In his book, ‘The Special One: The Secret World of Jose Mourinho’, the author, Diego Torres, paints a very clear, vivid picture of a man who will wield power and apply pressure upon whomever he sees fit, to ensure that he comes out the victor.
Mourinho rants at physio as draw gives Chelsea the Blues…
In one such example, Torres talks of Mourinho telling his Real Madrid players to lose their Champions League semi-final second leg tie with Barcelona, “…the priority is to finish with a close score so we can blame the referees. A 2-1, 1-0 or 0-0, this will be good enough to say we were robbed at the Bernabéu”. This alleged pre-match team talk came after a first leg 0-2 loss in Madrid, which, whilst still at 0-0, saw a red card for Madrid defender, Pepe, and Mourinho sent to the stands in protestation at the decision. Lionel Messi proceeded to score two away goals to put Barça in a commanding position, and led Mourinho’s infamous ‘Why?’ rant at the post-match press conference.
Torres – born in Argentina – is a respected Spanish football journalist for Madrid’s recognised quality daily newspaper, El Pais. Whilst his book is not openly challenged, there is scepticism from some quarters surrounding some of the quotations as there are no direct sources attached to them. (This is understandable, as journalistic integrity maintains that you protect your sources. There were also constant clashes between Mourinho and the paper, given Mourinho’s strong suspicions of a leak coming from inside the dressing room).
However, what this book and the reported pre-match team talk quoted above really serves to do is highlight that Mourinho will play all cards he has available to get his desired outcome, and have his agenda spoken about. There are many examples of this through his use of the media through the years, but I admit to having been surprised by some of revelations in Torres’ expose, and the extent of the media management Mourinho is supposed to have demanded.
Despite playing the final 38 minutes with only ten men – goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois was sent off for denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity to the onrushing Swansea striker, Bafétimbi Gomis – Chelsea’s 2-2 draw with Swansea was, in essence, a poor result for Mourinho.
The Blues looked lively and, at times in the first half, played some sumptuous football with Brazilian star, Oscar, the main architect. After the dismissal of Courtois and with Gomis dusting himself off to score the resultant equalising penalty, the game remained even with both teams probing in search of a winner.
Late on in the game, Eden Hazard went down with a knock; at the next break in play, the Chelsea physios rushed on to the pitch attend to their star player. Mourinho was visibly angry with their decision to attend to Hazard, who was not seriously injured and called it ‘naïve’ and ‘impulsive’. His explanation was that, in a scenario when they were already one man fewer, a player who has received attention has to leave the field before being called back on by the referee. In this situation, Chelsea would be left with just eight outfield players and susceptible to a counter attack.
Mourinho chose to praise his players in the post-match media saying; “we were the best team with 11 players and with 10, we fought hard, some fighting at the limit of their condition.”
Whilst true that Chelsea played well going forward, there were glaring errors at the back; Gomis, time and again, got in behind Gary Cahill and John Terry, who, during last season looked almost impenetrable. The usually outstanding Branislav Ivanović was consistently being beaten for pace by Swans winger, Jefferson Montero, who was a constant source of trouble for the Serbian defender. These defensive fragilities are something not usually associated with Chelsea and, with next weekend’s trip to Manchester City without the suspended Courtois, the stage is set for a classic Mourinho away performance.
One suspects that Diego Torres’ book has led many to believe in the Machiavellian side of Mourinho, and question the motivations in his actions. Mourinho is now a man suspected of intentionally generating a set of circumstances to get what he wants.
Cynically, you could say his public show of ‘displeasure’ at the physios was a way of deflecting a disappointing draw at home, and the reckless sending off of his goalkeeper? Most managers and coaches tend to use this method of deflection.
The Swansea result, however, may yet play into Mourinho’s hands. He is known to be targeting defenders John Stones and Baba Rahman and, with the high defensive line and exposure of Ivanović at right back, this could be used as a way of forcing owner, Roman Abramovic, to dip into the transfer market and get reinforcements. Surely, though, Mourinho wouldn’t have set up Chelsea’s defence with a high line and exposed Ivanović against a Swansea team he was expecting to beat as a way of reinforcing his desire to get a pacey full-back and centre-half? Intentionally making the defence look artificially shaky whilst being confident in the knowledge they were at home and still expecting to win?
Surely he is not that calculating… is he?
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