Mourinho has 40 players and moans about fixtures... try three games in six days with just 21
WHEN Jose Mourinho complains about player fatigue in his vast squad, amid a gruelling fixture schedule, it is enough to prompt envy in Jim Duffy.
If his Morton side are to prevail in reaching the Premiership via the Play-offs, they will have to negotiate six matches in 19 days with a squad of just 22 players. Or 21 if you count the fact star-striker Jai Quitongo’s season was prematurely ended by injury in December.
It is remarkable that the squad Duffy rebuilt last summer on a minimal budget are still in the promotion shake-up,bearing in mind they also made the League Cup semi-finals in October.
It is a feat of managerial alchemy in Greenock that rightly saw the 58-year-old named on the PFA Scotland Manager of the Year shortlist won on Sunday night by Celtic’s Brendan Rodgers.
With the Ton now six games from history, Duffy is calling on players who have punched above their weight all season to dig deep once more with promotion to the top flight for the first time in 30 years the glittering prize on offer.
‘You hear Jose Mourinho complaining about the amount of games Manchester United have got — and he’s got a squad of 40,’ said a grinning Duffy ahead of tonight’s Play-off quarter-final first-leg tie with Dundee United at Cappielow.
‘It’s hard to play three games in a week at the end of a tough season, which started with the Betfred Cup way back in July. ‘Every game in the Championship has been really tough. It’s a brutal league in terms of how competitive it is, so facing three games in six days is very difficult for a club like ours.
‘If we win that, we’ve got another two games the following week and, if we win that, there’s another two games to come.
‘So it’s very difficult and that’s why the Premiership club will always be huge favourites as they only have to play two games in the Play-offs.
‘It’s tough, but we’re delighted to be in the Play-offs and we hope the players find that extra bit of adrenaline and energy.
‘You want to give everything you’ve got, but it is a two-leg quarter-final and you want to make sure you’re still in it come the second leg.’
Just don’t say to Duffy that leading Morton to the Premiership for the first time since Allan McGraw’s side won the Fine Fare First Division championship in 1986-87 would be a miracle.
Or suggest that his underdogs are somehow under less pressure than their more illustrious opponents, former European Cup semi-finalists Dundee United.
‘I think miracle is too strong a word,’ he replied. ‘A miracle is when people recover from serious illness. I understand the expression, but for Morton to progress through the Play-offs would be a fantastic journey.
‘Dundee United are one of the major players in Scottish football. There’s no doubt about that.
‘Their objective is to get up and they are still on track. That’s the way they will be looking at it.
‘I don’t know if it would be disastrous season (if Dundee United don’t go up). It might be seen as a disappointment.
‘But Hibs were in the Championship, and had been for three years, so it was always going to be difficult to go straight up.
‘It’s absolutely not the case that there’s more pressure on Dundee United. It’s the same pressure on both teams.
‘At the start of the season, you could have made the argument that Morton were not expected to be in the Play-offs. But we are not at the start of the season any more!
‘We are in the Play-offs on merit. We deserve to be here and want to face Falkirk in the semi-finals.’
Morton will be without veteran goalkeeper Bryn Halliwell after he picked up an injury during Saturday’s dress-rehearsal 1-1 draw with United at Cappielow.
But the influential Ross Forbes and Ricki Lamie should recover from knocks.
Duffy admits playing United three times in six days is not ideal.
‘We will play Dundee United seven times in total this season and that’s too many,’ he said. ‘But that’s just the nature of Scottish football.
‘If I have to tell the players how Dundee United play by now, there’s something wrong. But it’s vice versa as they know us inside out as well.
‘All I am looking at is trying to get us to the next stage.’