Jose Mourinho said he got what he ‘really wanted’ from Tottenham’s victory over West Ham.
Happy players.
Spurs, without a win on the road in the Premier League since January and no win at all since September, secured a 3-2 victory in Mourinho’s first match in charge.
The need for good result over good performance cannot be understated, but this win offered Mourinho a crash-course lesson about his new side.
At times they looked fantastic in attack as they raced into a 3-0 lead.
West Ham were there for the taking, but the three-goal lead would, from nowhere, be reduced to one as the nerves set in.
“I was really happy before we conceded the two goals,” Mourinho told BT Sport. “We were playing well, bringing to the game things we had tried in training. And we had the ball to make it 4-0 and kill the game.
“We are lucky I have so many years in the Premier League so I told the players at half-time 'even if we are 3-0 in the 85th minute the game will still be open'.
“But there were also many factors. The emotions of losing the previous manager, people coming back from national teams and fatigue in the last 20 minutes.
“The most important thing was to win, not matter how. The boys are happy and that’s what I really wanted.
