THAT’S MOUR Jose’s ‘happy with the boys’ as Spurs end poor away run
WEST HAM 2 TOTTENHAM 3
JOSE MOURINHO is back in his “natural habitat” — winning football matches.
And as he left the arena with Tottenham’s travelling fans belting out his name, it’s clear most of them are ready to make the former Chelsea manager feel right at home at his new club.
They made him wait until after the final whistle.
But, as he went to them to celebrate goals from Heung-min Son, Lucas Moura and Harry Kane that set up the victory, they couldn’t resist.
Up went the chant: “Jose Mourinho, Jose Mourinho…”
So long, Poch, and thanks for the memories.
Asked what it felt like to be back on the touchline, Mourinho (right) said: “The most difficult moments were in my mind this summer when I didn’t have a pre-season and was looking at other managers, clubs, teams doing pre-season.
“The most weird feeling was going to stadiums and I was asking myself what I was doing here, here in the box or the Sky television studios.
“Today is where I belong. My natural habitat. Was I extra emotional? No. Was I nervous before the game? No.
“When things go your direction, it’s the best.”
Things went largely in
Spurs’ direction from the off and they deserved their lead when Son drilled his effort across Roberto.
Son was also heavily involved in the second soon after, whipping in a tantalising cross for Moura to score after an outrageous piece of skill from man-of-the-match Dele Alli had set him free.
Spurs were in cruise control when Serge Aurier’s brilliant cross picked out Kane and the Spurs skipper headed home early in the second half.
Especially against a West Ham side who had lost four and drawn two before kick-off and are absolutely shorn of confidence.
Substitute Michail Antonio’s low strike gave them a glimmer of hope and they reduced the deficit to a single goal when Angelo Ogbonna scored deep into injury time.
But they had left it far too late to start playing and Manuel Pellegrini needs things to change – and fast – if he isn’t to suffer the same fate as Mauricio Pochettino some time soon. Mourinho likes his teams to shut up shop at 2-0 – and certainly at 3-0 – but there were no recriminations.
He added: “The feeling is we were closer to 4-0 than West Ham were to 3-1, but this is the Premier League.
“Their first goal changed things a little bit and also my players paid the price of a very, very difficult week.”
A week where they arrived from national service, some of them from difficult matches, some of them travelling
huge distance s , changed the manager, a new guy arrived, new training sessions and new ideas... the emotional things that surround that.
Mourinho said: “I don’t think it’s ever easy for a football player to work with a coaching staff one day and, the next, other people are there.
“Di f f icult to process . Physically, the team had a break. They were probably also a little bit scared of that mental barrier of the bad results away.
“So the last 20- 25 minutes were not easy, but we played very, very well for about an hour.
“Really well. I’m really happy for the boys.”
Hammers boss Pellegrini said: “We are playing under big pressure.
“We don’t have the results we want, especially here at home.
“It was a special game, a derby against Tottenham, we wanted to do it better. We couldn’t. The team never gave up until the end, always tried to draw.
“But we are making too many mistakes, especially without the ball and every time we made a mistake in defending, they scored.
“It’s a very tight Premier League this season.
“Maybe three points more and we would be in another position in the table.
“But we need to improve in playing, we need to improve in defending and we need to improve in attacking.”