Jose's five-point preview - KF Shkendija
Thu 24 September 2020, 10:35|
Tottenham Hotspur
Jose Mourinho previews this evening's UEFA Europa League third qualifying round tie against KF Shkendija at the National Arena Tose Proeski, Skopje (7pm UK).
1 – Team news
We’re in the middle of such a busy schedule - how is the squad holding up?
Jose: “We are okay, some little problems, normal when we played just a couple of days ago, but we know the responsibility of this match. We took it very seriously in Bulgaria, but even so, we weren’t very far away from an unhappy night. For the game tomorrow, we didn’t need that experience, but maybe it helps, because we know how tricky this can be.”
2 – Sergio
Jose was asked in his press conference if new signing Sergio Reguilon would be involved in Skopje…
Jose: “Sergio is not on our UEFA (squad) list because we knew he wouldn’t be ready to play this match, we kept this list from the previous round so Sergio, not yet. At this moment, the list comes match after match, so if we progress, from the next match, we can change.”
3 - A learning curve
Jose felt what happened in the second qualifying round against Lokomotiv Plovdiv in Bulgaria - we were 1-0 down with 10 minutes to go, before winning 2-1 - would now stand us in good stead in the competition...
Jose: “We took it very seriously in Bulgaria, but even so, we were not far away from an unhappy night. For the game tomorrow, we didn’t need that experience, but maybe it helps, because we know how tricky this can be. It’s only one match, penalty shoot-out, not a second game, and that’s hard.”
4 - On KF Shkendija - 1
Jose has sympathy for KF Shkendija and fans in North Macedonia as once again we play behind-closed-doors due to the coronavirus pandemic...
Jose: “These are great moments for these countries, great moments for these clubs and players to play Tottenham, to play against the players we have, players they are used to watching on TV in their countries. I even shared some conversations with the Bulgarian boys, and it was exactly that, they told me one day we watch them on TV, the next day we play against them. So, it’s a big night for them and in North Macedonia, it’s not going to be different. Once more, I’m feel so sorry the stadium is empty, so sorry because it would be amazing for them to have us playing there, but it just has to be on TV.”
5 - On KF Shkendija - 2
Finally, what does Jose expect from KF Shkendija this evening?
Jose: “We analysed them, I even called my former player (Goran) Pandev, because he is the owner of the team (Akademija Pandev) that played against Shkendija last weekend. I know the stadium (National Arena Tose Proeski in Skopje), I played there in the European Super Cup (United v Real Madrid, 2017). I would say they are a similar level to our Bulgarian opponents. We are better, but we need to score goals to be better than them. In Plovdiv, everyone knows we didn’t have a bad match, not at all, I think we had a positive match from the beginning, but it was hard, and we suffered. Hopefully we can take the game in another direction and make it a bit easier for us.”
