Jose Mourinho is confident he can turn things around at Tottenham.
Sunday's 2-1 defeat away to West Ham meant Spurs have lost five out of their last six Premier League games.
The Champions League winner with Porto and Inter is enduring the worst run of his managerial career, having amassed only 81 points from his first 50 league games.
But speaking ahead of Wednesday night's Europa League second leg with Wolfsberger, Mourinho is adamant that he's the man to get Spurs back between the ditches.
81 - José Mourinho has earned 81 points after 50 league matches in charge of Spurs, his lowest total at this stage in any managerial stint:
124 points - Porto
126 - Chelsea (1st spell)
113 - Inter
123 - Real Madrid
114 - Chelsea (2nd spell)
95 - Man Utd
81 - Spurs
Dwindling. pic.twitter.com/2EULGc16GG— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 21, 2021
"It’s a positive thing that you say I am not used to it and my career is being the opposite of this," he told reporters on Tuesday, "That’s a great thing.
"But I want to know which coach in the end of his career can say everything was blue sky and never a little bit grey or cloudy or even dark.
"Unless it’s a coach that was always in dominant clubs where the clubs were always the top clubs in countries and then it’s more difficult to have difficult moments but I think just show how beautiful my career has been.
"Does this make me happy? No. Does this make me depressed? Not at all. It’s a challenge.
"I always feel that I work for the clubs, I work for the players, for the supporters of the club.
"I always feel that I have to give them so much and the fact I’m giving them hard work but not the results is something that of course hurts me and is a great challenge for me because I believe I can give it.
"I gave it everywhere I have been and I want to do it and I’m more motivated than ever and I believe that at least it is what I feel. I never felt what normally coaches feel when the results are bad.
"When the results are bad normally when the results are bad the coach is a lonely man. That’s what we normally are and in this club, in this building I never felt that. Never. I always felt, not just respected of course but always felt supported, that everyone is together in the same boat.
"By one side nobody is happy but by another side nobody is depressed and I feel positive. Maybe it can look a bit weird for you, losing so many matches and you're positive but yes I’m positive. I cannot say I’m happy but I would say I’m not unhappy.
"I wake up in the morning and I want to come back to work I arrive in the building and feel the motivation in everyone. I love to train. People is loving training and everyone is working as hard as it’s possible with so many matches and we are positive.
"We want to play tomorrow, we want to play on Sunday, we want to try to come back as soon as possible to good results and we are positive."
"I hate that new ball"
Mourinho says the lines of communication with Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy are continuously open, and he feels he still has the full support of everyone at the club.
Speaking after Sunday's loss at the London Stadium, the 58-year old bullishly told reporters his coaching methods were "second to none", despite Spurs' current run.
Mourinho says his openness was born of frustration, "First of all, a press conference, 3 or 4 interviews, a flash interview, a couple of minutes after games… I sometimes think that we coaches are amazing guys for not to say too many… it’s better I don’t use the words… two many S… you understand me.
"I think we have to be bright guys and in control of our emotions and not to say the wrong things because it’s never easy, especially after a defeat.
"And sometimes we say things that can be controversial, we say things that people don’t understand, we can say even really bad things, which was not my case but, for example, this weekend I think one of my colleagues went a bit too far in his words but that’s another story because it’s not Jose Mourinho, that’s not a problem.
"In relation to my words, it’s a big frustration to lose matches, especially matches like that one.
"I prefer to lose playing well than playing bad but when you lose and you play bad, the feeling is just of disappointment and sometimes rage.
"But when you play so well and you lose, you realise that there are things that are not in your hands. You hit the post twice.
"That ball, the new ball, I hate that new ball, white and dark blue now, the ball didn’t want to go inside [the net]. I cannot control. Probably the yellow ball will go inside.
"We had two posts [hit], we had lots of crosses across the face of the goal, you cannot control. The VAR of course was correct with the disallowed goal. The VAR was correct. But you are waiting for a little bit of luck and the VAR is correct. And the linesman was correct.
"No, it wasn’t [the break we needed]. You make a mistake, beginning of second-half, boom, a goal. So there are things that you can work a lot, you can fight and you can analyse, but there are things that are out of your control.
"But what can you do if you have things out of your control? Work!
"That is why after the game we didn't go home. We arrived at the training ground and went to analyse the West Ham game so the next session we were ready to analyse it with the players.
"The next day we analysed the first game against Wolfsberger and you work again and split the groups. Some guys can train, others have to recover and you manage everything.
"You speak with everybody and try to work out who is in the best condition with the sports science and the medical guys. We work a lot in this building. And sometimes we feel the frustration.
"We hit the post, the ball goes outside – you don't control that. Gareth Bale's shot... We make a mistake, they go down there and score. There is not a mistake that we make defensively when there is not a goal. We are in this moment when it looks like one mistake, you lose a goal; you do so well, but you don't score.
"Sometimes there are moments of frustration and post-match interviews are the perfect place not to say the right things or to leave some things out.
"Like today, in a pre-match press conference, everything that you say you can follow word by word, because we are calm with no pressure and no adrenaline. But after matches, it is not easy for us."
And despite that frustration, Mourinho firmly believes he'll be fondly remembered in the white corner of North London.
"As you know I did not have many bad runs of results," he said, "But with day to day problems that happen many times in clubs with all of us I reacted previously in a much more emotional way and instead of helping myself and the ones around me I was even creating a kind of conflict situation that I had previously.
"So just to give you an example. I left Chelsea as a champion. So maybe your age and experience as a person and journalist makes you realise that we people with more experienced, we are better equipped to cope with negative moments.
"I am calm. I am in control of my emotions and I can not switch on and switch off.
"I am happy and unhappy. My nature does not change. I lose a game and of course I am not happy. But maturity hopefully helps.
"I feel very confident and I believe we are going to improve and I believe that I will be in Tottenham’s history for the good reasons and not for the bad reasons."
For more of these stories, visit otbsports.com
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