Mourinho, the special once?
Hailed by himself as the special one upon his arrival in the English Premier League as manager of Chelsea in 2004, Jose Mourinho all but cemented his place in the history books of Chelsea and England as a whole, winning two consecutive premier league titles.
Advertisement
Upon a reported breakdown in relationship between Mourinho and Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, Mourinho lost his job in 2007 and joined the ship to Italy to take charge of Inter Milan. In Italy, he performed wonders, winning the Champions League with Inter Milan and winning the Scudetto on two consecutive occasions.
In search of more silverware and greater challenges, he jumped ship again but this time, to Spain to lead the Galacticos. It was that change to be at the helm of affairs at Real Madrid that became the turning point in Jose Mourinho’s career.
Largely regarded as unsuccessful in Real Madrid, Mourinho went through a lot of turbulent and stormy times, especially in his final season. His tried and tested principles of success were challenged and he all but became a laughing stock to his rivals.
He is a man never short of controversy but his actions in Madrid were a bit out of line. From poking Tita Vilanova’s eye to instigating Sergio Ramos and Pepe to getting yellow cards in a Champions League game, Mourinho was always living on the edge at Madrid.
The icing was artistically put on the cake when it was obvious that he had a series of public arguments with players such as Iker Casillas and Cristiano Ronaldo. This was unlike Mourinho, the man who believed in protecting players and building great bonds with them.
A man described by Michael Essien as a father and described by Frank Lampard as the best manager he has ever had in his entire playing career.
According to Jenson (2013) in The Telegraph, Frank Lampard said he was in awe of the way Mourinho protected his players, especially in the media but that trait of Mourinho disappeared in Madrid.
He publicly criticised Marcelo for making a slow recovery from a broken foot and lambasted Pepe for having an operation on his ankle at the end instead of at the start of the mid-winter break. He reportedly argued with Cristiano in the dressing room at the end of a match against Valencia and infamously said of Benzema, “ I do not have my dog to go to hunting with so I will have to take my cat” in a game in which he had been forced to pick the French marksman.
Pepe also had a go at Mourinho, saying that he should have shown Casillas more respect. In an incident which summed up the meltdown at the club at the end of Mourinho’s reign, Pepe who was left out of the Copa Del Rey final, came down from the stands where he was watching the game to sit on the bench during the aftermath of Mourinho’s sending off from the bench. The situation at Madrid had escalated into an all-hell-would-break lose situation.
Mourinho returned to the Bridge in 2014 after the chaos he had caused in Madrid. Many thought he had learnt his lessons but this was not to be the case. In the same manner he departed Real Madrid, he also departed Chelsea: reported fall-out with players, loss of the dressing room, fights with the media and singling out as well as blaming players for losses.
Chelsea were languishing in the 16th position in Mourino’s last but short season, the players were disunited and their body language resembled students who were forced to attend lessons they did not like.
This led to a decline in form of Eden Hazard and made Mourinho’s tenure at Chelsea, the most disastrous in his largely illustrious career.
Manchester United parted ways with the philosopher Loius Van Gaal and announced that they had signed Mourinho on a three-year contract. Mourinho proved over the years to be a man who loves challenges and almost always found ways and means to surmount any challenge that he faced.
However, 14 games into his tenure as Manchester United boss (excluding yesterday’s game) in the Premier League, the statistics seem to assert that Mourinho may have genuinely lost his King Midas touch. He has won just five games, drawn six and lost two.
Surprisingly, he has not won against the top sides he has faced this season. Pep Guardiola’s City taught United a football lesson at Old Trafford, dominating play and winning 2-1. Mourinho’s United were blown away and rubbished by the Conte-led blue army on Mourinho’s return to the bridge as they were soundly beaten by four unanswered goals.
There were also draws with Liverpool and Arsenal. These are very disturbing facts for Jose Mourinho and many are wondering the psychological effect it is having on the self-acclaimed special one.
To make matters worse, in his last 30 Premier League games, Mourinho has a paltry 36 points. This is just unacceptable and Mourinho is definitely better than this. What then has gone wrong for the once revered and most coveted managerial asset in world football?
Samuel Eto’o has also had his say and according to 101 GreatGoals, Eto’o observed that Jose did change. Eto’o was quoted to have said, “I knew someone exceptional at Inter. At Chelsea, it was really difficult but he has further evolved. Today, you have to want to play football, to play your men. We cannot continually defend. Football is not that. Listen, I have nothing against Jose. He is capable of taking someone and telling them you are the best and he will make them have a very good match but football evolves.”
This statement by Eto’o is very revealing and brings to mind the major problems being encountered by Jose Mourinho. Mourinho is a pragmatist, who is driven by his successes other than his experiences. Simply put, he will repeatedly do the things that led him to success in the past.
Advertisement
Mourinho exposes a lack of dynamism in the way he sets his teams out to play and it is more likely that his style has been found out. Change which is the most constant happening in a human’s life is drastically needed in Mourinho but as always, he is highly defiant.
The bringing on of Marouaine Fellaini in their recent drawn game away at the Goodison Park being testament to this.
What Mourinho needs to do is to realise how dynamic football has become and find the best way to utilise the likes of Pogba, Mata and Rashford, whom I believe, are being played out of position.
He must realise that football is no longer about scoring a goal and defending till the game ends. That catenaccio style of soccer is long gone and even teams that employ defensive tactics do so but not by packing the bus as Mourinho does.
Advertisement