George Aluo
The fringe players in Coach Jose Mourinho’s star studded squad are not happy with the coach and they are not hiding.
This much played out when the team played host to Royal Antwerp of Belgium in a Europa League game Thursday night.
Interestingly, Mourinho whose side is on top of the EPL log said he really does not care how a player feels insisting that what bothers him is how to keep winning to ensure Tottenham ends up with a trophy this term.
It would be noted that Harry Winks one of the players substituted in the game against Antwerp on Thursday headed straight to the tunnel after being pulled out, while Dele Alli who was one of the subs not used refused to join his team mates in the usual post match warm up.
Alli at some point during the match walked away from the bench and opted to stay in the dressing room.
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Apparently not bothered by the attitude of the players, Mourinho said it is only natural for a player not to be happy warming the bench.
“Let’s not run away from the reality. A player that is on the bench and then realises that he’s not one of the five players [coming on] of course is not a happy player and I wouldn’t expect him to be happy. I can’t keep the [whole] squad happy…they’re not happy because they’re not playing,” Mourinho said.
The coach was however quick in warning the bench warmers to be ready to part a role for the team this busy festive season when there would be fixture congestion.
Spurs are in for a litmus test that would see them play seven EPL games and a Carabo Cup match in 20 days beginning with this weekend’s away tie against Crystal Palace.
In Mourinho’s words: “The Europa League is over now for a couple of months but now is the accumulation of matches in the Premier League that, to be honest, are more difficult than the Europa League matches because the quality of the teams is higher.
We also have a quarter-final [of the Carabao Cup] to play at Stoke. So many matches. Do we need to make rotations? Of course we need to. It is impossible for a player to play all these matches in a short period of time. Of course, we need to do it and we have to do it but at the same time there are other players who we have to try to give the most minutes possible to because they can make a difference.”
