Jose Mourinho reacted to Manchester United’s 3-0 defeat at the hands of Tottenham with a line he must have been dying to use since Arsene Wenger left the Premier League.

If there was any doubt about what Mourinho craves the most after his side were humiliated at home on Monday night, then the Portuguese made it crystal clear in his press conference.

Mourinho was very careful to insist he had won more ‘Premierships’ alone than 19 of the other Premier League managers combined. He couldn’t say ‘league titles’ because then he would have to acknowledge that Rafa Benitez, Unai Emery, and Jurgen Klopp have more league titles between them and his little soundbite would have been rubbished.

Mourinho has always struggled with the fact he has never been afforded respect in the same way as the likes of Arsene Wenger. In 2014 I wrote an article detailing why Jose Mourinho isn’t even fit to zip up Arsene Wenger’s coat and it’s as relevant today as it was then if you ignore the whole ‘Arsene-Wenger-leaving-bit’. You can read that at the end of this article.

Speaking in 2016, Mourinho cried about not being respected. It’s a common theme with him. “Mr. Wenger has that respect from all of you. I don’t think I have it,” Jose whinged.

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“My last league title was 18 months ago, not 18 years ago.

“I want to win a ninth championship and a fourth Premier League.

“I have been champion with four different clubs, I want to do that at Manchester United.”

Jose Mourinho’s problem with Arsene Wenger was clear – it was always about respect – but now he no longer has the Frenchman to attack, people are finally seeing him clearly if they hadn’t already.
For Mourinho, the only thing that matters is winning, no matter how you do that.
But a self-absorbed man like him craves nothing more than the respect of his peers. He does not have it. He used to look at Wenger at Arsenal and see a man who had not won a league title in over a decade and could not comprehend why he was afforded the respect that is still denied to the Portuguese.
https://twitter.com/ChrisWheatley_/status/799611096428593153
Mourinho yearns to be liked, to be loved, to be respected. We watch him in post-match interviews when his side loses, throwing player after player under his broken-down bus. He piles up the excuses before games just in case he needs them and when he doesn’t, he rushes to grab any soupcon of glory that might be floating past. This is not a man able to comprehend his role in anything negative, so fragile is the ego he urges us to believe is indestructible.

Why Jose Mourinho isn’t even fit to zip up Arsene Wenger’s coat

“There are different types of managers in the game,” I wrote over four years ago. “There are some who do it for the club and others who do it for personal glory. The Arsene Wenger’s and Jose Mourinho’s of the world, both occupying opposite ends of the managerial spectrum.

“Responding to Wenger’s comments about how the title was Chelsea’s to lose [by virtue of the fact that they are top of the table] and how other sides are afraid of failure [not an insult, although that’s how it’s been taken], Jose Mourinho reacted to what were non-personal comments with a personal attack.

mou wen
Jose Mourinho, manager of Manchester United (left) and Arsene Wenger, manager of Arsenal (right) both look on during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford on November 19, 2016 in Manchester, England. (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

“He called Wenger a ‘specialist in failure’. Let’s take a look at that shall we? Wenger [at the time] has more Premier League titles than Mourinho and four times as many FA Cups. We’re just talking English trophies here, so don’t annoy me with other clubs and what he won there. Wenger could have moved to Real Madrid, they wanted him long before they wanted Mourinho, and won just as much there. He didn’t. He stayed to build something bigger than his ego.

“Wenger might not have won anything for the past eight years, but in that time he has built a stadium and revolutionised a club, securing its long-term future. Mourinho, on the other hand, has moved from club to club every couple of years, clubs where he was always guaranteed to have a large pile of cash to spend, building on teams assembled by others and soaking up the glory. Winning trophies that way is easy.

“None of his trophies are gold in the way that Wenger’s is for winning the Premier League without losing a game. Not a single one. For Mourinho, it is all about instant gratification no matter what that costs – be it half a billion pounds, your dignity or your sanity having to watch his Chelsea [now Manchester United] side bore teams into submission. Wenger came to England and changed the entire game, from fitness to scouting, playing methods and eating habits. Wenger represents an ethos, a total way of being which is sustainable long after he has gone. Mourinho represents himself. End of story.

“I will quite happily take a lifetime of no trophies under Wenger than have to endure five minutes of Mourinho, even if you told me it would guarantee a treble. There is a class and a dignity to Arsene that no club and their unlimited finances will ever be able to buy for Mourinho. Luckily, thanks to the sacrifices that Wenger has made over the last eight years when he could have gone and sought personal glory at any of the numerous clubs who wanted him before Mourinho, I won’t have to wait a lifetime for Arsenal trophies.

“They will come, that’s what the last eight years have been about for Arsenal, the trophies will come. As sure as Mourinho is a spiteful little troll, the Arsenal trophies will come.”

Four years later and nothing much has changed. I’d still take Arsene Wenger back before I’d ever entertain the idea of Mourinho at Arsenal.

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