{"id":567402,"date":"2020-09-28T15:45:43","date_gmt":"2020-09-28T19:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=567402"},"modified":"2020-09-28T15:45:43","modified_gmt":"2020-09-28T19:45:43","slug":"jose-mourinho-claims-tottenham-hotspur-cannot-challenge-for-carabao-cup-with-fixture-pile-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2020\/09\/28\/jose-mourinho-claims-tottenham-hotspur-cannot-challenge-for-carabao-cup-with-fixture-pile-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Jose Mourinho Claims Tottenham Hotspur Cannot Challenge for Carabao Cup With Fixture Pile-Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tottenham Hotspur<\/a> manager Jose Mourinho has admitted he does not think he will be able to challenge for the Carabao Cup this season.<\/p>\n

Spurs face Chelsea<\/a> in the fourth round of the competition on Tuesday, then host Israeli side Maccabi Haifa in their final Europa League qualifier 48 hours later.<\/p>\n

Jose Mourinho Bemoans Packed Schedule as Carabao Cup Forced Down List of Priorities<\/h2>\n

Prioritising Competitions<\/h3>\n

Spurs enter a hectic week on the back of a disappointing and frustrating 1-1 draw against Newcastle United<\/a>. While the match has been marred by a controversial decision to award a penalty to Newcastle in stoppage time, Spurs lost in-form attacker Son Heung-min<\/a> to injury.<\/p>\n

With the Korean unavailable and talisman Harry Kane<\/a> completing the full 90 minutes against the Magpies, Mourinho faces a decision of having to prioritise the Carabao Cup or Europa League. Should Spurs qualify for the Europa League group stage, the club will net \u00a315 million<\/a> toward improving the current squad.<\/p>\n

Mourinho believes he will have to sacrifice the Carabao Cup fixture against Chelsea in favour of Europa League football.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to fight for the Carabao [Cup] but I don’t think I can\u201d, Mourinho told the Evening Standard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a game on Thursday that gives us not as much money as the Champions League but the group phase of the Europa League gives us a certain amount that for a club like us is very important.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a competition with a possible group phase that gives us a good chance to go through to the knockout stage, so this game on Thursday is very important for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bracing for More Injuries<\/h3>\n

Following the draw against Newcastle United<\/a>, Mourinho told football.london<\/a> the reason behind Son\u2019s half-time withdrawal was due to a hamstring injury. The Portuguese added the Korean could be out for quite some time with an official scan scheduled this week.<\/p>\n

As Spurs gear up for a crucial week, Mourinho has thrown caution to the wind. The Portuguese warned Son’s injury could be the first of many in a busy schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you know and forgetting the past Thursday, we played on the Sunday, now we play on the Tuesday, we play on the Thursday, we play on the Sunday again,\u201d Mourinho said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Sonny was just the first [injury]. More will come. So he was the first, but more will come.\u201d<\/p>\n

When quizzed about rotating his squad, Mourinho didn\u2019t hesitate to express his feelings behind the upcoming schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cApart from Sonny, everybody is in contention but I think you can imagine that with a game on Thursday that decides a very important thing for us, I think the EFL<\/a> made a decision for us. They didn’t even create a problem – they made a decision for us. So that’s the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to [rotate the squad]. We know the consequences of it because not every player is the same. And not every player has the same group dynamic because we have clearly a spine and obviously you lose potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

Main Photo
\nEmbed from Getty Images<\/a>