Jose Mourinho has admitted that he eventually wants the Tottenham players to develop the same mentality which he possesses.
On the back of Tottenham’s 3-1 defeat to Sheffield United a little over a week ago, Mourinho pointed the finger at the lack of mental toughness within his players rather than at technical mistakes (Football.London)
The Spurs head coach insisted that the team should not have been affected after Harry Kane’s equaliser was ruled out by VAR.
After Hugo Lloris’ altercation with Heung-min Son at half-time of Tottenham’s 1-0 win over Everton on Monday, Mourinho claimed that he was pleased to see the duo airing their disagreements with each other.
He revealed that he had asked the players to be more demanding of their teammates and insisted that the falling out between the Son and Lloris showed that the players cared.
The 57-year-old has now admitted that the main change he is trying to implement at Spurs is to change the squad’s mentality rather than any tactical altercations.
When asked what he would most like to see from his side against Arsenal, Mourinho told Sky Sports: “My mentality.
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“I want the team to be a reflection of what the coach is. When that happens, that’s when you feel, ‘This is really my team.’
“This is something that is not a finger click. It’s a process.
“But if you have that feeling that it is your team even when you lose matches – because you will always lose matches – then that is when you are really happy.”
When asked if the profile of modern-day footballer had changed from his early days in management, the Spurs boss admitted that it has but insisted that it is up to managers to keep adapting their methods.
He added: “The world changes, society changes, young people change.
“Everything changes and there is no way back. But we have to adapt to the new world. We have to adapt to the new football that, I keep saying, is not on the pitch, it’s the new football outside the pitch.
“We need to adapt to it, but when we believe strongly in something, we cannot give up and just play the safe side of it, just by saying that these are new times.
“When you really believe in something, you have to fight for it.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Despite the tactical evolution we have seen in the game over the past decade or so, I still believe possessing a strong mentality is an extremely underrated element of building a good team.
The current Liverpool team is a great example of how having the right mentality is crucial in consistently producing results. The work that Klopp has done in building a squad with the right mental profile has been just as groundbreaking as his tactical methods.
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