I AM ONE OF THE GREATS
Mourinho lashes back at his critics
JOSE MOURINHO has claimed he is still one of the greatest managers in the world ahead of tomorrow’s Premier League clash at Burnley.
The Manchester United boss takes his team to Turf Moor knowing they must win to relieve some of the pressure after backto-back defeats first away at Brighton followed by a 3-0 hammering on home turf to Tottenham.
And during another unmissable press conference, in which he quoted philosophy and claimed last season’s secondplaced League finish was one of his best achievements, a bullish Mourinho came out fighting once again.
Asked how it feels to manage United, Mourinho said: ‘I am the manager of one of the greatest clubs in the world but I am also one of the greatest managers in the world.’
This was the continuation of a theme he struck after Monday’s 3-0 home defeat by Spurs when he reminded everybody of the three Premier League titles he once won as boss of Chelsea.
Mourinho was then asked if he would still be one of the greatest managers even if he never wins a League title at Old Trafford. ‘Of course,’ he
said. ‘Did you read any philosopher in your formation (upbringing)? You never spent time reading, for example, Hegel?
‘Just as an example, Hegel says the truth is in the whole. It is always in the whole that you find the truth.’
Georg Hegel was a German philosopher who died in 1831 and is widely recognised to have been influential in the concept of idealism.
Mourinho was clearly using this left-field reference to encourage people to look at his own career over the course of the past decade and a half rather than focus on his current problems.
Still, though, he could not resist a dig at current rivals Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool and Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham.
‘Do you ask that question (about greatness) to the manager that finished third in the Premier League last season?’ he asked. ‘Or the manager who finished fourth? To the manager who finished fifth?’
It was then put to him that Klopp has never claimed to be one of the world’s greatest managers. Mourinho said: ‘That’s his problem. I tell you what I think, how I feel. Jurgen tells you what he wants. I answer the question.’
United ended last season under a bit of a cloud after losing a poor FA Cup final to Chelsea and finishing second in the Premier League, 19 points behind champions Manchester City.
But Mourinho, who won the League Cup and Europa League with United in 2016-17, said: ‘I had great success last season even though that’s what you probably don’t want to admit.
‘I analyse my performance and for me it is more important what I think than what you think. I think that two seasons ago we had a fantastic season by winning the Europa League. We are the last team in England to win a European competition.
‘In my career I won eight League titles. I won eight. I am the only manager in the world who won in Italy, Spain and England — not small titles or small countries.
‘Eight proper titles. But my second position last season is one of my greatest achievements in football.’
Mourinho was taunted by Spurs fans after Monday’s defeat as they sang that he was ‘not special anymore’.
He said last night: ‘Yes but they didn’t have that song when we beat them at Wembley (in the FA Cup semi-final) a couple of months ago, a title they had a big dream to win, because they don’t win many. On that night at Wembley the United fans were singing the Special One.’
Having walked on to the field to thank United fans for their support on Monday, Mourinho is clearly trying to develop a siege mentality ahead of tomorrow’s game in Lancashire.
‘I know the majority of the stadiums are used to the winning manager jumping around and going to the crowd and showing his face and putting his face in front of the camera. With me that is not happening. When I win I am the first one to leave but after an important defeat at home, that’s not the way I am.
‘I had to go to the pitch and see the reaction. It could go both ways but went to a way where I felt really humbled and the team felt really supported and probably because of that this week was not a difficult week at all.
‘It has been a week where people are positive and convinced we deserved much more than what we got last Monday.’ SEAN DYCHE is considering giving 18-year-old Dwight McNeil his full Premier League debut tomorrow after the winger impressed against Olympiacos even though Burnley went out of the Europa League on Thursday.
With Johann Berg Gudmundsson struggling to prove his fitness, Dyche could turn to a player who was part of Manchester United’s academy until 2014.
‘We were brave enough to play him on Thursday, so we’d be brave enough to play him in any game,’ Dyche said. ‘I wanted to get him involved more but it was about finding the right opportunity.
‘There is a lot of hard work to be done, he knows that. But he’s got some quality and he showed real strength of character to go out there and give such a good performance.’