FIXTURE FARCE IS A JOKE... I NEED A BALE-OUT

Spurs kick-off with up to nine games in 21 days as Jose warns of injuries & burnout... ‘It’s worse than Christmas’

JOSE MOURINHO has warned Tottenham have been handed their worst ever start to a season, branding the fixture schedule a “total joke”.

Tottenham go to Southampton for a high- noon showdown tomorrow as part of a daunting and unprecedented run of nine games in 21 days, which the Spurs boss says is far worse than any Christmas fixture list.

They could face two Europa League ties, two Carabao Cup ties and their Premier League matches, which Mourinho says will mean they have to sleep at their training ground and could result in injuries and fatigue.

Mourinho has the week from hell ahead of him. After the trip to St Mary’s they face Leyton Orient in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday, before flying to Macedonia the next day for their European date on Thursday.

He said: “This is a total joke, but here we go. We were very, very lucky that Leyton beat Plymouth, because Plymouth would be very, very far for us.

“At this moment we are in Bulgaria. Saturday we travel to Southampton. Wednesday we will be flying again to Macedonia.

And so on and so on. It’s quite dramatic but I would prefer to be in this competition, so let’s fight as long as we can.

“I ’m concerned with the players’ welfare, I’m concerned that injuries can happen. Everybody in every club is always concerned about the Christmas period and this is much more than the Christmas period.

“When 20 clubs are concerned with the accumulation of matches around Christmas then imagine what we feel in this moment. So, yes, we are concerned.

“But the people who make these decisions they forgot that for one English team – it could be us or Wolves or Sheffield United – this situation is not possible.

“I don’t think it’s about the people who make these decisions not caring about players. I think it’s just the wrong people in the places – not people who understand anything about football. They have no idea.

“In these committees, the people who make these decisions – football people, former coaches, former players – I couldn’t believe that a decision at this level could be made.

“We don’t go home, everybody stays in the club. Tomorrow we start our recovery and it will be like this for days and days and it means sacrifices from everybody to go over this fixture period.”

Despite the daunting fixture list, Mourinho said he has too many players in his squad, and with only three substitutes and seven players on the bench he cannot keep everyone happy.

He added: “I do not like the number of players I have at the moment in my squad. It is very difficult to manage in every aspect.

“I think it’s another brilliant decision to have seven players on the bench, the only country with that. I would like to understand why.”