Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho has dismissed suggestions he is under mounting pressure to deliver results and stressed that he is still the right man to end the club’s 13-year trophy drought this season.
Spurs suffered their third consecutive Premier League defeat for the first time since Nov. 2012 on Thursday as they were beaten 1-0 by Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea.
But when asked whether he was concerned about his future at the club, Mourinho highlighted April’s League Cup final against Manchester City — an opportunity for Spurs to lift their first major trophy since their 2008 League Cup triumph.
“I put pressure on myself every day,” he told a news conference. “I don’t need others to pressure on me. So, since 2012 without three defeats in a row? Correct? Since when without a title? Maybe I can give one.”
Having led the league at the start of December, Spurs now sit in eighth place, 14 points behind table-toppers Manchester City.
Mourinho said Spurs must focus on breaking their losing run in Sunday’s home match against relegation-threatened West Bromwich Albion.
The Portuguese coach also talked up the resumption of the Europa League this month, with the competition offering an alternative path back into the Champions League if Spurs fail to finish in the Premier League top four.
“The reality is that, until the end of the month, we have great motivations in front of us,” Mourinho said.
“But let’s focus on West Bromwich because it’s the next match and, after three defeats, we have to win. We cannot even think a different thing.”