The not so Special One
Jose Mourinho is feeling a wee bit omnipotent nowadays and it really makes no difference if he coaches in the Liga or not – he seems to think he owns the Serie, the Premiership, and the England national team.
Arsene Wenger was a favourite peeve of his in the Premiership because Mourinho’s pret a porter policy allowed no development of young talent. His teams were dourly defensive, one dimensional, and terribly efficient. Just the opposite of Arsenal.
Roman Abramovich’s philosophy moved more favourably towards the Arsenal model by the start of the third season but he realized that the former Porto coach had no aptitude or patience for developing talent. It was one of the reasons he was let go – Mourinho was a financial black hole gobbling expensive players.
So here he is on Wenger:
“Year after year it looks like, but no, it looks like, but no. Always the same type of comment ‘It’s a young team’, ‘It will be next season, it will be next season’.
The criticism is justified but the one thing Wenger will always be known for is changing Arsenal forever. He fundamentally changed the way they played, trained, ate, exercised, and disciplined themselves. No one in the club’s history has been as influential as Wenger save for Herbert Chapman.
Mourinho will never be known for enriching the game in the same way. For the purists, he is a ham. For the bandwagon jumpers, he is heaven.
At Inter it is well known that the only young player Mourinho championed was Rene Krhin, the 20 year old Slovenian midfielder now at Bologna. There is no sign that will change in Real. The players all have price tags.
Mourinho will never stay in a club for more than a few years – he has no love for history or tradition in his single minded pursuit of trophies and titles. The only time he goes rooting around history is when it serves the purpose of playing mind games.
On Fabio Capello:
“Ask anyone here at Real Madrid. He can’t change. You cannot go around just shouting at players. They need to feel special.”
There is no doubt that Capello has huge issues – England should have never extended his contract after the World Cup but you have to marvel at Mourinho taking time to dig up dirt on him. The man is consumed by his own petty vindictiveness – he has to erase his predecessor’s legacy.
While preserving his own by casting doubt on Rafa Benitez, his successor at Inter.
“Benitez goes there and has a team, a club, the players and three cups to win. So his job is not a difficult job – it is a dream job.”
Jose Mourinho. Successful manager? Yes. Great manager? No.