Tottenham Hotspur’s coach, Jose Mourinho has said he was able to win what he could during his spell in charge at Manchester United.
Mourinho insisted that he met expectations at Manchester United during his spell in charge at Old Trafford. The Portuguese tactician is speaking ahead of his Old Trafford return with Tottenham on Sunday.
Speaking with Sky Sports, Mourinho, who spent two-and-a-half years in the United hot seat, won the Europa League and League Cup. He also finished second in the Premier League and lost the 2018 FA Cup final.
Despite leaving later that year after things turned sour in his third season, the fans gave him a warm reception on his first visit back with Spurs last December.
“I expected that, I never had problems in the club. The fans, they know that I gave everything that I could.
“I won what was possible to win, I didn’t win what was not possible to win. I gave everything, I gave my life to the club and my professionalism like I always do.
“Internally, lots of friends for life, lots of amazing people that I met in the club. I only have good feelings, feelings that I will have to forget in 90 minutes because for 90 minutes, they want to win, I want to win, that’s football.”
Spurs hopes to continue the winning run
Spurs have been boosted by the arrival of Benfica striker Carlos Vinicius on a season-long loan. The Brazilian, who arrived the North London club on Friday night is unlikely to feature against the Red Devils.
The Brazilian striker, who is expected to be a back-up to Harry Kane is joining an already bloated squad, with close to 30 senior professionals. Mourinho is therefore expected to trim down the numbers before the transfer window shuts on Monday.
Despite their recent hectic schedule, which sees them play eight games in 22 days, Juan Foyth, Ryan Sessegnon, Paulo Gazzaniga, Cameron Carter-Vickers, and Danny Rose have been unused.
“The transfer window in two directions and it’s possible that we could let a couple of players to leave, it’s possible we could let a couple of young players to go and experience playing.
“For sure, we are not going to keep every player in the squad over normal numbers.
“I like to work normally with a squad of 22 players plus the keepers and we are not going to be far from that number,” he said.
Mourinho added that some players will be disappointed for not being involved in their packed schedule.
“My job is not to keep them happy. My job is to do the best for the club and to get the best possible results.
“But it is certain that I agree that it’s impossible to keep everybody happy when you have so many players because every weekend, every match, some players will not be playing and that’s not good for them especially when they are good players.
“But at the same time, we are a big club, we want to be bigger, we want to play in all the competitions, we have six matches in Europa League group phase playing on a Thursday and we are for sure to get lots of matches at Sunday at 12 o’clock or Sunday 3pm.
“It’s going to be very, very hard so it’s impossible to do it with all the same players, and to have a good squad with good numbers is what all the top clubs have,” Mourinho said.
