Spurs manager says his team ‘cannot play like we normally play’ without talismanic striker, who has been ruled out until April

José Mourinho did not want to speak about Harry Kane. The pain of losing his talismanic striker to a hamstring rupture until April was too raw. “If I speak too much, I get depressed,” the Tottenham manager said. “And then you say I’m miserable and in a bad mood. It’s better to speak about things that make me laugh.”

Mourinho wanted to present an image of radiant positivity as he sat down to preview the visit of the Premier League’s runaway leaders, Liverpool, in the Saturday’s teatime kick-off. He was shaved and nicely coiffured, looking good. How was he feeling, one reporter asked. “Amazing,” he replied, flashing a full-beam smile.

Quick guide Mourinho v Liverpool Show Hide 27 Feb 2005 - Liverpool 2-3 Chelsea Drogba and Kezman score in extra-time to win the Carling Cup. Mourinho watches on TV after being sent off for taunting Liverpool fans. 3 May 2005 - Liverpool 1-0 Chelsea Luis Garcia puts Liverpool into the European Cup final. Mourinho rages that the ball didn’t cross the line. 2 Oct 2005 - Liverpool 1-4 Chelsea Chelsea romp nine clear at the top of the Premiership – goals from Lampard, Duff, Cole and Geremi. 1 May 2007 - Liverpool 1 Chelsea 0 (4-1 pens) Dramatic shoot-out defeat in the Champions League semi second-leg. 27 April 2014 - Liverpool 0-2 Chelsea Steven Gerrard slips, the ball rolls

to Demba Ba, and the title is gone. 27 Jan 2015 - Chelsea 1 Liverpool 0 (AET, agg 2-1)

Ivanovic seals the Capital One Cup semi in extra time. Mourinho misses the goal due to having a “heated debate” with the fourth official. 31 Oct 2016 - Chelsea 1 Liverpool 3

Klopp’s first league win since taking over at Anfield ups the pressure on Mourinho. He lasts until December. 10 Mar 2018 - Manchester United 2 Liverpool 1

Mourinho says he “doesn’t care” if people criticise his United side, after they win with just two shots on target. 16 Dec 2018 - Liverpool 3 Man United 1 Mourinho is sacked two days later.

At one point, he draped an arm around his press officer and said the daunting challenge of Liverpool did not worry him. “In this room, only two persons think that we can win but we believe,” he said, before turning to the press officer who, by now, was looking a little uncomfortable. “If you don’t believe, get out, man!”

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So let’s talk about the things that could make Mourinho smile. Since taking over from Mauricio Pochettino on 20 November, he has closed the gap on the top four from 11 points to six. Toby Alderweireld has signed a new contract – saving the club a fortune on a potential replacement centre-half. And Dele Alli has rediscovered his form. Mourinho made the point that Hugo Lloris and Ben Davies would be back from long-term injuries by the end of the month, which would be like having “two new players”.

But Mourinho’s Happy One act was never going to last for the whole show and, equally, he knew that he was going to speak about Kane, not least because his audience would demand it. What he said caught the true mood at the club, one that has darkened significantly over the past few weeks and feels extremely edgy as the hierarchy attempts to navigate the transfer window.

“We don’t have another one – there is not a striker in the squad,” Mourinho said. “We have only one, he is not fit; we don’t have another one. You know that you cannot play like we normally play when Harry Kane is not in the team. The only thing I can tell you is that, of course, we cannot do the same way [as we do] with Harry.”

It is a remarkable state of affairs when a Champions League club has only one senior striker and Mourinho was not about to disagree. Pochettino usually turned to the wide forward Son Heung-min when Kane was unavailable but Mourinho is less comfortable with this arrangement.

“He isn’t a striker,” Mourinho said of Son. “Danny Rose can play right wing. But he’s a left-back. It’s as simple as that. Davinson Sánchez can play striker tomorrow but he’s a central defender. A striker, what I call a No 9, a target man, Son is not.

“Some clubs have four and five [strikers]. If it’s true that Inter Milan is buying [Olivier] Giroud [from Chelsea] … Giroud, [Romelu] Lukaku, Lautaro Martínez, Alexis Sánchez – some teams, they have four. Inter is one example. I can find more.”

For Mourinho, the problems have mounted, with Kane not the only new long-term absentee – Moussa Sissoko is also out until April after knee ligament surgery. The team have not played well since the 2-0 home defeat against Chelsea on 22 December. Defensively, they have been loose and error-strewn, which is un-Mourinho-like; there have been issues with the balance of the midfield and not enough penetration in the final third.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Harry Kane limps past José Mourinho after sustaining the injury against Southampton on New Years’ Day. Photograph: Mark Kerton/PA

Mourinho has brought a more direct gameplan, it remains a work in progress and it was revealing to hear Jan Vertonghen grumble after the New Year’s Day defeat at Southampton that they had used “long balls too quick”. The situation has not been helped by Mourinho’s lack of time on the training pitch, with this having been only his second clear week. “It has not been two months working with them, it is a few days,” Mourinho said. “Basically, we don’t train. Of course, I’m not happy. I want to improve so many things.”

The self-styled Humble One has veered towards a more established alter ego: the Complaining One, with various digs at referees, opposition coaches and players; even ball-boys and ball manufacturers. There was a loaded comment when he justified his decision to play Kane in every minute of every match apart from the Champions League dead rubber at Bayern Munich.

“Give him a break to play who?” Mourinho asked. “There have been no conditions to leave such a good and important and unique player out. If he played too many matches, [they] were the national-team friendlies.”

How can Mourinho create better conditions for his squad? Right now, it is difficult to look beyond the recruitment of a player or two this month and, certainly, it is the topic that has the fanbase hot under the collar. The sense has been that the club cannot afford to refresh in what is always a difficult, opportunistic market; the pieces to fit the longer-term puzzle can seem elusive. On the other hand, can the club afford not to do so?

Mourinho trod more carefully with this one, swerving a question about the Milan striker Krzysztof Piatek, a target for the club. They also have an interest in Lyon’s Moussa Dembélé. In terms of departures, Kyle Walker-Peters may be loaned to Crystal Palace.

The manager plainly wants reinforcements but, at the same time, he knew all about the lack of January budget when he accepted the job. Was he now in a position to stomp his feet in the office of Daniel Levy, the notoriously hard-nosed chairman? Plainly not, despite the injuries.

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“When I arrived, the train was already on the run and it’s not fair for me to make comments about what happened before,” Mourinho said. “I think I have to go with more eyes on the future than the rest of the season and, especially, eyes to the past.”

Mourinho sounded perilously close to suggesting that anything from the remainder of the season would be a bonus but what is clear to him is that the situation is a far cry from his first foray into English football, when he had an open chequebook at Chelsea in 2004. He was asked how many windows it would take to reboot Spurs and responded by saying that it depended on many things. Liverpool, for example, needed to resolve their goalkeeper problem and they did so by buying Alisson, a player Mourinho knew was one of the best in the world. So that took only one window.

“We have to do it in a different way,” Mourinho continued. “Amazing transfer windows, you need less time. Balanced transfer windows, you need more time. This is the profile [at Spurs]. For me, it’s about time, so more transfer windows because we are not going ever to be the transfer window king.

“Of course, it’s a different challenge and you should look to it also in a different way. So you can say: ‘José, José, José, José’ – it’s always José, you know …”

For Mourinho, this is not only about him. He wants people to see a broader picture.