Mourinho brands Spurs' packed schedule a 'total joke'

(Reuters) - Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho has fired a broadside at the Premier League and English Football League (EFL) as his team prepare to play three times in a week on multiple fronts.

Spurs are having to negotiate the Europa League qualifying rounds by winning three matches to get into the group stage, with Premier League and League Cup matches also in the mix.

After returning from Bulgaria where they beat Lokomotiv Plovdiv on Thursday, Tottenham visit Southampton in the Premier League on Sunday and Leyton Orient in the League Cup on Tuesday before a trip to Macedonia to play Shkendija on Thursday.

“The people who make these decisions, they forgot that one English team... could be Spurs, could be Wolves or Sheffield United or another one. They forgot this situation is not possible,” Mourinho told reporters.

“This is a joke... a total joke, but here we go. We were very, very lucky that Leyton Orient beat Plymouth because Plymouth would be very, very far for us.

“Saturday we will be in Southampton, Wednesday we will be flying again to Macedonia and so on and so on. It’s quite dramatic but I would prefer to be in this competition (Europa League) so let’s fight until we can.”

Mourinho also grumbled at the fact that Sunday’s Premier League match would be kicking off at 12 pm, giving the squad less time to rest after returning to London early on Friday.

“We are going to try to recover the best we can,” Mourinho added. “The game could be 5 pm or 6 pm to give us more time. But no, it’s 12 pm and that’s another great decision - so it has to be, it has to be.”