It is no secret that Jose Mourinho is not a big fan of the international break. The Tottenham boss, like all other managers, is worried about the safety of his key players, but nothing is in his hands.
A bunch of Tottenham stars have been called up by their national teams for the international games that begin next week. Harry Kane will lead England but, for once, his fitness problems are not the biggest concern to Spurs fans.
Gareth Bale is slowly getting back to his best. The Welshman scored the winner against Brighton last week, and he played 65 minutes for Tottenham in the Europa League against Ludogorets on Thursday.
Mourinho has been extremely cautious about Bale since he returned to Tottenham in the summer. The international break is a big concern for the Spurs boss with respect to Bale, but one other issue has made him more uncomfortable.
Wales boss Ryan Giggs will not lead the Wales squad after everything that happened this week. His assistants – Robert Page and Albert Stuivenberg – will take over from the Manchester United legend for the upcoming games. The latter also happens to be Mikel Arteta’s assistant across North London at Arsenal.
That, predictably, has irked Mourinho. The Spurs boss has revealed that he is not comfortable with his player working under an Arsenal coach. But there is nothing he can do about it.
Mourinho voices concern
He told the Guardian: “The fact that one of the coaches is an Arsenal coach does not make me very comfortable. Honestly, it doesn’t make me very comfortable. National team matches should have coaches that work exclusively for them, not coaches who work for other clubs.
“He’s working so much and we’re all working so carefully with him that we don’t want to destroy the work everybody is doing for the last couple of months. If they care as much about him as we do, they have to manage the recovery period.”
Mourinho already has a rough relationship with everyone associated with Arsenal. The Spurs boss will be hoping that Bale returns unscathed. But, if the Welshman suffers an injury, the Gunners can expect yet another verbal attack from the Tottenham manager.
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