Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho expressed his disapproval of international friendlies on Wednesday after Chris Small and Phil Jones from his club picked up injuries during England duty.
“I am totally against the friendly matches,” he said. “I think friendly matches for the national team only make sense before the final phases.”
The United manager clarified that he believed international friendlies made sense before a big global tournament but mid-season friendlies should not be mixed with qualification matches.
“On top of that the matches are not really big matches so I am not a big fan. But I think one day I will be there so I cannot be very critical,” he added. “I don’t know how but both central defenders got injured in the English camp even before the match. The match was on the Sunday against Lithuania and they were injured in the training session. We lost four, I think [Paul] Pogba is also out, that’s five, so we are a bit in trouble.”
Mourinho also compared the situation with their opponents on Saturday West Bromwich Albion who only had one player on international.