At least, that is how it appears as the Portuguese coach prepares his Premier League-leading Tottenham Hotspur side to face the club where he cemented his legacy as one of the greatest soccer managers of modern times.
However, he followed up acrimonious departures from Real and Chelsea with a fractious spell at Manchester United where he was derided for negative tactics and perceived as a coach out of touch with the type of modern football being successfully advanced by the likes of Pep Guardiola and Juergen Klopp.
It was a tough ask given that the club has a tight wage structure and struggles to compete with the financial might of the other top clubs in England. Spurs only had three shots against Manchester City at home last weekend compared to 19 from Guardiola's side but won 2-0. They lead the table on goal difference from champions Liverpool.
"We all want to perform for him, and to anyone saying those kind of things, as players we want to prove them wrong for him, and I think we did that today."Mourinho's cause has also been helped by his appearances in the Tottenham Hotspur 'All Or Nothing' series on Amazon Prime - clips from which have become popular social media memes.
Many Tottenham fans have found their heads turned and have bought into Mourinho's methods, presumably tired of recalling that their last European trophy came in 1984 and their last domestic league title more than 20 years before that in 1961.
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