcast live. however, with eight ties already selected for TV coverage and seven kicking off at 3pm, the only extra fourth- round match to be shown will be Queens Park Rangers v Sheffield Wednesday.
And given the kick- off time of 8pm on Friday January 24, that is not a fixture which is likely to attract a bumper audience.
The game will be streamed on the governing body’s own website and those of the BBC and BT
Sport if they want it. Additional production costs will be covered by the FA, although a live feed from their international broadcast partners will be available, so the only extra expense would be providing commentators and pundits.
The FA moved to revise their broadcasting arrangements for the fourth round after the outcry from politicians and campaigners which followed the Daily Mail’s revelation that betting websites such as Bet365 were the only place to watch live coverage of 22 of last weekend’s 32 FA Cup third-round ties. On Thursday the betting companies voluntarily gave up their exclusive rights, which cover matches not selected by the BBC or BT Sport and not kicking off at 3pm on a Saturday.
Yesterday the FA confirmed their intention to make the rights more widely available.
That will only mean one extra game in the fourth round, and all eight fifth-round games are also likely to be televised — although, with the arrangement due to stay in place for the next two seasons, the majority of third-round ties will be streamed next term.
‘The FA is in discussions with the BBC and BT Sport, our UK broadcast partners for the emirates FA Cup, to ensure that every match scheduled outside of the Saturday blocked broadcast hours is now made available to watch live on BBC, BT Sport, or on FA platforms. Further details will be confirmed in due course,’ an FA spokesperson said.
The FA’s controversial streaming deal was negotiated with the gambling companies in early 2017 by marketing giant IMG, which bought the global betting rights to the competition from the FA — before the governing body decided to cancel their partnership with Ladbrokes and not enter into any further betting sponsorships.
MPs and campaigners were outraged by the structure of the deals, which made the matches available exclusively on betting websites to signed-up account holders, seeing that as a strong incentive for football fans to gamble.
FA CUP BETTING DEAL'S SLAP IN FACE TO WILLIAM Shock: Wednesday’s Mail