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Football

20th Nov 2020

José Mourinho takes swipe at Gareth Southgate for overuse of Spurs players

Jose Mourinho has demanded answers from Gareth Southgate regarding which managers put pressure on the England camp not to use their players

Reuben Pinder

José feels certain clubs put more pressure on national team coaches to rest their players

José Mourinho has taken a swipe at Gareth Southgate for his apparent overuse of Tottenham players during the international break compared to teams of other clubs.

Both Harry Kane and Eric Dier played in England’s dead rubber against Iceland on Wednesday, which saw the Three Lions take all three meaningless points with a 4-0 victory.

But Mourinho would have preferred to see his players get more of a rest, with three games in eight days coming up.

Speaking ahead of Tottenham’s Premier League clash against Manchester City this weekend, the Spurs boss said Southgate should reveal the names of certain managers who Southgate claims put more pressure on the England camp to rest their players.

“Gareth Southgate supposedly said that some football club managers put pressure on their players not to play for the national team,” Mourinho said.

“Because of that he feels the need to call club managers to try to cool down the emotions. I would like him to say who. I would like him to say which are the coaches that put pressure on the players not to go.

“And I would like him to say which are the coaches that he calls and speaks on the phone with them.

“Apart from that, he has the right to call the players he wants, he wants to win matches. Especially after a defeat, he wants to win the next match. I sympathise with that.

“Of course we all know Sterling is going to play tomorrow, when Dier left injured in the previous month, he didn’t play for two matches for Tottenham. He needed a couple of weeks to recover.

“Raheem’s going to play tomorrow. These are the little details that Gareth should explain to us all.”

Raheem Sterling played no part in any of England’s three games in this international break, but is expected to play tomorrow for City having been well rested over the past week.