JOSE: I’LL PUT SPURS WHERE THEY BELONG

MOURINHO TAKES OVER FROM POCHETTINO, VOWS TO TAKE THEM UP THE LEAGUE AND INSISTS HE’LL MAKE USE OF RISING STARS

NEW Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho set his sights on rapidly improving the club’s Premier League fortunes after taking charge in north London yesterday.

Mourinho met his new squad following his hasty appointment, which was announced the morning after Mauricio Pochettino was axed, and will face West Ham in his first game on Saturday.

The Portuguese, who has been out of work since he was sacked by Manchester United last December, inherits a squad languishing 14th in the Premier League, with 14 points from 12 games.

They are 11 points off the top four and while Mourinho stopped short of saying Spurs could bridge that gap, he promised things would improve.

‘In relation to the Premier League I think we know where we are and we know we don’t belong there,’ he said.

‘We should just play match after match. The next match we want to win and that’s the same for the next and the next and the next until the last.

‘At the end of the season we will see where we are but I know we are going to be in a different position than now.’

Mourinho has assembled his backroom staff with Joao Sacramento and Nuno Santos joining from Lille as assistant boss and goalkeeping coach. Carlos Lalin arrives as fitness coach, and Ricardo Formosinho and Giovanni Cerra as technical analysts.

On paper, Mourinho’s appointment appears a mismatch with a club that plays an attacking style and promotes young players.

It seems unthinkable he would have taken the job without assurances from chairman Daniel Levy there will be money to spend, although he may have to wait until the summer. Mourinho has vowed to use players from the academy, adding: ‘There is not one manager in the world that doesn’t like to play young players. Not one. The problem is sometimes the work below you is not good enough. I look to our history and you see the academy is always giving players to the first team.’

Levy heaped praise on his new boss, despite claims Leicester’s Brendan Rodgers

(left) was his first choice.

‘In Jose we have one of the most successful managers in football,’ Levy said. ‘He has a wealth of experience, can inspire teams and is a great tactician. He has won honours at every club he’s coached. We believe he will bring energy and belief to the dressing room.’