Tottenham head coach Jose Mourinho has raved about the options Tottenham have in their squad everyone is fit.
The Portuguese coach has been fairly vocal in his complaint about the lack of attacking options at his disposal recently with Harry Kane and Son Heung-min out injured.
The team has struggled to pick up results in the absence of their two main goalscorers and the Tottenham boss insisted that the club’s priority in the summer has to be building a squad capable of dealing with a similar injury crisis in the future.
Speaking to Football.London, Mourinho said on Friday: “I know the priority. I discuss with the chairman, I am not saying every day, because some days he has other things to do with the club and stays in the stadium offices, but even in these days, we are on the phone.
“I do not need a specific day to have a specific discussion with the boss and with Steve [Hitchen, Spurs’ chief scout]. We are together every day. I don’t need to have a discussion, we just need to share normally our ideas and we feel the same.
“We know that the players are tired, that the players injured, we know that we have to build a squad more balanced for next season because we don’t believe that the same situation is going to happen. But in football anything is possible and you have to be ready to cope with these unpredictable things.
“We know that we have to build a squad more balanced for next season because we don’t believe that the same situation is going to happen but in football anything is possible and you have to be ready to cope with these unpredictable things. So we know everything.
“We need to give a different shape to the squad to be ready for these unexpected things that happen to us but we all know that we have to try to win tomorrow [Burnley 1-1 draw] and we have to try to win on Tuesday.
“If we don’t then we leave, like we did in the last match against Norwich, we leave, we sleep, in peace, sad, but we sleep in peace and then the next day, [smacks his hands] here we go again.”
The 57-year-old also made no secret of the fact that he’s always prefered having plenty of options in forward areas.
He insisted he has that in North London but his hands have been tied by the team’s injury situation.
When it was put to the Spurs boss that Tottenham’s habit of relaunching leads was unlike Mourinho teams in the past, he responded: “I know why but a ‘Jose statistic’ is also based on when you change players and you improve your team. Do you want an example? Arjen Robben on the bench, and Duff and Joe Cole playing, or vice-versa.
“Minute 70 and one goes out, the other one goes in. You know what the defenders of the opposition they do? (He bows his head) ‘oh f***’.
“It’s exactly that. It’s Ronaldo, Benzema and Di Maria and then minute 70 you bring on Higuain, Callejon, you know? We have the squad for that. Imagine my team playing, Lucas, Kane, Alli and Son, and Lucas and Son, minute 70 they are tired. Let’s go, Lamela and Bergwijn.
“We have the squad for that. Midfield players – you are feeling the team is going a little bit down. You feel the players are a little bit in trouble – change one and get another one.
“Imagine against Norwich – Sissoko on the bench, Winks tired. He was tired. Played 11 or 12 consecutive matches. Minute 75 – Winks out, Sissoko in.
“We have a squad for that. It’s not like I’m saying our squad is not good. The squad is good. In this moment we are in trouble. It’s as simple as that.
“I understand perfectly what you are saying. When you are winning there is normally more space for you to counter-attack, to recover the ball, to go in transition.”
Spurs Web Opinion
The section of the fan base who are already jumping on Mourinho need to realise that even Pochettino never had to contend with injuries of this scale during any of his five and a half years at the club. Additionally, the team were in poor form when Jose arrived and completely devoid of confidence. It is extremely harsh to judge him until he’s had a preseason to work with the squad and get his ideas across.
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