Jose Mourinho insists that he is still excited by the challenge at Manchester United and wants to see out the four years of his contract at Old Trafford 'as a minimum'.
Mourinho has cut a moody figure in recent weeks and is currently facing two FA misconduct charges – the latter for a rant at referee Mark Clattenburg in the tunnel during Saturday's goalless draw with Burnley.
It was the fourth Premier League game in a row that United have failed to win, putting Mourinho under early pressure to improve results.
Questions have also been asked about his decision to keep his family in London and live in the Lowry hotel in Manchester, although he maintains that he was not being serious when he said last week that his life is 'a bit of disaster'.
But on the eve of United's Europa League clash against Fenerbahce in Istanbul, Mourinho claimed that he is happy at United and wants to stay for at least the duration of his contract.
'Now I am in a club where I want to be and so happy to be,' he said. 'As a minimum I want to stay here to the end of my contract. After that who knows? I'm a football man. I'm very young still. Sometimes you think I'm 75 but I'm 53.
'Of course I'm excited. Of course I'm not happy with the results, that's obvious. What I'm happy with is the performances. Sometimes you win matches but you feel that period cannot last forever because the team not playing so well.
'Other times you don't have so good results but you feel that the way the team plays the good results have to arrive sooner or later.
'I have a very good feeling towards the players. The worst feeling a manager can have is not the bad result, it's not to be happy with the players. I have exactly the opposite feeling.
'After the bad result against Chelsea (United lost 4-0), the players reacted in an unbelievable way. The number of shots we had in the last match (against Burnley) which I think is something absolutely incredible is an example of what the team tried to have a different result. I'm happy with the players and that's a good feeling for me.'
Asked about the FA charge for verbally abusing Clattenburg, Mourinho added tersely: 'No, no reaction.' When it was alluded to later, he replied: 'Next question'.
United have bounced back from their opening Group A defeat to Feyenoord in Rotterdam by beating Zorya Luhansk and then Fenerbahce 4-1 at home a fortnight ago. Another win over the Turks on Thursday night would go a long way to seeing Mourinho's team qualify for the knockout stages of a competition he believes has increased in value.
'My opinion changed because the rules changed,' he said. 'The Europa League winner has a direct spot for the Champions League. In the last couple of years the Europa League for the big clubs has a big meaning. There's another way to try to qualify for the Champions League.
'Of course, I don't change my mind about the big clubs belonging to the Champions League. What changes is the fact that in last couple of years the Europa League has a direct spot for the Champions League. Because of that it becomes also a target for us.
'The problem in the Netherlands we resolved by winning the next two matches and putting ourselves in a positive position in the group. If we lost in Feyenoord and next two matches don't win points, we'd be in trouble and playing last chance on Thursday.
But, no, our reaction was to win the next two matches at home and by having six points from six in home matches we put ourselves in positive position for the next phase of the group.'
Phil Jones has travelled with the United squad after returning to training following knee and ankle injuries. The England defender has not played for United since January 2.
Mourinho admitted that he has been forced to call on Jones earlier than he thought because of the injuries to Antonio Valencia(broken arm), Eric Bailly (knee) and Chris Smalling.
'I almost don't remember when Phil Jones had good run of matches for United,' said Mourinho. 'I remember that when I was at Real Madrid in 2012 I played against United and Phil Jones played in Madrid for United. I don't remember many occasions after that when Phil was ready.
'He's having a difficult relationship with injuries. It's been a difficult period for him but he worked hard to recover and is training with the team for more than a week now.
'We're in a difficult situation because we lost three defenders in a week – Valencia, Bailly and Smalling – and because we are in a difficult situation we don't have more time to be in better condition so we have to select him and maybe he has to play.
'Valencia is a bad injury. It's an important fracture in his arm and important surgery too. He'll be out for a while. The good thing is that even when Antonio was playing very well we were preparing (Matteo) Darmian.
'He was having matches against Feyenoord and Zorya and Fenerbahce and having minutes. When in the last match we had to play Darmian for the first time in the Premier League he was ready to answer the way he did it playing really well.
'We trust him totally. He is ready to play tomorrow and give continuity to the good work our right-backs are doing.'
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