Here are your Tottenham Hotspur evening headlines for Tuesday, January 12.
Scott Parker rages at Premier League
Scott Parker has raged at the Premier League for the hurried decision to move Fulham's match against Spurs a week earlier as Aston Villa deal with their Covid-19 outbreak.
Fulham's match against Spurs had been scheduled to be played on December 30 but it was postponed due a coronavirus outbreak in the west Londoners' camp.
With Villa dealing with their own Covid outbreak, their midweek match against Spurs was also postponed. This left Tottenham with a spare midweek and the Premier League decided to reschedule the missed Fulham game.
They gave Parker and his team two days to prepare for the fixture, and the Fulham manager is not pleased with the decision.
"The possibility of playing Spurs on Wednesday came on Saturday," said Parker as reported by the Mirror. "We didn’t think that was realistic and we were informed Monday morning at 9:30. To confirm that on Monday morning is scandalous. I accept we have to play the game, but it’s the notice."
He added: "Villa fielded an U18/23 team in the cup. Therefore their game vs Spurs is likely to get cancelled after their well documented Covid outbreak.
"So tell us we could have a game. Be proactive. If we'd known last Thursday it wouldn't be a problem."
Mourinho aims Ozil dig
Jose Mourinho aimed a dig at Mesut Ozil after the Arsenal midfielder said that he would rather retire than play for Spurs.
In a Q and A on Twitter, Ozil was asked whether he would retire or play for Spurs if they were his only option when his Arsenal contract expires this summer. Ozil said he would retire.
But when informed of Ozil's answer, Mourinho jibed: "Who told him that Tottenham would be interested in signing him?"
Mourinho and Ozil worked together at Real Madrid, with the former enjoying some of his best performances under the Portuguese manager.
Carlos Vinicius praised
Mourinho singled out Carlos Vinicius for special praise after the Brazilian scored a hat-trick in Spurs' 5-0 victory over Marine on Sunday.
"It's good for Carlos," Mourinho told the club website. "The third goal really is an amazing goal.
"The other two are what I call striker’s goals, easy goals but you have to be there to make it easy."
Mourinho also joked about Vinicius' English skills as he is taught by fellow Brazilian, Lucas Moura. "[I will answer] only with one condition," he said. "I want to watch the interview with Vinicius speaking English. I want to understand the quality of his teacher, Lucas Moura."
When told that Carlos managed ten words, Mourinho said: "Okay, next time. That’s a start."
