Jose Mourinho: Tottenham players must be angry, not sad, after defeats

Passion: Jose Mourinho wants more of a reaction from his squad
Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images
Dan Kilpatrick @Dan_KP6 December 2019

Jose Mourinho has urged his Tottenham players to "be raging" in response to defeats after discovering a "sad dressing room" in the wake of the loss at Manchester United on Wednesday.

Marcus Rashford's double ruined Mourinho's return to Old Trafford as Spurs suffered a first defeat under the Portuguese in his fourth match in charge, going down 2-1.

Ahead of Saturday's visit of Burnley, Mourinho revealed he is trying to change the mentality of his squad, starting with their response to defeats.

"One of the things I said was that I saw a sad dressing room, a sad plane [back to London] and that’s not what I like after a defeat," Mourinho said.

"After a defeat you cannot be sad. You have to be more than that. You have to be raging, angry – not sad! Being sad is not going to resolve your problems. You need that mentality."

Mourinho succeeded Mauricio Pochettino two weeks ago and he reiterated that he has not had enough time to make significant changes to his squad in training.

But he refused to blame his predecessor for the players' attitude, insisting it has been his team since day one.

"Unfortunately we can’t work on the pitch again," Mourinho said. "The training session yesterday phenomenal but it was players who didn’t play against United. I can’t stop the league for one month of pre-season in Dubai. We have to play and resolve the problems step by step.

(Manchester United via Getty Images)
Manchester United via Getty Imag

"It’s obvious we have problems, that’s no doubt but we have players with quality, a great human dressing room. I like the guys very, very much. But we have to change the feeling of feeling sorry for our mistakes and feeling sad for bad results. We need to be more than that."

"It will come step by step," he added. "Since the moment I arrived, it’s my team, for good or bad. My team. My responsibility. You will never hear me say the problems are from the past. It’s my team from day one, when we win, my team when we lose."

Spurs have shipped two goals in all four matches under Mourinho but he denied his defence is a problem and hinted that new signings would not be a solution.

"It’s not the defence. it’s the defensive process," he said. "When we speak about defence we speak about keepers, centre-backs, mistakes. I don’t look at individuals but the defensive process, through 11 players on the pitch. We have to resolve our problems with organisation. It's not about signings or players."

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