Jose Mourinho: Ex-Man Utd boss says he won’t repeat past mistakes at Tottenham
New Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho says he will not make the same mistakes at Spurs that he did in previous managerial roles.
The Portuguese replaced Mauricio Pochettino on Wednesday, ending an 11-month spell out of management following his sacking by Manchester United.
Mourinho described himself as humble in his first news conference as Spurs boss, saying he spent his time away from football analysing his career.
“I realised I made mistakes,” he said.
“I’m not going to make the same mistakes. I’ll make new mistakes – but not the same.”
Mourinho, who would not be drawn on what mistakes he was referring to, added: “I am humble, humble enough to try and analyse my career – not just the last year, but the whole thing, the evolution, the problems and the solutions. Not to blame anyone else.
“It was a great thing. I went really deep with that analysis. A break was very positive for me. It was the first summer I did not work and I felt a little bit at a loss during that pre-season.
“I was always humble, in my way. The problem is you didn’t understand that.”
Mourinho’s time at Manchester United came to an end last December with the club 19 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool.
He had also reportedly fallen out with £89m signing Paul Pogba and was criticised by fans towards the end of his tenure for playing dull, defensive football.
The former Porto, Chelsea and Real Madrid manager’s departure from Old Trafford continued his run of having never completed four consecutive seasons in charge of a club.
“When I don’t win I cannot be happy and I cannot change that,” Mourinho added. “That is my DNA.
“I hope I can influence my players, because if you are happy losing football matches it is very hard to be a winner.
“Sometimes you have to work with people you don’t love and work well. I have principles that I cannot change and one of those is that I don’t think I can change.”
‘I don’t need new players’
Mourinho spent nearly £400m on 11 players during his two years at Manchester United, but believes he has already inherited a quality squad at Spurs.
“The best gift for me, I don’t need players,” he added. “I am happy with the ones I have.
“I just need more time with them. I know them well from playing against them, but you never know them well enough.”
The 56-year-old takes charge of a Spurs side that are 14th in the Premier League with just three league wins all season.
However, Mourinho, who has won trophies at every club he has managed, is confident the club’s fortunes will soon turn around.
He said: “We cannot win the Premier League this season, but we can win it next season. Not will, but can.”
Despite Tottenham’s poor start to the season, Pochettino’s departure on Tuesday had come as a surprise to many with the club having reached the Champions League final – where they lost to Liverpool – just six months earlier.
On Thursday night, Pochettino’s assistant Jesus Perez posted a picture on social media of the former Tottenham boss writing a farewell message to the Spurs players.
And Mourinho paid tribute to his predecessor, saying: “I have to congratulate him for the work he has done.
“This club will always be his home. This training ground will always be his training ground. The door will always be open for him.
“He can come when he wants. When he misses the players, when he misses the people he worked with. The door is always open for him.
“He will find happiness again. He will find a great club again. He will have a great future.”
‘He’d realised he had gone too far’
Former Manchester United midfielder Darren Fletcher believes fans will see a different Mourinho to the one towards the end of his reign at Old Trafford.
Fletcher told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I know for a fact when he left Manchester United he did a little bit of reflecting and asked a few people ‘tell me what I was like, give it to me straight’.
“That, for me is the sign of someone who had maybe realised he had gone a bit too far in that way.
“I am sure he had his own frustrations just as the players and people had with him and the things that went on towards the end but I don’t expect it to be the Jose we have seen in the last couple of years.”
Analysis
Natalie Pirks, BBC Sport
This news conference was all about the words “happy” and “humble” – not something you would normally associate with Jose Mourinho. It was strange to see him sitting in Poch’s seat wearing the purple. He was relaxed, he was charming and he was witty.
He said he was a new and improved Jose.
He knows some of the criticism levelled at him like that he doesn’t promote youth, so he was very keen to speak about young players and the academy. He knows one of the criticisms is that he spends too much money and of course we know Daniel Levy doesn’t do that so he spoke about how this squad is balanced and that the players were a perfect Christmas gift.
He said he wears the pyjamas of the club he works for. I don’t think he meant it literally. I think he meant he lives, sleeps, eats and breathes whatever club he works for and he’ll do the same here and he’ll do everything for Spurs.
