Son: People ‘misunderstand’ Mourinho and ‘winning mentality’ can bring trophies

[mawspurs]

Tottenham Hotspur forward Son Heung-min says outsiders perhaps “misunderstand” Jose Mourinho’s intense approach and desire to win, but inside the club he is seen as a friendly character with the right mental approach to bring trophies back to the club.

Source: Independent

 

[davidmatzdorf]

Perhaps this is not the ideal week to be trumpeting "winning mentality".

 

[Johnny J]

You just have to hope the West Ham result was a big learning point for the team's mentality. Should just not happen in the way it did.

 

[Donki]

Perhaps this is not the ideal week to be trumpeting "winning mentality".

No idea if Son's quotes were before or after the but I feel there is always a time to question it.... whether us as fans like it or not.

 

[whitelightwhiteheat]

It’s the players I misunderstand, not Jose. How do they consistently fuck things up when we finally get somewhere that looks good? Puncturing positivity is what they, as a collective, consistently do.

 

[rez9000]

It’s the players I misunderstand, not Jose. How do they consistently fuck things up when we finally get somewhere that looks good? Puncturing positivity is what they, as a collective, consistently do.

I honestly believe it's a cultural thing. Every club has a certain character that regardless of personnel changes continues over time, sometimes for years. When you think about it, there's never a situation in which the entire football side of a club changes in one go (events like Munich notwithstanding) so a club's character gets passed from squad to squad and manager to manager. There is evolution, of course, but it takes time and a manager exerting his will to change things.

It's like Arsenal had the reputation for playing boring football under the aegis of George Graham. It took time under Wenger to alter that.

Same with us - we have a reputation for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. I think we instil a certain brittleness in our players and as new players arrive, this gets passed on, so it becomes engrained in the culture of the club.

But I also think Mourinho knows this - his entire professional persona is one that is distinctly psychological. His use of mind games to unsettle the opposition, his prodding and sometimes harsh treatment of players is all rooted in working the mental aspects of the game. I think events like Sunday's result will be meat and drink to him when it comes to developing the psychological aspects of the players.

For me, that would be a really positive aspect of Mourinho's legacy at Spurs - getting rid of that soft underbelly that can so often spell disaster.

 

[whitelightwhiteheat]

I honestly believe it's a cultural thing. Every club has a certain character that regardless of personnel changes continues over time, sometimes for years. When you think about it, there's never a situation in which the entire football side of a club changes in one go (events like Munich notwithstanding) so a club's character gets passed from squad to squad and manager to manager. There is evolution, of course, but it takes time and a manager exerting his will to change things.

It's like Arsenal had the reputation for playing boring football under the aegis of George Graham. It took time under Wenger to alter that.

Same with us - we have a reputation for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. I think we instil a certain brittleness in our players and as new players arrive, this gets passed on, so it becomes engrained in the culture of the club.

But I also think Mourinho knows this - his entire professional persona is one that is distinctly psychological. His use of mind games to unsettle the opposition, his prodding and sometimes harsh treatment of players is all rooted in working the mental aspects of the game. I think events like Sunday's result will be meat and drink to him when it comes to developing the psychological aspects of the players.

For me, that would be a really positive aspect of Mourinho's legacy at Spurs - getting rid of that soft underbelly that can so often spell disaster.

Love what you said mate. I think you’re spot on, it’s embedded in our DNA.

What’s interesting is in today’s press conference José was asked about the term “Spursy” and he said he’s aware of the term and isn’t interested in the past he’s just interested in the future.

The fact José is aware, the players will be fully aware of this too. What we need is players who can be inspired by that with a desire to prove people wrong.

I think Jose is starting to change that culture but it won’t happen over night.

 

[ernie78]

What we need is players who can be inspired by that with a desire to prove people wrong.

I’m reminded of Dier’s “we hear what people say and we don’t like it” comments after we thrashed Man C a few years ago. We seemed to be growing a backbone and we won a lot of games in the last few minutes (Swansea away a prime example). For some reason this attitude dropped and we’ve become fragile again. Hope Jose can reinstall some belief in the team

 

[whitesocks]

I always thought it was the fans holding the club back. Supportive for the big games, but lazy and complacent against the rest, and that attitude just rubbed off on the players.

Can't blame the fans this season, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

 

[rez9000]

I always thought it was the fans holding the club back. Supportive for the big games, but lazy and complacent against the rest, and that attitude just rubbed off on the players.

Can't blame the fans this season, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

I think there's elements of that in there too. The gap between club and supporter may be widening, but there's still an influence there. Who knows? It may be as simple as players picking up on the feelings of a crowd. Stage actors and standups claim to be able to sense when an audience is hostile, forgiving, attentive, what-have-you. Why should that be any different to football players? Maybe our fanbase's pessimistic streak has contributed?