‘It’s too long’ – Mourinho fumes at Tottenham’s extended break

Jose Mourinho is far from happy with Tottenham Hotspur’s schedule until the end of the season and questioned the logic behind giving the team a nine-day break following their 2-0 win over West Ham.

Spurs will take to the field against Sheffield United later today, a week and a half after their London derby against the Hammers, with some sides playing as many as three matches during that interval.

The Tottenham boss insisted that the team ideally needed a three-day game between matches, especially since players are trying to build their match fitness after an extended break due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He insisted that having nine days between matches was counterproductive and fumed they will now have to contend with four matches in eleven days starting with the clash against the Blades.

Speaking in the pre-match press conference ahead of Thursday clash, Mourinho told The Daily Mail: “It’s not good for us, it’s too long (the break between matches).

“If you asked me the perfect time in between matches, I’d always say three days. Two days? No.

“But more than three days, especially in this moment when you are still chasing your best form, your best intensity, I think a three-day gap is the perfect situation.

“So I’m not happy to be waiting for this match for so long… I don’t think (it’s beneficial), especially after a victory – you want to play. I always say: after victories you don’t need time to rest.

“You don’t need recovery time, what you need is to play. And of course in this special situation of months without matches you start, you have two matches, you’re getting some intensity and then to stop for more than a week again of course is not good.

“And especially it’s not good because now we play four matches in a very small period of time. But that’s what it is and we have to just think about the match tomorrow and nothing else.”

Spurs Web Opinion

While the Premier League and the FA have done well to get the league restarted amidst the circumstances, there is no doubt that the fixture list is extremely bizarre. Some sides certainly have advantages over others given the vast disparities in the number of days different sides have between games.

Related Topics