Jose Mourinho is determined to turn around Tottenham’s current slump and believes he will go into the club’s history for the right reasons.
The Portuguese’s position has come under scrutiny after a shocking run of Premier League form, which has seen them slip from top of the table in mid-December to nine points off the top four in 13 games.
Mourinho was brought to the club to deliver silverware and he can still do that this season as Spurs have a Carabao Cup final against Manchester City to look forward to in April, while his side are plain-sailing towards the latter stages of the Europa League.
But the league form, where they have lost five of their last six games, is nothing Mourinho has experienced before in his long managerial career and he is committed to making a success of his time in north London.
"When you are in a bad run of results, you need victories. I believe that everyone in the dressing room doesn’t just want to qualify, but to win."— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) February 23, 2021
“It’s a positive thing that you say I am not used to it and my career is being the opposite of this. That’s a great thing,” he said ahead of the second leg of the Europa League last-32 tie against Wolfsberger.
“But I want to know which coach in the end of his career can say everything was blue sky and never a little bit grey or cloudy or even dark.
“Unless it’s a coach that was always in dominant clubs where the clubs were always the top clubs in countries and then it’s more difficult to have difficult moments but I think just show how beautiful my career has been. Does this make me happy? No. Does this make me depressed? Not at all.
“It’s a challenge. I always feel that I work for the clubs, I work for the players, for the supporters of the club. I always feel that I have to give them so much and the fact I’m giving them hard work but not the results is something that of course hurts me and is a great challenge for me because I believe I can give it.
“I gave it everywhere I have been and I want to do it and I’m more motivated than ever and I believe that at least it is what I feel. I never felt what normally coaches feel when the results are bad.
“When the results are bad normally the coach is a lonely man.
“I cannot say I’m happy but I would say I’m not unhappy. I wake up in the morning and I want to come back to work, I arrive in the building and feel the motivation in everyone.
“As you know I did not have many bad runs of results. I am calm. I am in control of my emotions and I cannot switch on and switch off, I am happy and unhappy. My nature does not change.
Back in action in 48 hours.— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) February 22, 2021
“I lose a game and of course I am not happy. But maturity hopefully helps. I feel very confident and I believe we are going to improve and I believe that I will be in Tottenham’s history for the good reasons and not for the bad reasons.”
Chairman Daniel Levy hired Mourinho with the intention to end the club’s long trophy drought and Mourinho says there is no friction with his boss amid the poor run of form.
“My relationship is the same since day one which is a relationship of respect and open communication,” he said.
“Nothing changed in relation to that. We communicate every day and we respect each other and I believe that we share the feeling, we aren’t happy with the results but that doesn’t create any contradiction with us because we feel both exactly the same.
“My work is directly with the players, with the staff, the first team, the medical team, the kitman, analysts, I believe that we share the same feelings which is nobody is happy, nobody is depressed but everybody believes that we will do better and everybody believes that better things are waiting for us.
“What I feel to Mr Levy is what I feel in every club that I’ve worked at. I want to give happiness to people. Who are the people? The people are the chairman, the owners, players, fans, everybody connected with the club.
“I always feel that I am one of them, I work for them and I want to give happiness to those people. That’s always my feeling. It’s never about me, it’s always about us. And I don’t change.”
Spurs are all-but through to the last-16 of the competition which looks like being their best route back into the Champions League, leading 4-1 from last week’s first leg.
Giovani Lo Celso and Serge Aurier are still out, with Mourinho suggesting he will name a strong line-up.
