Chris Sutton has told Jose Mourinho to stop moaning as Tottenham Hotspur attempt to qualify for the Champions League this season, per BBC Sport.
What’s he said?
Spurs are currently without a senior striker after injures sustained by both Harry Kane and Son Heung-min.
Nevertheless, they remain in contention to qualify for European competition, sitting four points behind fourth-placed Chelsea, who beat them 2-1 at Stamford Bridge last weekend.
Sutton was asked to rank the contenders for qualification – which stretches down to 11th-placed Everton, who are eight points behind the Blues – and made comment on how negative Mourinho has been in recent weeks.
He said, after the loss to Chelsea, that he wished it was already pre-season, despite his side also remaining in both the FA Cup and the Champions League.
Sutton said: “Yes, Spurs have got injury problems but I don’t agree with the way Jose Mourinho has dealt with them.
“Has he got a point, blaming all their problems on being without the likes of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min? No.
“This Mourinho, who is throwing his toys out of the pram, is the one I think a lot of people thought we would see at Spurs, so it is not a surprise.
“Of course it is not ideal to lose your star striker and his main back-up but they have still got lots of quality in their squad.
“Rather than moan, Mourinho’s job is to get the best out of the other players in his squad – but he is not doing that at the moment.
“I am going to rule them out, for him being so mopey.”
No clues whatsoever: Which seasons do these iconic Spurs images belong to?
Spot on
Mourinho, who is earning £15m-a-year at Spurs according to The Daily Mail, needs to pack this in and attempt to get a tune out of the players he has at his disposal, exactly as Sutton has suggested.
Every club attempting to chase qualification for the Champions League have shown that they can drop points – both Chelsea and Spurs have lost nine games this season – meaning that the door is still ajar to every club in the chasing pack.
Mourinho, though, seems insistent on focusing on the shortcomings of his squad instead of focusing on the fact that the likes of Steven Bergwijn, Dele Alli, Lucas Moura and Giovani Lo Celso are all fit and attempting to fire.
There is no reason to rule Spurs out short of doubting the Portuguese’s motivation.
One can understand why Sutton doesn’t expect them to be playing Champions League football next season.
Meanwhile, ex-Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino has been hailed by a man he bombed out of the club!
