JOSE MOURINHO’S first press conference as Spurs manager appeared to show us a new man.
Five times he mentioned he was “humble” – a claim some would liken to Donald Trump’s infamous assertion that he was the “much more humble than you would understand”.
Mourinho said he was a new ‘humble’ man in his first Spurs press conference
But behind the headlines, what did he say?
We took down the press conference in full so you can read every word ahead of his bow against West Ham on Saturday.
On Mauricio Pochettino
“First of all, I think I have to and I do it with a bit of sadness, I have to speak about Mauricio.
“I have to congratulate him for the work he did. I have to share with you what we already shared indoors, which is that this club will always be his home.
“This training ground will always be his training ground, he can come whenever he wants.
“The door is always open for him and from my experience tomorrow is another day and he will find happiness again.
“He will find a great club again and he will have a great future. He will always be welcome.”
On accepting the Tottenham job
“I couldn’t be happier. In relation to the difficulty of the job ahead, every time a club changes mid-season it is because the situation is not good, that is obvious, unless something strange happened that we don’t know about.
“Basically the results sometimes force these decisions.
“The potential of the club is huge, the potential of the players is great I am so happy that was one of the reasons I came because of the vision that Mr Levy put in front of me about the club and the quality of the players and the squad. I know potentially I have a great job in my hands.
On changes he’ll make at Spurs
“I cannot think that I can come and in two days or four days I can change things. I don’t have a great experience of taking teams mid-season; it is only the second time I have done it.
“I did it in Porto in, I think, 2001, but I thought about it during these months because I had the feeling I was going to get a team mid-season.
“The conclusions was I was going to have a game two or three days after my appointment. I need to trust the base and what was done before. They were in hands of a good manager and coaching staff.
How Tottenham could line up after a shake up from the Special One
“Of course we have principles of play and leadership style that is going to change, that is obvious, but I cannot come here and think it is about my fingerprint or myself. It is not about myself.
“So we will be very careful about the information, about the training sessions, about the intensity of sessions, to ensure some level of comfort for the boys.”
Is this a new and improved Jose Mourinho?
“I think so. I always thought that these 11 months were not a waste of time. They were months to think, to think, to analyse and to prepare.
“You never lose your DNA, you never lose your identity, you are what you are for the good things and the bad things.
“But I have time to think about many things. Don’t ask me what the mistakes are, but I realise that during my career I have made mistakes but I won’t make the same mistakes.
“I am stronger. I am not fitter, I was always fit! But I am stronger from an emotional point of view. I am relaxed, I am motivated, I am ready and I think the players felt that in two days.
“I think they feel that I am ready to support them, this is not about me.
“I am in a period where it is not about myself, it is about the club, the fans, the players. Not about me. I am here to try and help everyone.”
Does he have his mojo back?
“I have to go to Google translate to understand what ‘mojo’ is, but I can more or less understand what you mean!
“When I don’t win I cannot be happy and I cannot change that in my DNA. I hope I can influence the players of not being happy without winning football matches.
“If you are happy after losing football matches, it is difficult to be a winner in any moment of your career.”
On what will be done differently
“I am humble. I am humble enough to try to analyse my career. Not just the last year, to analyse my career, its evolution. The problems and the solutions.
“I was humble enough for that. The principle of the analysing was not to blame anyone else. When I had meetings with my assistants and the people I thought about bringing me to this chapter, it was always on the principle that there is no one else to blame or analyse.
I am humble. I am humble enough to try to analyse my career. Not just the last year, to analyse my career, its evolution. The problems and the solutions. I was humble enough for that.
Jose Mourinho
“It is only about us. It was a great thing because I went really deep into that analysing and it was really important for me. I am nobody to advise but sometimes to have a break, it was very positive for me.
“Because it was the first summer that I didn’t work, it was not easy. I felt a little bit lost during the pre-season but before that and after that it was a learning process.
“I even learned how to be a pundit!”
On being humble
“I was always humble. The problem was that you didn’t understand that. I was always humble but it was in my way.”
On being a pundit and returning to management
“I am a bit disappointed that you [Sky reporter Gary Cotterill] are happy that I am here because I thought you would like to keep me at Sky!
“We are friends and you know very well that I enjoyed what I did but this is my life and this is where I belong. It is really what makes me happy.
“I am not smiling as much today because I have a game in two days, it is not a long time to work, but deep inside I am really happy.”
Are you still Mr Chelsea?
“I think they have to see me as Mr Inter, Mr Real Madrid, Mr Porto. I wear the pyjamas of the club and sleep in them. I am a club man, but a many clubs man.
“I decided in my career to have these different adventures in different countries until I did what I call the Grand Slam, England Spain and Italy. I did not stop. I wanted to do it and I did it with passion.
“I have always said the Premier League is my natural habitat. It’s where I am most loved and is the league and the country that I considered the best and found most enjoyable and where I am really happy.
“When you decide to stay more years in the country – I think Mr Wenger was probably the last of that generation of big era in football clubs, Sir Alex and Mr Wenger.
“Mauricio five-and-a-half years was really amazing, but it is normal to change from club to club. I wouldn’t be surprised if tomorrow Mauricio is manager of another English club – that is modernity in football.
“Now I only have one shirt and only one passion and only one thing in my mind which is my club and that is Spurs.
“I won the Champions League with Porto and three months later I was playing against Porto – that is life.
“I’m not Chelsea, I’m not United, I’m not Real Madrid, I’m not Inter – I am all of them, I gave everything to all of them and that is what I am going to do here, give everything.”
On his squad and possible transfers
“I am thinking about the [Christmas] gifts I have to give to the people I love. That is always a problem because I always like to give the best gifts. I always try to be very analytical and understand what people would like.
“Players… the best gift are the ones that are here. I don’t need players, I am happy with the players that I have. I just need time to understand them better to know everything about them.
“You only know a player when you work with them. How many times have I played against these guys? I know them well but never enough until you work with them.
“My gift is this squad, it is very good.”
On player contracts
“I’ve had no time to look at individual cases [regarding players who are in the final year of their contracts].
“The first thing for me is for the players to feel good and if they are going to leave in January or June or sign a new contract I think all of that based on feeling good and to feel good is to be ready and available on Saturday.
“Jan [Vertonghen] cannot do that because of injury. But they have to be ready for the team. Then it is about the club, it is about them, it is about me, it is about Mr Levy but fundamentally it is about the players being happy.
“You have to choose what makes you happy but at this moment we have to look at the short term and we have to try and get two good results in the next two matches.”
Was Pochettino affected by last season’s Champions League final loss?
“I don’t know because I never lost a Champions League final but I can imagine it is not easy.
“You reach one of the biggest moments that you can achieve in football, you are one step away from it but could not do it. I cannot imagine that is easy.
“But you have the example of Liverpool; they lost the Premier League by one point and they lost the Champions League by one goal, the next season they are very strong in the Premier League and they won the Champions League.
“I don’t think there is a rule. It depends on how people react to it and of course I don’t want to go as deep as that, that is their history in the club.”
What did he tell the players the first time he met them?
“I told the players I came here because of them.
“I tried to buy some for different clubs and some I didn’t even try because you know how difficult it was.”
On his style of play
“Very similar to before. Of course I will try to add details, and sometimes details can make the difference.
“Progressively we can arrive to a fingerprint. The style of play must be adaptive to the club culture and also the players here.”
On winning the Premier League
“We can’t win the Premier League this season. Next season, I’m not saying we will win it, but we can win it.”
On saying he’d never join Spurs while managing Chelsea
“That was before I was sacked!”
Jose Mourinho shows he still has great comic timing in first press conference for Tottenham
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
