Not true at all.We finished ahead of Liverpool the year we came second but, despite that, plenty argued that they were heading in a better direction than us, an argument that was dismissed by several people who simply pointed to the league table. As it turned out, those who thought Liverpool were doing better work were correct.
Point being, using a final league position as a marker of progress without taking the underlying developments into account is a bad way of assessing things.
Liverpool then had significant reinforcements to fill their weak gaps. Mourinho was denied such.
You’re making stuff up to suit your narrative.