He has the self-awareness to know he sounds like a broken record, but the deepening mystery is whether Jose Mourinho still has the managerial tools to fix a broken team.
There was once a time he could explain away most issues in a light favourable to himself, but less than four months after he replaced Mauricio Pochettino we are back in that familiar territory of questioning the substance behind his patter.
That Tottenham have an unfortunate injury situation is undeniable and quite possibly an understatement. But it is equally obvious that a manager earning £15million a year to win trophies has come up short.