Mourinho in his natural home, the press conference
Whether that comes in the form of describing West Ham’s
defending as being ‘nineteenth century football’, before doing the same thing,
albeit more efficiently, against Atletico Madrid and Liverpool, or by
describing his Chelsea team as the title race’s ‘little horse’.
The ‘little horse’ were in pole position for some time, and
despite his assertions about building for the future, his young team really
ought to have won the league this year.
However, Mourinho can sit back on his words at the end of
the season, when Liverpool or Man City win the title, and say that they
achieved all their aims. Nobody will believe him, except perhaps his squad, and
to him, that’s job done.
Mourinho, therefore, despite employing some pretty ugly
tactics, and having some decidedly bad habits, falls into the good in this
particularly category.
His ability to create a siege mentality within a dressing
room is simply second to none.
The determination of his players is forged in the belief
that the world is against them, their tactics and skill are not appreciated,
and that nobody wants them to win. This is the genius of Mourinho.
Before he arrived, Real Madrid were a sizeable margin behind
Rijkaard’s and Guardiola’s Barcelona sides. By the time he left they may not
have been equals, but he had created a machine that would do anything to try
and beat Barcelona… and I do mean anything.
If you believe you have a point to prove, or people think
you cannot achieve, then you are simply more inclined to go and achieve
whatever it may be. Mourinho knows that, and it’s his first unwritten rule of
management.
Other honourable mentions in the ‘good’ have to include Sir
Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger.
Ferguson was the master at title race shenanigans, and he
saw off a few managers during his time at Old Trafford. ‘Fergie Time’ embodies
the strength of character he was able to impose.
Referees knew that they would not get away with short
changing United’s godfather, and opposition teams knew United had a habit of
scoring. If you expect to concede to Man United in stoppage time, it’s more
likely you will.
Wenger is another that has built success around siege
mentality, but to a much lesser degree.
The fact that he rarely saw any incident that occurred in a
match during his first decade at Arsenal meant that his players knew he was on
their side. They wanted to perform for him, and they largely did…
You’ll have to read the bad and the ugly follow ups to find
out just who Sir Alex watched meltdown when squeaky bum time approached.
