Press Conference. Mourinho on his return to Old Trafford, United

Jose Mourinho makes his return to Old Trafford when his Tottenham side visit Manchester United on Wednesday night. Tottenham fifth following two Premier League wins in a row, while United are two points below their next opponents in ninth. The pressure is on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who has overseen consecutive draws against promoted sides in United's last two league games, while Mourinho has won his three games in charge but seen Spurs ship six goals in that time. Ahead of the game, Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho faced the press. Tottenham have confirmed that Ben Davies, Erik Lamela, Michel Vorm and Hugo Lloris are all out of the game at Old Trafford. On his Old Trafford return, Mourinho said: “I feel good. I like to play big matches, I like to play against the best teams and that is the most important thing. Going back to Old Trafford is to go back to a place where I was happy. I can say that I was happy. I have great relationships with Manchester United supporters. I went back as a pundit which is a different perspective. I was really humbled by such a beautiful reception. Tomorrow I go back as the coach of the team that is going is trying to beat Manchester United and that maybe gives a different perspective.” The Portuguese claims, he closed his chapter at United. “This is a closed chapter for me. I left the club and took my time to process everything that happened. I took my time to prepare myself for the next challenge. Honestly, Manchester United for me now is in my book of experiences, it’s in my history book,” he said. Mourinho spoke on what he achieved during his time at Old Trafford: “These are things they [Manchester United] can do this season too. They can win the Europa League, they’ve qualified for the knockout. They can win the Carabao Cup as they are still in the competition. They can win the FA Cup, they’ve got Wolves in the first round. They can achieve these targets.” When asked about his regret at United, Mourinho answered: “For you, it’s like I left Manchester United yesterday. It was not yesterday, it was almost one year ago. I am Tottenham. Again, if you want to speak about United as an opponent, let’s speak about them as an opponent.” Has Jose changed over the past year? "I am the same guy, I am very happy, I am very happy. I cannot hide that, I don’t want to hide, but even if I tried I clearly could not be successful. I think that everybody that knows me feels that I am happy and that is the important thing," Mourinho answered. On Tottenham's defence, he said: "In the last game, we were very, very fine and when they scored the first goal in a direct free-kick I think we were in complete control, I think we had zero problems in the second half of the game. We were very tight, we were pressing very well, we were in control. So when that goal came I think in our best moment and Bournemouth’s worst moment a set-piece there is nothing you can do when the kid has that talent." On closing the gam op the top four, he added: “There are things we cannot control – the opponents’ results. We did our job, we won two matches then we cannot control. Chelsea lost 6 points, Arsenal lost 4. We are not in control with this kind of situation. Imagine we win all our matches but Chelsea also wins, we would be the same 12 points difference. That is something we cannot control and that’s the problem when you are in a bad position.” Mourinho on Jose's Old Trafford return: “I’m not a villain, I’m not an enemy but I am the coach trying to win against Manchester United – that’s how they’re going to look at me. In relation to Solskjaer, he is the guy trying to win the game for United fans. They’re not going to support me.” On whether or not it is still a big game: “I think so, and it will always be big. I have no doubts that we are two big clubs, and in my case Tottenham, one of the reasons why I came here was because of Mr Levy’s vision and his ambitions for the future, and Tottenham wants to be bigger than it already is.” On Juan Foyth: “There are other players that I like very, very much and I try to give some stability to the team and there is no space for everyone, so we look to other boys. Ryan Sessegnon, Lo Celso, Walker-Peters, we have other players with the potential to play that they didn’t have yet the opportunity to play. I would say let’s wait for the end of December for the accumulation of matches and for sure opportunities will come." Source- Football.London

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