Firstly, they were aimed at deflecting attention away from his own mistakes and the failings of his players to put away Bristol City, Leicester and Burnley in what has turned into a frustrating Christmas for Manchester United.
Secondly, they were a thinly veiled plea to the Glazer family, the club’s American owners, just days before the opening of the transfer window.
Mourinho can’t admit it publicly, but the title is effectively out of reach – City have too much talent and determination to blow it in the second half of the season.
What he is more concerned about is the fact that Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool and, possibly, Arsenal could overhaul his stuttering team in the chase for the Champions League places.
He wasn’t complaining at United’s transfer spending in his first summer when he landed all four of his targets – Paul Pogba for a world-record fee, as well as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Eric Bailly and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
And he declared himself happy again last summer when executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward landed three of his four targets – Romelu Lukaku, Nemanja Matic and Victor Lindeof. The only one they missed was winger Ivan Perisic because United deemed Inter Milan’s £50m asking price too steep.
The total spend over 18 months of £286m – without including the add-ons for players like Lukaku – caused Mourinho’s remarks following the 2-2 draw with Burnley to be greeted with some astonishment and ridicule.
What has changed is that Mourinho did not anticipate Pep Guardiola improving City to such an extent they would turn the title into a one-horse race by the halfway mark of the season.
And his buys, it could be argued, have not been as successful as Guardiola’s.
There is no doubt Pogba, Lukaku and Matic have improved United, as did Ibrahimovic, a free transfer, last season, although the veteran Swede has not looked the same player since returning from his knee injury. But Bailly has proved injury prone, Mkhitarayn hasn’t delivered on a consistent basis while Lindelof is still coming to terms with the English game.
Over at the Etihad, Guardiola has spent £360m on 10 senior signings and the only ‘failure’ has been Claudio Bravo, although the Chile goalkeeper has redeemed himself to a certain extent with his Carabao Cup heroics this season.
John Stones and Leroy Sane have brushed aside early question marks following their big-money moves last year while Ederson Moraes, Gabriel Jesus, Kyle Walker, Ilkay Gundogan, Bernardo Silva and Benjamin Mendy, before his season-ending injury, have fitted perfectly into Guardiola’s template of how he believes football should be played.
Significantly, Guardiola has also worked hard on improving players that he bought – Stones in particular – as well as ones he inherited like Raheem Sterling, Nicolas Otamendi and even Eliaquim Mangala, who wasn’t part of his plans but has been brought back into the fold.
It is no secret Mourinho wants Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann, who rejected them last season, and Mesut Ozil. A major bonus with Ozil is that Arsenal’s German star will be available on a free this summer. Mourinho also wants a winger and another central defender.
But while he is applying the pressure on United’s hierarchy, they in turn could point to some of his selections, substitutions and the fact his team have suddenly developed an Achilles heel at defending set-pieces – something Mourinho’s sides have traditionally been good at.
He should never have started the clearly struggling Ibrahimovic in the No10 role against Bristol City or Burnley while at Leicester he hooked two-goal hero Juan Mata when his ability to keep the ball in the closing stages was vital. And he also failed to sort out the shambles when Chris Smalling was injured and he had used all his substitutions and it led to Leicester’s late equaliser.
He might also like to consider that Burnley’s starting line-up on Boxing Day cost a mere £39m – half the price of Pogba.
For all United’s astonishing commercial success, the fact remains they will never be as rich as their neighbours because of the petrodollars of Abu Dhabi owner Sheikh Mansour.
As one senior source at Old Trafford remarked grimly when questioned recently about the financial muscle of City and Qatar-backed Paris St Germain: “It’s difficult to compete with clubs sitting on an oil-field.”
Perhaps Mourinho should reflect on that and concentrate more on working and improving on the not inconsiderable playing resources he already has.