Jose Mourinho says he is happier now than when he took the Tottenham job one year ago – and he feels he is still improving as a manager.
Friday marked the one-year anniversary of Mourinho taking the reins in north London, and the change in fortunes from the latter days of Mauricio Pochettino’s tenure has been marked.
Spurs were 14th in the Premier League when the Portuguese took over and, going into Saturday’s game with Manchester City, are now second. It is a vindicating rise which Mourinho has enjoyed.
“I am even happier than I was when I got the job,” he said in his pre-match press conference.
“That for me is a very good feeling. If you ask me, ‘Do you see yourself here in one year’s time?’ — of course I do because I’m very happy here.
“We are at the beginning of a journey. Liverpool took five years to make it happen. City are on it for 10 years. Chelsea for 20.”
Following his unceremonious departures from Chelsea and Manchester United, plenty questioned Mourinho’s credentials when he took over at Tottenham.
He will no doubt have enjoyed proving his detractors wrong over the last 12 months. Far from being a spent force as some had suggested, he feels the experiences of a tumultuous first year in charge have helped him improve as a manager – 20 years after taking his first job at Benfica.
“Our job is the kind where if the passion stays you can only get better,” he said.
“It is a job where the accumulation of experiences can only make you better.
“For me, this has been an accumulation of new experiences. One year, a special year, with the lockdown and the consequences of Covid. Everything is so strange.
“We are all searching for perfection and perfection is impossible. We are far from perfection. We are not a perfect team. We are a much better team than we were, but we have a long way to go.”
A point behind leaders Leicester, Saturday’s game against Manchester City could see Spurs go to the top of the table if they better the Foxes’ result against third-placed Liverpool.