Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho has hit out at Gareth Southgate for his double standards with regards to team selection.
The England manager recently left Raheem Sterling out of the England squad due to a calf injury and the winger missed the games against Belgium and Iceland.
Southgate’s decision allowed Sterling to return to training with Manchester City on Friday and he is all set to start against Tottenham at the weekend.
However the likes of Harry Kane had to play through fatigue during the international break and Jose Mourinho is not happy with the discrepancy in the way the England manager is treating players from different clubs.
Recently the England manager claimed that he was under huge pressure from clubs to reduce the workload on the players during international duty and it seems that Southgate caved in after pressure from Manchester City.
It is understandable why Jose Mourinho is frustrated and he is demanding an explanation from the England manager.
Manchester City will be able to field a fresh attacker in Raheem Sterling at the weekend while Tottenham will have to deal with a fatigued Harry Kane.
Mourinho said to Guardian: “Of course we all know that Sterling is going to play. When Eric Dier left the national team injured last month, he didn’t play [the next] two matches for Tottenham. He didn’t play the Premier League match and the Europa League match. He needed a couple of weeks to recover, and Raheem is going to play tomorrow. These are the little details that I think Gareth should explain to us all.”
“I read that Southgate told that some managers put pressure [on players] not to play for the national team and, because of that, he feels sometimes the need to call club managers to try to cool down the emotions and try to control the difficult situation for him,” Mourinho said.
“I would like him to say who. I would like him to say which are the coaches who put pressure on the players not to go, and I would like him to say which are the coaches he calls and speaks on the phone with. Apart from that, he has the right, the power, to call the players he wants.”
