Let Me Work In Peace, Mourinho Begs Turkish Media

Fenerbahce coach Jose Mourinho has said he believes he doesn’t get enough credit for his team’s winning run from the local media, begging that he wants to “work in peace.”

Mourinho’s side is second in the Turkish Super Lig and have won five consecutive games, including Monday’s 3-1 home triumph over Gaziantep.

Fenerbahce are second in the table, three points adrift of leaders Galatasaray.

“But they [local media] still kill me,” Mourinho said in a postgame news conference. “Give me a little bit of credit.

“Don’t try to do to me what was done to Giovanni van Bronckhorst [at Besiktas]. I don’t know any coach that in three, four, five months can make miracles, can change things. For me he [Van Bronckhorst] was doing a great job.”

Besiktas parted company with Van Bronckhorst on Saturday after his team had taken just one win in six games.

Mourinho, who took over Fenerbahce in the summer six months after leaving Roma, said of Besiktas: “The results lately were not the best but you have this culture and this is a culture that goes against stability.

“Clubs and players to evolve, they need stability also in their coaches, in their coaches’ philosophy. So give me a bit of a break, let me work in peace but if it’s not in peace, there is no problem, I still enjoy it.”

ESPN reports that Fenerbahce have scored more goals than any other team in the Super Lig and given away the fewest.

When asked how his team has managed to go on a positive run despite the congested calendar, which also included an international break in November, he said: “That calendar is for every team that is in Europe. It’s when you have to use the squad. If you always play with the same players they will burn out.

“You have to trust the squad. You have to give an opportunity for fresh people to play. I have a wonderful bench, full of options. With benches like this, a coach is a happy coach; and a coach doesn’t have any fear of accumulation of matches in the calendar.”