Why Mourinho Sets Unrealistic Targets

Jose Mourinho has a celebrated history of achieving overambitious targets, which is why the new Manchester United manager has challenged his players to win the Premier League title in his first season at Old Trafford.

The Portuguese boss made his name at FC Porto when he led them to UEFA Cup glory in 2003, before shocking the football world once again by winning the Champions League in 2004 – famously knocking Sir Alex Ferguson’s Reds out of the competition at the quarter-final stage.

Mourinho achieved the seemingly impossible once again five years later when his Internazionale team overcame all obstacles to lift the 2010 European Cup, beating Bayern Munich in the final. That victory over the Germans also capped a celebrated treble for the San Siro club in 2009/10.

Jose now has 20 trophies etched onto his honours board, yet those two Champions League triumphs with Porto and Inter stand out as true underdog success stories. It is those achievements which have convinced the 53-year-old that United can win the title in his first season as manager, despite the club finishing fifth, fourth and seventh in the last three campaigns.

“I like to create that expectation and I like the players to feel it,” Mourinho told the Sunday newspapers, ahead of the Community Shield. “Sometimes, during my career, I created some unrealistic targets. By doing that, you push the team to unexpected levels - to win the Champions League with Porto and Inter is unexpected. Those were very risky objectives and targets.

“To win championships in the first season is a bit of the same, but I like that. People analyse it as arrogance and so on but that’s not a problem for me. The reality is that I always feel that targets like this can only help players, managers, clubs and this kind of establishment.”