Kevin Phillips has claimed he would have been “gutted” if he was in the Tottenham Hotspur squad that was criticised by manager Jose Mourinho earlier this week, per Football Insider.
What’s the word?
Mourinho said after the encounter with RB Leipzig, which Spurs lost 3-0, leading to a 4-0 aggregate defeat in the Champions League Round of 16, that the entirety of the Bundesliga club’s bench would find its way into his first-team.
Phillips, though, does not believe that his players will have been thrilled to hear the Portuguese’s comments.
Of course, Spurs have a number of injury problems to contend with; Harry Kane, Son Heung-Min, Steven Bergwijn, Moussa Sissoko, and Hugo Lloris have all been out recently.
He said: “Mourinho knows what he is saying, he is not daft.
“He is clever in what he says and getting his message out there, whether that is a reminder to the owner that he needs player in the summer, funds need to be made available.
“If I am a player out there, running around, putting a shift in and your manager says that their bench could get in our starting eleven I would be gutted.
“That, from your own manager? Wow. I understand what he is saying because at the moment they probably could! But whether it is right or wrong…”
Whining
This isn’t a surprise.
Mourinho has been in a negative mood since the injury crisis started to bite and has used it as a way of managing expectations.
Spurs are currently eighth in the Premier League, out of the FA Cup and also out of the Champions League.
No clues whatsoever: Which seasons do these iconic Spurs images belong to?
They have nothing to fight for apart from Champions League qualification and Mourinho’s comments will surely have been designed to light a fire under the players he does have available.
Phillips, 46, is right to call attention to it, though, and to claim that the players may not have been happy to hear it.
It remains to be seen if it has the desired effect.