Chelsea balls: Mourinho wants to be more like Wenger and Arsenal
Jose Mourinho is the subject of a Sun story that hangs from a pun, as obvious as a ball of mucus from a runny nose:
YOU MUST WIN MOUR
The Sun’s story is just that: football manager wants his team to win more matches.
Mourinho will be delighted that he is the both the title and subject for a Chelsea story. It is, after all, all about him. He says:
“In this club, we have 25 champions from last year — but how many serial champions do we have in the squad? There are two sorts of champions. There are champions who win something and there are lots of them around. But there are the others who during their career win one, two, three, four, five, 10 or 20 titles. Mentally, I can say I am a serial champion. This is the problem we have at this moment. We have champions — but not serial champions.”
Has he just noticed that Chelsea are not Real Madrid?
But has the Sun been a tad selective in editing Mourinho’s quotes before Chelsea’s Champions’ League match with Porto? These are the same words in more context:
“There are two sorts of champions. There are those who win something, and there are lots of them. But there are the other champions who, during their career, win one, two, three, four, five, 10 or 20 titles. In this club we have 25 champions from last year, but serial champions in this squad? John Terry, Jon Mikel [Obi] and [Branislav] Ivanovic are serial champions. Almost every season they have something in the pocket. But how many other serial champions do we have?
“Last year we were champions, but the point for me is are we serial champions? Of course it’s very difficult to win every season, but you can be a serial champion in your approach and your attitude. If we fight every minute of every game and in the end someone has two more points, then we don’t go from champions to losers. Not at all. If you lose the Champions League final to Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain or Bayern Munich you are not a loser. Mentally I can say I am a serial champion. I can be five or 10 years without winning a title, but I will still be a serial champion in my approach and my attitude. This is the problem we have at this moment. We have champions, but not serial champions.
“Nobody understood it but when the Arsenal fans were singing against Chelsea last week and I was tapping my arm, I was saying: ‘Look at the shirts.’ We have the [golden] Premier League badge on our shirts because we’re champions. But one thing is to be champion once and another is the mentality. I don’t demand that they’re champions every season. In England that’s impossible, especially at Chelsea because when we win the title it’s the end of the world and nobody [outside the club] is happy. But you can be a serial champion in your attitude. And for me that’s the point.”
Is Mourinho obsessed by Arsenal, softening his attitude to the Gunners’ manager Arsene Wenger, for whom he told us going ten years without winning the title – finishing runners-up to Barcelona in the Champions’ League final – is not a sign of a “winning mentality”, but of being a “specialist in failure”? Is Jose now envious of Wenger?
More Mourinho news in the Mail, which thunders: “Chelsea players must improve or I’ll play the kids, insists Jose Mourinho.” Can it be that having attacked Wenger, referees, the club doctor and The Press, Mourinho has turned on his team?
No. Of course not. What he said was:
“…if the season becomes ‘closed’ and we can’t win trophies, I will go just with the kids instead. It makes no sense to play the older players when you have nothing to win. There can be a moment where I will look to the kids and say: ‘Let’s go, non-stop.’ I am ruthless. But at the moment, everything is open.”
Mourinho is not a manger known for giving the kids a chance. But you know who is…
Posted: 29th, September 2015 | In: Chelsea, Sports Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
