‘Serious and with ambition’ – Mourinho reveals secret behind his League Cup record

Jose Mourinho has insisted that there is no particular secret behind his impressive record in the EFL Cup other than the fact he respects the competition and always takes it seriously.

Mourinho has won the trophy four times in his career so far, three times with Chelsea and once with Man United, and will be trying to make it a record fifth win when Spurs go to Wembley in April.

Tottenham have a proud history in domestic cup competitions but have only got their hands on the EFL Cup twice in the last 30 years.

While Spurs have come close to winning both the Premier League and Champions League in recent years, they have arguably failed to take the FA Cup and the League Cup as seriously.

Mourinho’s predecessor, Mauricio Pochettino even claimed at one point that domestic cup competitions are only good for building one’s ego.

However, the Portuguese coach admitted that he has always taken the cup competitions seriously since arriving in England more than 15 years ago.

When asked what the secret behind his success in the League Cup was, he told Football.London: “There is no secret. I come to England in 2004 and I remember that in that period I had to learn the meaning of the cups here and I always took its serious.

“If there is any secret it’s to take it seriously.

“To respect what English football is, what English clubs are, what English lower divisions are, and try to not be surprised in any of the games from smaller quality, and when you have like we had this season a game against Chelsea to go serious and with ambition.

“Apart from that, there is no other secret.

“What I sense in the team is exactly that desire. I’m not saying winning mentality, I’m not saying we are this or that. I just say we are honest people.

“The guys since the first game against Chelsea, then Stoke, and now the guys took it seriously. And that’s what I hope to do on Sunday in Crosby against Marine. Try to be serious, respect the opponents, and try to progress.”

Spurs Web Opinion:

As much as I loved Pochettino, if there was one major blind spot he had, it was his attitude towards the FA Cup and League Cup. While his point about the Premier League and the Champions League being the biggest honours was completely valid, we could have quite easily picked up a couple of domestic cups if we had taken the competitions more seriously during the Argentine’s reign at the club.

It is refreshing to see the players respect the Carabao Cup this season as a club that has been as starved of silverware as we have in recent years certainly cannot afford to belittle any competition.

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