SEASONS TO BE CHEERFUL
Jose ALWAYS lifts the title in year two of his reign.. and he’s gambled £300m on doing it again
JOSE MOURINHO is convinced he can maintain his proud record of having won the title in the second full season wherever he has managed.
He led Porto, Chelsea twice, Inter Milan and Real Madrid to league success in his second full campaign and is ready to do the same with Manchester United.
Having won the EFL Cup and Europa League last season and strengthened his squad this summer, Mourinho has his sights set on the fourth Premier League crown of his career.
The self-appointed Special One won the three titles with Chelsea and believes everything is in place for him to end United’s five-year wait for championship No.21.
“It’s not because I have always done it that I’m going to do it again,” said Mourinho. “There is no relation between clubs, countries, seasons and periods. So obviously there is no guarantee.
“Or do I think I’m going to win it because I always win in the second season? Not at all.
“I just think naturally that a manager in the second season knows the players better, knows the club better.
“I don’t say the league, because I have been in this league for a long time. But we’ are in a position to do better quality work than we did in the first season.
“So I have the conviction that our second season, in terms of the quality of our team, is going to be better.
“I have the conditions to deliver a better team than I did in the first season. If that’s going to mean better results and the title, I don’t know.” United finished sixth last term, 24 points behind champions Chelsea.
But this season he is determined to launch a sustained title assault.
Mourinho has spent £146million this summer on Victor Lindelof, Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic, taking his total spend at United in 12 months close to £300m.
The United boss still wants one more signing before the August 31 transfer deadline, with Tottenham’s versatile left-sided player Danny Rose having emerged as a genuine
target. But Mourinho conceded United – who host West Ham tomorrow – must improve on last season’s woeful record at home, which saw them draw 10 league games at Old Trafford.
“The challenge is to win more matches than we did,” said Mourinho. “By scoring more or conceding less? I don’t know.
“We lost only one match at home and in the cups we never lost, in the Europa League we never lost, but we had too many draws.
“It would be better to lose two or three matches, but win three or four more and then we would have six or eight more points, and then be in a different position in the table.
“We had lots of dominance at home, lots of chances, lots of matches where the result could and should have been 2-0 or 3-0, but in the end was 1-1.
“I know all of that, but to have a better position in the table we need to win more matches.
“I don’t feel more or less pressure than last season. But we have to put ourselves in a position in the Premier League that allows us to fight for the title.”