After a frustrating October and November, there must have been some Manchester United supporters fearing that Jose Mourinho really had lost his magic touch.
Before the Red Devils’ recent upturn in form, Mourinho’s men were drifting further away from the top four and the prospect of another season without Champions League football was looking a very serious possibility.
However, three consecutive wins in the Premier League has put Man United firmly back in the hunt for European qualification and they are now just four points behind fourth-placed Arsenal.
But Mourinho has never been one to settle for finishing fourth and has even criticised Arsenal in the past for doing just that.
Therefore, it will come as no surprise to hear the Portuguese boss has set his ambitions higher than that for his United squad.
When asked, during an interview with Sky Sports, what would make him happy at the end of the season, Mourinho refused to set a specific target but does think his team his capable are finishing in the top three.
“For me to be happy, it’s an accumulation of factors. For me to be happy is the way we end the season playing, the evolution of the team, the empathy with the supporters, the results in many different competitions we are playing,” he said.
“So let’s see where we finish, I don’t want to say fourth, because I think we can do better than fourth.
“But we have the risk of not finishing fourth because the competition is so hard and the top teams have the same ambitions as we have. So I don’t want to say fourth or third or fifth.”
The 53-year-old took longer than many were hoping for to discover his strongest starting XI which was reflected in their inconsistent start to the campaign.
However, since being able to continuously select to same core players for each match United are beginning to look something like a ‘Mourinho team’.
He added: “Obviously we need to work and work, improve and improve, but footballing ideas, principles of play, the way we want to defend and attack, is clear.
“It’s something we believe, and is something the players are very happy with, and it’s something we didn’t change because the results were not good.”
“Many results that we conceded were bad results, even with that unbeaten run, we conceded draws at home, Burnley, Arsenal, West Ham. But the bad results didn’t make us change our idea and our direction. So we are fine.”
Much of the talk this week has speculated that the Man United manager will be offered a new extended contract at the club, despite being just over six months into his current deal.
Even with no guarantee of a top-four finish, Mourinho has changed the entire feeling around Old Trafford this term and United officials clearly think they might have finally found a long-term successor to Sir Alex Ferguson.