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Jose Mourinho has slammed the scheduling of midseason international friendlies, saying he's "totally against" them being played. The Manchester United boss saw United and England defenders Chris Smalling and Phil Jones go down with injuries last week. Smalling recused himself from the England squad with a leg injury following the Three Lions' exhibition match in Germany last week, while Jones injured a toe in training. And Mourinho told Sky Sports: "I am totally against the friendly matches. "I think friendly matches for the national team only make sense before the final phases. "A couple of weeks before the Euros or a couple of weeks before the World Cup makes sense. But midseason friendly matches mixed with qualification matches, I don't think that makes sense. "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. "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." Mourinho went on to say United's many international stars will put them at a disadvantage for Sunday's match against West Brom. "I watched Antonio Valencia's match in Ecuador, Marcos Rojo in Bolivia, but they don't arrive until Thursday afternoon," he said. "If you compare our situation with our opponents -- West Bromwich Albion only had one player on international duty. They had time to work, time to rest and prepare. It is going to be hard."
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