Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho trapped in the generation gap
Spurs manager candidly shares his difficulties with modern-day players to a Singaporean audience
He has lifted the Champions League trophy twice and won domestic titles in Spain, Italy, England as well as his native Portugal, but increasingly Jose Mourinho has been deemed to be out of step with the modern generation of players.
He seems to have had a tougher time bringing the best out of Paul Pogba, 28; Marcus Rashford, 23; and Dele Alli, 24, than Frank Lampard, 42; Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 39; and Cristiano Ronaldo, 36, previously.
Former England midfielder Jermaine Jenas has said the 58-year-old has "stumbled into an era" where he cannot impose his formerly successful methods on a new breed of players.
Mourinho's midfield general during his first spell at Chelsea, Claude Makelele, said his old boss "misses the earlier generation". Patrick Vieira, who played for him at Inter Milan, opined that "the problem is almost certainly that there is a new generation and the message does not go through as well".
The Tottenham Hotspur manager himself alluded to that generational divide several times during a virtual live event organised by the club's sponsor AIA yesterday. Titled "Game On with Mourinho", he fielded questions from Singaporeans.
He broached the subject early into the session when explaining his "big-game" ideology.
Said Mourinho: "Every game is a big game. That's why sometimes I feel contradictions between my mentality and the mentality of some of the young guys.
"Since the day I started, I take the job so seriously that for me, big game is every game."
Expanding on the difference between the younger crop of players and those now in their 30s, with whom he enjoyed the bulk of his success, he added: "Sometimes I feel that many of these young players from these new generations, they are not in love with football.
"They are more in love with... the lifestyle that football can give them. And this is not the real motivation.
"You look to these let's say older players that are still 32, 34, 36, 38 - even Ibrahimovic, who is 39 years old, these (are) not people who (are) in love with what football can give you, because they have everything. These (are) people that (are) in love with football."
He doubled down when highlighting the importance of self-motivation, saying too many modern players give "excuses" and shirk responsibility.
Said the ex-Porto, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Inter and Manchester United manager: "I believe that as coaches, we can only be the last source of motivation, let's say an external source of motivation for the individual...
"If everybody outside football... thinks it's the coach that is going to make miracles and transform a non-motivated player... that is just to put responsibilities on a person that cannot make miracles, and to take away responsibilities from the individual.
"And I believe in these new generations, this is happening a lot, while in previous generations, the process of growing up... was based on responsibility.
"And in this moment, it looks like everything is more based on giving them excuses to run away from responsibility."
It was not just the new generation who Mourinho aimed barbs at, he also admitted that his Spurs side are not "a great example of how to keep motivated".
Tottenham last week blew a two-goal lead to crash out of the Europa League at the hands of Dinamo Zagreb and are sixth in the English Premier League with nine games left, despite topping the table three months ago.
Asked how he keeps himself and his players motivated during this Covid-19 disrupted season, he replied: "Well, with the results that we have, I don't think we can speak about keeping everybody motivating and stable, because our results are not consistently good.
"We have, of course, very good moments but then we have downs. So if the point was related to Covid and consistency and resilience, we wouldn't be a great example of how to keep motivated and focused all the time."
Not that any self-doubt has crept into the self-styled Special One's psyche.
Said Mourinho: "I don't think anybody is going to discuss rocket science with the guys from Nasa.
"But everybody around the world, they think they can discuss football with one of the most important managers in the game. That's the beauty of football, I got used to it."
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