Mourinho: ”Brentford is my biggest game since arriving at Spurs”

GlastonSpur said:
Mourinho arrived at Spurs last season only after our chances of finishing top 4 had already been severely dented. Money-wise you could argue that the UCL knockout stage made those a bigger game, but not in terms of chances to win a trophy.

Anyhow, clearly Mourinho wants to motivate his players for the Brentford match, so in the end that's all that's really involved here.
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Europa League qualification is what I was referring to not UCL qualification
 
GlastonSpur said:
Which game since he arrived has been bigger, would you say?
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The last one against Leeds which they managed to win 3-0. If they'd lost that game being at home and only 2 pts from the last 4 games would have heaped pressure on him.
Also Leipzig, both legs in the CL.
I mean Spurs are a team who are aiming for top 4 at least and further qualification in the CL. We're not talking Fulham here!
 
So if Brentford pull of an unlikely win, will Jose blame it on futbol errrritage?
 
simplyared said:
The last one against Leeds which they managed to win 3-0. If they'd lost that game being at home and only 2 pts from the last 4 games would have heaped pressure on him.
Also Leipzig, both legs in the CL.
I mean Spurs are a team who are aiming for top 4 at least and further qualification in the CL. We're not talking Fulham here!
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We're also talking a team which hasn't won a trophy in over a decade and a slightly (to put it mildly) narcissistic man who has a hard fought and totally justifiable reputation of winning trophies, which he has done at every club. And if you want to count the EL as a big trophy, a big trophy at every club he's been at.

Yes we stagnated under Poch in the end but let's be frank, Jose has been brought in to win something. It may be 1 or 2 trophies only, they may only be league cups but if he leaves after 3 seasons, having only finished in the top 4 each season, I would count that as a relative failure tbh, unless he had really revolutionised the squad and it looked ready to take off.

This is his biggest game so far at the club and if we get through, the final will be bigger still. If we progress through the FA cup and EL or even manage to keep pace with the leaders in the league, then other games from those competitions will be much bigger.
 
Haddock said:
So if Brentford pull of an unlikely win, will Jose blame it on futbol errrritage?
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Ofcourse, he will list their last 5 league cup finishes and end with how many times he has won it.
 
He is right, this is a chance to win a trophy. This is the only trophy Tottenham stand a chance of winning, so it would be huge for them. The same as United winning the Champions League. For Spurs, Villa, Everton et al, the League Cup is as mighty as it gets (objectively). We all know any team can win any competition they enter (Leicester bloody went and won the league), but as mentioned, objectively speaking. Mourinho will be gone in 1-2 years tops, so if he wants to bolster his trophy cabinet this is the chance. With that being said, they will play a better team in the final and most likely lose.
 
Cassidy said:
Europa League qualification is what I was referring to not UCL qualification
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EL qualification was achieved over the season, not as a result of any single game. Or if you're referring to the EL qualifying rounds, there was hardly much doubt over the outcomes.
 
James Peril said:
He is right, this is a chance to win a trophy. This is the only trophy Tottenham stand a chance of winning, so it would be huge for them. The same as United winning the Champions League. For Spurs, Villa, Everton et al, the League Cup is as mighty as it gets (objectively). We all know any team can win any competition they enter (Leicester bloody went and won the league), but as mentioned, objectively speaking. Mourinho will be gone in 1-2 years tops, so if he wants to bolster his trophy cabinet this is the chance. With that being said, they will play a better team in the final and most likely lose.
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On what basis do Spurs stand no chance of winning either the FA Cup or EL?
 
winning League Cup in the last few years have been tough for any other club though, because City takes it quite seriously under Pep. It is Klopp who has shown quite disdain for it. But if Spurs manage to win it beating either us or City. It would be huge for them, and if we win it by beating City in the semis and Spurs(if they beat Brentford) in the final, I would say it will be good for our morale too going into the next season. I dislike this Mickey Mouse trophy thing that some fans do. A trophy is a trophy. i hope we meet Spurs in the final and beat them clean.
 
GlastonSpur said:
Which game since he arrived has been bigger, would you say?
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The 1-1 away to Crystal Palace that secured sixth place and Europa League football. At least that's what it looked like when Mourinho celebrated on the pitch after the game. You know where he said finishing sixth was a "miracle".
 
SamVimes said:
The 1-1 away to Crystal Palace that secured sixth place and Europa League football. At least that's what it looked like when Mourinho celebrated on the pitch after the game. You know where he said finishing sixth was a "miracle".
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How is that game, bigger than a semi final, which brings them closer to winning something, even if League Cup, in over a decade(13 years to be precise).
 
Lord SInister said:
They don't have proper squad depth to actively compete for all the available tournaments and while also focusing to finish top 4 in the league.
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We have as much squad depth as most of the other top 4 contenders. Besides, even if what you said were true (which it isn't), that still doesn't equate to zero chance - especially when cup competitions depend a fair amount on the luck of the draw.
 
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SamVimes said:
The 1-1 away to Crystal Palace that secured sixth place and Europa League football. At least that's what it looked like when Mourinho celebrated on the pitch after the game. You know where he said finishing sixth was a "miracle".
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As I've already said, EL qualification is achieved over the course of a season. The 1 - 1 draw you cite would have counted for nothing had we lost any of the previously drawn league games.
 
Love the arrogance of some of the posts when our own club want to win this cup ourselves!
 
GlastonSpur said:
We have as much squad depth as most of the other top 4 contenders. Besides even if what you said were true (which it isn't), that still doesn't equate to zero chance - especially when cup competitions depend a fair amount on the luck of the draw.
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Doesn't necessarilly have to focus on everything all at once anyway to win one of those. At United he definitely prioritised the EL towards the end when top 4 was looking unlikely.
 
His comment on his biggest accomplishment of finishing second with United was absolutely bollocks as well. He's just bigging himself up as per usual
 
He's right I would say as well as it is important for Spurs and to be honest any other club bar Liverpool and City to win the Carabao Cup.

Having said that, the Liverpool game they had was arguably a bigger game. If they had gotten something at the time from Anfield, could have lead to Spurs going forward in a title charge.
 
simplyared said:
Mickey Mouse cup. Can’t see the Spurs fans getting over excited about that.

Agreed they haven’t won any silverware in 13yrs but that statement is surely over the top?

Is this another one of his attempts to draw attention to himself? Is it genuine? Tactical reasons?
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The next game is always the biggest, it's the type of thing that's always a moving target. Realistically the Liverpool game which they lost in stoppage time was bigger than a game against lowly Brentford and when Spurs win tomorrow night the final will be bigger than this game as well
 
Well, cup semifinal is a big game, especially for a club that has won nothing for years so he is hardly wrong here...
 
He's focussing the players minds.

I actually watched all or nothing about spurs, he's very smart with his psychology, I wish they do another one in their third season.
 
Of all the Mourinho quotes I've ever seen, this is perhaps the least deserving of a thread.
 
He isn't wrong.

Also, if you want to change the mentality of a club that has regularly bottled it in big games, convincing everybody that your biggest game yet is against a team in the Championship is a great way to build belief that they can win big games (assuming they don't bottle it of course).
 
always_hoping said:
Won't look good for Poch fan boys if Jose past his best is able to lead Spurs to a trophy in his first full season.
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Pochettino's one failing is that he couldn't win one of the cups, for sure. But taking them from where he did to where he did was a huge accomplishment regardless.
 
balaks said:
I don't see what the problem is with what he said here?
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There isn't cos it's true. When he wins then the final is the biggest

Spurs fans I know wanted a trophy and never understood why poch threw away fa Cup and league cup chances. Guessing you're the same ?
 
always_hoping said:
They weren't relegation candidates, Spurs finished 6th, 5th, 4th, 5th, 4th in the 5 season before Poch arrived.
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In his first season they went from 6th to 5th and made a League cup final.

If we were to count this as Mourinho's first season because it's his first full one, they finished 6th last season and are one game from a League Cup final. Could argue that beating Brentford and getting 5th or higher matches Poch.

Of course the counter to that would be that the players Poch left were better but then that makes Poch look bad for being 14th with them in the end and taking something like 37 points in 29 matches in 2019. AVB/Sherwood left them in a better place position-wise with worse.
 
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Well he also said that the EL final was the biggest in Utd's history when we got there so please take this with a pinch of salt.
 
He is trying to justify playing his strongest side against Brentford without looking like a wimp.
 
Predictable, already hyping up the League Cup.
 
Trophies are great, but it doesn't guarantee people look back on that manager's time fondly. Are Spurs fans looking back at the glory years under Juande Ramos because he won a league cup? Are Birmingham fans worshiping Alex Mcleish for the league cup win?

I also don't buy the idea that winning a trophy is a springboard to greater things, and it somehow breeds this mythical "winning mentality" that leads to future success. Birmingham, Wigan, Portsmouth, Spurs have all won trophies that amounted to no further success. Arsenal's recent FA cup wins have done nothing for their progression towards competing for the league/CL again and they've just got worse since they broke that trophy drought under Wenger a few years ago. Mourinho's time at United could have ended in a bottom half finish just a short time after the league cup and Europa double.
 
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