Jose Mourinho’s career is littered with achievements. He made Porto the only team outside Europe’s top five domestic divisions to win the Champions League in the modern era. He secured Chelsea’s first league title in half a century with what remains statistically the best defence in English league history. He took Inter Milan back to the summit of European football after a 45-year wait.
But perhaps his most remarkable feat came on Sunday. He broke Son Heung-min. The South Korean’s nickname has reflected his demeanour; ‘Sonny’ has invariably had a sunny disposition, projecting a smiling likeability that, coupled with his goal return and energetic, attacking style of play, has made him the sort of figure many would love to see at their clubs. He felt one of football’s endearing optimists; until after Tottenham Hotspur’s 3-1 defeat to Manchester United, he conducted an interview with the club website which was an exercise in despondency.
The most damning part, perhaps inadvertently, came from his questioner. “Sonny, I've known you for six years and I've done lots of interviews with you and I don't think I've ever seen you so low,” he said. Son has spoken after many a setback in those six years without ever appearing as unhappy.
Sighing, rubbing his face, admitting he did not know what to say, Son’s reaction reflected a season that has gone wrong, rather than just the preceding 90 minutes. It seemed a recognition that Tottenham will not qualify for the Champions League; it was the cumulative effect of at least four months of mistakes and mishaps.
But, when much club media feels designed to be bland, it was startlingly honest. The broader picture had caused him rather more pain than Scott McTominay’s (not particularly) flailing arm.
And if it indicates the underachievement at Tottenham this season – despite Son’s excellent individual return of 19 goals and his potent double act with Harry Kane – it is an indictment of Mourinho. Mauricio Pochettino harnessed the power of positive thinking, and not merely in his progressive tactics, to spur his team onwards. Mourinho’s negativity has sent Son sinking into a depression.
Sunday’s post-match misery can be called an emotional reaction to a devastating defeat, but it is part of a bigger picture: Kane may be tempted to leave Tottenham. Spurs advanced in part because they bought into something bigger, because they believed. Now perhaps they don’t.
A group may have been divided by managerial sniping; certainly they have had a series of losses for which they have been blamed while those exempted from criticism could be forgiven for glancing upwards in the table enviously. A disappointing season could have consequences that could set Spurs back for years.
And the post-match interviews told different tales: one of a frank sense things are going wrong, another of the latest diversionary tactic. Mourinho and Son already acquired a different meaning as the Special One had some parenting advice to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer; “If you have to steal to feed your kids, you steal,” ranks as one of the more unexpected comments even from Mourinho, along with his strange diversion into the worlds of bread and cheese.
Not for the first time, he latched on to something – anything – else to divert responsibility from a defeat. Mourinho would have been better off ignoring Solskjaer’s suggestion Son conned the referee and watching the winger’s interview, asking himself how such an upbeat character was driven to despair.
The soap opera from the manager was entertaining in its own way, but the downbeat realism from his scorer was rather more revealing.
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