Jose: We need that winning mentality
JOSE MOURINHO has finally written Manchester United out of the title race – and even cast doubt on whether Champions League qualification would be a fair way to measure his first season at Old Trafford.
“We cannot win the Premier League, that is very obvious,” he says as he prepares to face last season’s champions Leicester today.
“I do not measure success this season on being champions. There are many other items to evaluate, but I certainly don’t measure it by that.
“Qualifying for the Champions League is not a measure, either.
“For Arsenal it has to be, for Tottenham it has to be, for Chelsea, for Manchester City, for Liverpool it has to be.
“I honestly think they have to be there and some are better prepared than others, with more consistent work over the past years.
“But in another three competitions we can win. We are there.
“We have a 50% chance of winning the EFL Cup, we are in the last 16 of the FA Cup and last 32 of the Europa League. We have to fight for these competitions.”
Mourinho accepts that the only way he will ever become a legend at Old Trafford is to start bringing home those trophies.
“To be a club legend I have to win titles like I did at every club I’ve been at,” he says.
“If I want to make any comment about my previous clubs, I have the right because I am a legend there.
“I am a legend in Porto, in Inter, in Chelsea. I belong to their history really, really high. In Real Madrid, I belong to their history.
“At Manchester United I have won a Community Shield and nothing else.
“I think I am working really hard, harder than ever, but the reality of the history is made by the number of trophies.
“My history as a manager is made by 23 trophies. It is not made by second, fifth, a lost cup final. The history is made by victories.”
He accepts that he probably doesn’t have enough players at United who are steeped in that winning mentality.
“I want the players to have that feeling that we have to be champion even if we don’t have much chance,” he says.
“It needs an evolution in the mentality for those guys who haven’t had that for a few years.
“There is an empty space there and I have to fill that space with lots of work and with another transfer window in the summer.
“We need to learn how to feel the pressure of winning finals, of winning to recover points we’ve lost.
“There are some here with a history of success – Wayne Rooney, Michael Carrick, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Antonio Valencia – but we don’t have enough.”