- 16 Dec 2024
Lucas Moura insists the Tottenham dressing room still believes in Mourinho
Martin Macdonald
- Updated: 23 May 2023 08:40 CDT
- 6 min read
Jose Mourinho still retains the belief and support of the Tottenham dressing room, according to Spurs winger Lucas Moura.
Last week saw Tottenham suffered their worst moment of the 2020/21 season so far after being eliminated from the Europa League at the last-16 stage by Dinamo Zagreb after a 3-2 aggregate loss over two legs.
Spurs led 2-0 from the first leg but were pegged back in the second before the Croatian outfit won the tie in extra time.
The elimination means that the club’s best hope of qualifying for next season’s Champions League has gone, with the route to the tournament via the top four in the Premier League looking an unlikely one.
Mourinho took most of the criticism for that loss, and it was the latest game or performance in a run in 2021 so far which has seen the Portuguese manager come under increasing pressure.
Moura has provided some words of support for his boss, though, and says his record as a manager must be respected.
“It’s been a very bad week for us, the feeling was very bad,” Lucas told Standard Sport following Tottenham’s 2-0 away win against Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday.
“Last night, we showed our nature, we showed attitude.
“The good thing about football is you don’t have time to cry. We did differently last night, we deserved that win and I’m very happy for that.
“We talked about [the Dinamo] game. The manager told us a lot of things, but the kind of things we need to keep between us. He has a lot of experience and he tried to motivate us, and it was very good for last night’s game.
“Let’s go. We have nine games to play, we have a final (the Carabao Cup), let’s finish the season well. There was a lack of a lot of things [against Dinamo — a lack of intensity, a lack of aggression. It’s difficult to explain, of course, and after the game we regret a lot of things. But we had another opportunity and we did well. And that’s what we need to do, every game. We cannot change this mentality.
“We are all together. We’re in the same boat. We lose together, we win together. What happened in Croatia was our fault. Everyone included. When we’re on the pitch, we just want to win.
“We know there are a lot of fans behind the TV supporting us. We play for our family, we play for pride and we’re all together. We believe in the coach. We believe in the coach because we know his history. We just want to be successful here.”
Will Mourinho leave Tottenham?
There hasn’t been any public show of support from chairman Daniel Levy since the Dinamo loss or in the weeks previous, so Mourinho’s future may depend on whether or not he does take the club back to the Champions League.
Most recently Brendan Rodgers has been mentioned as a potential replacement for Mourinho, with Julian Nagelsmann also getting a mention earlier in the season.
FootballTransfers has previously detailed who could potentially come in to replace the ‘Special One’ as well as where Mourinho could end up next should his spell in North London come to an end.
