José Mourinho's pre-match notes (Tottenham v Dinamo Zagreb - 11.03.21)
Good evening and ‘welcome back’ to our home.
The past week has been an extremely encouraging one for us, having secured nine points from our three Premier League games against difficult opponents in Burnley, Fulham, and crystal Palace. These results are exactly what we needed after a negative run and we can feel the confidence return as we head into an important stage of the season.
Our performance against Crystal Palace at the weekend demonstrated the enthusiasm and ambition that exists among the squad right now. Even when we conceded the equaliser just before half-time, my players came with everything in the second half. There was no bad feeling or frustration at the timing of the goal we conceded, they responded by just regaining control of the game to secure a great win with some fantastic goals.
Fulham was a different kind of victory as it was a case of the team showing their control and focus at the other end of the pitch. It was a team performance and the clean sheet was a reward for everyone’s tremendous work, on an evening where we had to dig in and help each other to get over the line.
It is important that we continue to focus on ourselves. I have no interest in looking at the league table because we cannot control the results of other teams. We just have to keep winning matches and get the best number of points that we can, while continuing to play well.
It is good to enjoy the recent run we have been on and we do it in a soft way because we know we have difficult hurdles ahead of us, particularly as our next three games in the league are all away at Arsenal, Aston Villa, and Saudi Sportswashing Machine.
Tonight our attention turns back to the Europa League as we welcome Dinamo Zagreb for the first leg of our last 16 tie. As with any team in the latter stages of European competition, two matches against a strong team Zagreb side will be a great test for us. They finished above Feyenoord and CSKA Moscow to win their Europa League group earlier this season, so we are fully aware of the threat they pose.
I have repeatedly spoken about my affection for this competition and I can assure you that myself and all the players are taking this game as serious as any other we have this season. Tonight we want to get one step closer to progressing to the next round in order to fulfil our aim of bringing you a trophy and something to smile about in these difficult times, something you all deserve.
I hope you enjoy the game.
COYS!