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The Tottenham way late defeat at Liverpool Wednesday was painful for José Mourinho.
However, while losing – and losing the Premier League leadership – was an undoubted blow, in another sense the entire match was a triumph for the Portuguese.
First versus second, all at stake, the opportunity to execute a game plan that came so close to working perfectly, and the opportunity to dominate the pre and post game debate. That’s what Mourinho was referring to when he spoke of the bench being his natural habitat when he took over at Tottenham in November last year.
And it was all that seemed to be missing when he was fired by Manchester United exactly two years ago.
Because, when United issued the short 65-word statement that marked the end of Mourinho’s tenure as manager at 09:44 GMT on Tuesday, December 18, 2019, it appeared to be the death sentence for the Premier League career of one of the most charismatic. figures in the game.
Sacked by Chelsea and then United, Mourinho had been shunned like yesterday’s man, a broken blush, married to old-fashioned tactics, who hadn’t kept up with the times.
Those assessments were obviously wrong.
Why the change in behavior?
Speaking to someone who knows Mourinho well about the big difference between the misery at the end of his time at United and the joy at what is happening at Spurs now, the explanation came back to “Pogba”.
The image of Paul Pogba, sitting on the United bench, unused, with his hood on, sheltering from the rain as his teammates lost 3-1 to Liverpool in what turned out to be Mourinho’s last game in charge, encapsulated the miserable position of the Portuguese found himself in.
He had been fighting at United all season; for the players he wanted to sign, the ones he wanted to sell and, in his opinion, some recognition from the board. Both sides had grown weary of the battle.
In the end, the Old Trafford hierarchy had to choose between Mourinho and Pogba. Mourinho lost.
In Tottenham, there is no Pogba circus to deal with.
Also, instead of working for a boss who primarily operates 200 miles away in another city like United’s executive vice president Ed Woodward did, you work for a president who spends half his time in boot camp, where has an adjoining office.
Mourinho gets along well with Daniel Levy and enjoys the personal relationship they are developing.
In the Amazon documentary that provided such a fascinating insight into Mourinho’s arrival, Levy said that getting rid of Mauricio Pochettino was “the most emotional decision I had to make,” but then, discussing the possible replacement of the Argentine: “There are two coaches First class in the World Cup. One is in another club in the Premier League and the other is José. “
Levy’s statement may have been accurate in 2016, when Mourinho was joining Pep Guardiola in the cauldron that is top-notch football in Manchester. But as of November 2019, he had been out of work for 11 months, having left United sixth in the Premier League, 19 points behind then-leader Liverpool after just 17 games.
Why Levy never doubted
Numerous sources have told BBC Sport that the idea that Mourinho had lost his mojo is completely wrong.
From their first conversation, Levy had no doubts. The energy that the incoming manager had and his enthusiasm for the players he was going to inherit, better as a collective than those he had at Old Trafford, he believes they convinced the Tottenham hierarchy that they were going to get a coach who still had the momentum and the desire to achieve success.
Mourinho’s reputation precedes him, but it is a measure of his true personality that many of his former Manchester United teammates contacted him to offer him good luck when he landed the job at Tottenham. Those who have seen him up close at Spurs describe him as “laid back, laid back, approachable,” which are not words you usually associate with the 57-year-old.
The internal cricket games featured on social media, it has been emphasized, are an example of the positive spirit that exists among players as they progress in their work. The atmosphere in the locker room, it is said, is better than anything that has existed in the final years of Pochettino’s time in charge, other than the three weeks leading up to the 2019 Champions League final.
For a club like Tottenham, there is another draw. Mourinho is a magnet for attention. It is impossible to ignore it. It used to be said that Sir Alex Ferguson created a story every time he opened his mouth. The same goes for Mourinho.
“I’ve never seen so much coverage before, it’s everywhere,” Harry Winks whispered in the canteen as news of Mourinho’s appointment began to arrive.
“Buckle up. This is a great moment,” said another staff member.
However, Mourinho’s time at Tottenham works: the club’s profile will be much bigger than it was when he arrived.
The right place, the right time for Mourinho?
In January 2019, when Mourinho was out of work and taking time, he worked as a commentator for the Qatar-based television channel Bein Sports.
During a long conversation, he provided a fascinating insight into what he would likely be looking for when he decided it was time to get back to work.
“The time when the coach was the highest point in the club and all-powerful is over,” he said. “Now you need a structure.
“The first thing I want to talk about with a club is not the players I want to buy or the budget, it’s what you have to give me in terms of structure. Then we can move.”
After leaving United, Mourinho turned down a significant number of opportunities because they weren’t the right ones.
He still believed that the Premier League would be the place where he would feel most at home. Tottenham ticked all the boxes, with their fantastic new stadium, a state-of-the-art training ground, a strong president at Levy, a highly respected director of technical performance at Steve Hitchen, a team that reached the Champions League final less six months earlier and a fan base desperate for the club to start winning the silver medal.
Not only that, there would be no need to spend most of your life in a hotel, which became such an important topic of conversation in Manchester.
He has an apartment near Tottenham’s training ground in Enfield, but his home is just 17 miles away in central London.
However, this is not the same Mourinho from Chelsea or United. This is a different one. Your back room staff has changed to begin with. Only first team performance chief Carlos Lalin and tech analyst Giovanni Cerra survive from their spells at Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford. His assistant, Joao Sacramento, was still in school when Mourinho made his famous touchline when Porto eliminated United from the Champions League on their way to winning the trophy in 2004.
This evolution, it is felt, exposes Mourinho to new ideas, new challenges and new motivations.
Looking back, he sees his time at United as a positive experience. He was more aware of the changing dynamics of a dressing room, where old-school mentalities are disappearing. And, three times, including the Community Shield, it won trophies.
New club, the same José as always?
As recently as Tuesday, Mourinho provided proof that his brilliant pettiness hadn’t disappeared, that ability to come out with a phrase or phrase that has been evident since his first Chelsea press conference when he declared himself “special.”
Jurgen Klopp had been in charge of Liverpool for 1,894 days or so, while he only had 390 to work with his Tottenham team. What other manager would have walked into that newsroom armed with that information, counting down the days himself or asking someone to do it for him?
His recent manager of the month award will have been particularly satisfying, as it was a source of irritation that he was nominated for him several times at United, but he never won it.
This microscopic attention to detail is a big part of its success. If something goes wrong in training, don’t miss it. If the opposition has a weakness, you can spot it.
Yet beyond it all, Mourinho retains the same relentless drive he had when he first arrived in England in 2004.
The struggles the English duo Dele Alli and Harry Winks are going through show that Mourinho can still be the “ruthless guy,” as he says he is perceived in the Amazon documentary.
“No filter” is how you describe your preferred method of feedback.
“I push people to the limit,” he adds.
At Tottenham, he’s pushing and shoving. Despite Wednesday’s loss, they are true title contenders. They remain in all four competitions and hopeful for a first trophy since 2008.
With Mourinho at the helm, I would not bet against it.
