Mourinho keen to see hard work paying off
Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho hopes he will see the benefits of a full week on the training ground when his side play Chelsea this afternoon.
Mourinho has had a hectic start to life at Spurs, playing seven games in a month, including three midweek fixtures.
With Spurs out of the League Cup, this week has given Mourinho a first real opportunity to get into his players on the training pitch.
“I hope the team improves,” Mourinho said. “I think we are improving step by step, but fundamentally we are improving more with the matches we play than the training sessions we have.
“The matches are what’s bringing us to do the correct things, to do mistakes, analyse the mistakes, to go over the mistakes which of course we did since I arrived.
“Another thing is to have a training week to work, so I would be disappointed if the team doesn’t answer well to the quality they gave me because they gave me lots of quality and commitment, and desire in this week of work.
“When I say ideas I say obviously the tactical ideas, but one thing is to do it with lower intensity because you played yesterday or you play tomorrow.
“The intensity of the ideas has been different because we always try to bring the ideas to the training pitch.
“You don’t even do it with proper opposition, you do it with passive opposition.
“In this moment, in this week was the first week where we managed to do it also using the physical adaptations and we work at the intensity we like to work at, which is an intensity very, very high because this is the way we try to play either defensively or offensively.”
Meanwhile, Mourinho has revealed that skipper Hugo Lloris will be out until February.
Lloris is recovering from a dislocated elbow suffered in October, which eventually needed surgery, and is still some way from fitness.
“He’s a champion. Not just a champion of the world, but also a champion as a professional,” Mourinho said.
“He works very, very hard, very brave, accelerates processes, but there are limits of that acceleration of process with such an important injury.
“But he’s doing amazingly well. He’s working with a different group of people, since the physios, until the goalkeeping coaches, working really, really hard.
“It’s difficult to set up a date, I would say February. I probably would not be far from it and February goes from the first to the 29th this year.”
Frank Lampard, meanwhile, has called for control from his Chelsea stars ahead of the game.
The Blues boss continues to challenge his team to show more fight, but has warned them not to overstep the mark at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Chelsea slumped to a fourth loss in five league games in last weekend’s 1-0 reverse to injury-hit Bournemouth.
Former England midfielder Lampard wants Chelsea to be more daring to hit back to form, but also admitted the derby intensity can be tough to negotiate.
Asked if he would fear passion spilling over, Lampard said: “We hope it doesn’t. That’s what happens when a game is so hot and the feeling is so big. But control that side of it.
“As long as it’s not us instigating things across the line. Being competitive? Show it.”
Lampard was attacked by a fan when Chelsea won 2-1 at Spurs in the 2007 FA Cup quarter-final. The 41-year-old expects no repeat this weekend – but accepted derby days require different levels of mental fortitude.
Lampard challenges Chelsea to show “balls” in the wake of that Bournemouth blow, and will not shy away from that just because of the added pressure of local rivalry.
“There will always be a question of a player in a team,” said Lampard. “Courage and bravery come in different ways.
“Against Bournemouth they needed to find a pass to be brave. Tottenham will be different: courage will be the atmosphere, the feeling, the physical nature of a Jose Mourinho team. Can we fight against them? It’s a different kind of courage,” he added.
Lampard also insisted insists he will not be calling Jose Mourinho “boss” today.
The Blues manager revealed he still refers to the bulk of his former managers as “boss” out of respect, but conceded he cannot use that term for his Tottenham counterpart.
Lampard explained he still holds his former Chelsea manager in the highest regard, but must treat the Portuguese as both equal and rival this weekend.
“I would always have big respect for all my managers; if I was to text or ring a manager, I’d always call them boss or gaffer, even when long gone,” said Lampard.
“But when you go up against someone like that, so influential, I knew it was different. It is a good honour to go up against him, but I want to beat him,” he added.
■ Liverpool won the Club World Cup, beating Flamengo 1-0 after extra-time in Doha. Roberto Firminio got the goal.