Tottenham: Mourinho Defends Manchester United Record

José Mourinho was asked a question that was supposed to be about him motivating his Tottenham players, but instead turned into Mourinho defending his time at Manchester United.

The question started innocuous enough as reporter was trying to ask José Mourinho about how he was able to motivate his players to succeed. In the process, the reporter noted all of José’s stops from Porto through Madrid, but then said the exception was Manchester United. This was not something José Mourinho appreciated, and his defense was quite convincing and led me to believe that just about every Tottenham fan alive would take Mourinho’s Manchester United failure.

Success is Perspective

We know for some teams it is the League title or nothing, yet for others it is the Champions League that is so coveted. However, when you have not seen a major trophy in over a decade maybe the bar is not quite as high. Wherever your team allegiance may be, winning trophies, big, small, or otherwise is a big deal. So big a deal maybe sometimes teams do not realize what they have until it is gone, and things are suddenly not as great, yes, José Mourinho is looking at you Manchester United. So, what did Jose do there to fail and would that be something Tottenham fans would take.

If the results that José Mourinho had at Manchester United are truly consider failure, maybe it is a failure we should all experience at some point in our lives. I understand that over the span of Sir Alex Ferguson’s illustrious career it was Premier League title or bust but that was a different era. The parity from team-to-team today is far greater than it was during Ferguson’s heyday.

While I am not about to say Mourinho did not have players at United, the gap in talent between his players and the rest of the league was much smaller than the gap Ferguson dealt with. In truth José Mourinho did not have the talent of some of the teams around him, yet he did what José Mourinho does, he won trophies.

José Mourinho’s United Failure?

Sure, José Mourinho and Manchester United finished second in the Premier League and did not win it. Even in that failure some perspective is necessary. Remember Spurs have never won the title and only have finished as high as second once. Besides the Premier League, José Mourinho and United were in three other competitions and they managed to win two of them.

While the Carabao Cup is considered the smallest of the domestic competitions, it is no small feat to win. Spurs were elated to advance past Chelsea this season, just as the Blues were gutted to lose. With so many teams and such a schedule, winning any tournament takes a lot and United won that one under José Mourinho.

Besides the Carabao Cup, José Mourinho also led Manchester United to the Europa League title. As Tottenham fans we all know full well just how long and arduous the journey in Europa League is and Mourinho managed to navigate it to take home the trophy. He did this while managing second place in League with a disgruntled best player who simply did not want to put in the work being asked of him.  Ultimately, as Jose said, none of that was “easy” to accomplish and took a lot of hard work, so I do not blame him for ignoring the question and defending his record, which brings us back to Tottenham.

Would Tottenham Take United’s Results?

I am not going to lie, I want to be greedy and I really want a treble, because for all the long years of waiting Spurs fans deserve it. Of course, in sports we know who deserves to win means nothing and the idea of a treble is kind of far fetched at this point. However, given our position in our current three competitions conceivably Spurs could win the Carabao Cup and the Europa League and finish top two in the Premier League. As I type those things out, even thinking that it might be a failed season seems laughable by any standards.

While Europa League is not the Champions League – we all know they are different – does anyone think for a second that Pep Guardiola will take midtable in the Premier League this season if he finally wins Europa with Manchester City? We know he would take it no questions asked and City fans would be happy about it, just as Spurs fans and players will be ecstatic of Tottenham win any trophy this season, let alone multiple pieces of silverware.

So, would Spurs find Manchester United’s results with José Mourinho disappointing? I do not think so, because like our coach before every game, all we want to do is win. If those wins can then bring us a trophy, regardless of the competition inscribed on it, the season will be a success.