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Now you’ve had an unexpected gap between matches, have your thoughts changed on your team selection?
For sure, not playing on Saturday gave us the possibility to recover better and the situation has changed. When you play every two to three days, it’s difficult. You need to make rotation because the players need to rest otherwise you risk injuries. At the same time in two to three days you need energy. In this case the game against Manchester City was postponed and gave us the possibility to recover well and gave me the possibility to pick up the starting XI more relaxed.
What do you think about Ruben Amorim, Sporting’s coach?
I have a great respect for Amorim. He’s showing to be a really good coach. He’s a young coach but he’s showing he has a good idea. Sporting is a really good team, they won the league after many, many years which shows you are doing a fantastic job with the players. I have a lot of respect. It’s always difficult to play against Portuguese teams. Sporting Lisbon, Benfica, Porto, it’s always difficult, not only for Tottenham but all the teams. For this reason we have a great respect. We know the game will be tough tomorrow but in the Champions League you are playing against massive teams, the best teams in the world.
What’s the latest team news? Have you had to leave anyone behind?
No difference compared to the last game. Only Lucas Moura is still out. His recovery is going well but I think we’ll probably see him after the international break. The others are all available.
You’ve now got so much talent up front, it’s difficult to balance picking them to keep rhythm but also giving them a rest?
For sure I think every manager, every coach likes this kind of problem. It means up front we have four players for three places. We are in the right way because to face four competitions, especially if you are to play in the Champions League, you need to have a deep squad. At the moment we have four players and every one deserves to play. We started with Sonny, Harry and Deki, then the last games I prefer to give the possibility to Richy to play. For sure I have the possibility to pick up three important players and know that I have another player on the bench who is ready to come on and help us, like in the last game against Marseille. It was 0-0, I decided to put Deki into the pitch and to keep also the three strikers to become more offensive. I think this is an important solution for me. For sure the game postponed against Manchester City gave me the possibility to try to make a different decision than before all this. Against Manchester City I decided to play with some players, now I changed something in my mind. I try to pick the best. But for sure the others are creating for me a lot of positive problems here.
Are you concerned that rescheduling matches will bring problems later on in this busy season?
You know that this season will be very difficult for the World Cup, because we know very well that we are prepared to play every two to three days. This is not simple. Honestly our schedule in the last month was really really difficult. For sure the game that the Premier League decided to postpone helped us a bit to recover and then to face the last two games before the international break with more energy. It has given me the possibility to make the best rotation and pick the best starting XI for this game and then for the next game against Leicester on Saturday because we are going to play that match which is a good decision. For sure the schedule, to find time and space to recover these type of games would be very, very difficult.
Son hasn’t been used to being rotated at Spurs because the squad hasn’t been strong enough and you’d previously said you’d be crazy to rotate him, but now you have the options is that something that might happen and have you had to speak to him to prepare himself for that at some point?
I think when you try to build something important, when you try to build something with ambition and try to be competitive and fight to win, you have to change old habits, otherwise it means you want to stay in balance and it means you don’t want to have ambition. For this reason all the players have to accept the rotation especially up front, we have four players. For me especially it’s very difficult right now to drop one of these four players, but I have to make the best decision for the team, also for the players. Sometimes it’s better to rest and don’t start a game, to come in and play only 20 or 30 minutes and then play the following games. For sure I’m here to try to change the old habit. The old habit was that the players were used to playing in every game. What happened in this type of situation is that you don’t have great possibilities to win. You try to make the players happy, but big clubs have a big squad, a deep squad. In this moment we don’t have a big squad but we have just started to try to follow this path. For this reason what happens with one of these four players will be normal and you have to know it’s good for a coach like me to have these options.
Ruben Amorim said Tottenham are the favourites to win this group, is this fair?
I think honestly that this group, I see a great balance. For this reason this group will be very difficult because every game you can lose or drop points. Our ambition is to try to go to the next round and we are working for this. We want to try to do it because it means that we are taking another step to improve and to be competitive and fight for something important in the future. We’ll see tomorrow, for me the game will be a tough game but for sure it will be tough for us and them also.
What has been your reaction to the last few days in England?
For sure what happened in the last few days in England is something extraordinary. Unfortunately, the Queen died. Honestly, on Thursday, we were all sad because we are talking about a person that her service for this country was outstanding. I think that in this moment there is big sadness in the country for this and [I was] living this atmosphere in London. And on Friday I went to Buckingham Palace like a normal person, because I am normal person! I did it with a hat to live this situation because I think for sure we will remember this for the rest of our lives. I want to give condolences from me, from the club, from the players to the royal family. Then football has to go ahead and we will do it, but I think the Premier League made an important decision to stop football and show respect for the death of the Queen.
Why was it important for you to go to the palace?
We are talking about a situation that will find it in the story of the future. To stay here in this moment and to live this moment here is for sure a sad moment, but at the same time it is a special moment because we are talking about the death of the Queen. She was 96 years old and honestly for me it was very difficult to believe she was dead, because in your mind you think that the Queen was immortal. To live this situation in London, in this specific moment, for sure I will keep this in my heart, in my mind for the rest of my life.
