Updated at 21.13
MAKE NO MISTAKE about it, Jose Mourinho knows how to win the Premier League.
In four full seasons managing in England’s top flight, he has won the title twice. Moreover, barring a major disaster, he will make it three out of five attempts come the end of this campaign.
The Champions League, however, is a different kettle of fish. Granted, given how difficult the competition is to win, Mourinho’s record — two triumphs in 10 attempts — is not too shabby by any means.
However, it is now five years since Mourinho’s last Champions League success. Most coaches would think little of this stat, but for a perfectionist such as Mourinho, failing to win the competition with two of Europe’s biggest clubs (Real Madrid and Chelsea) will be a cause of great annoyance and concern.
Furthermore, for most managers, the anticipated acquisition of a league and cup double would be a career highlight. But Mourinho knows Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is obsessed with winning the Champions League more than anything. And while he is rarely short of an (often feeble) excuse for losing, privately, a man as driven to win as the Portuguese manager is inevitably his own worst critic.
Last Wednesday, Chelsea had no legitimate excuses for losing to PSG – and Mourinho has even suggested as much publicly. Despite the French side having to play much of the game with 10 men, they still outclassed their opponents, and secured an improbable away success, owing to an incredible showing of resilience, aided by some inept Chelsea defending and an obstinate refusal of Mourinho’s men to play like the home side.
And while the Portuguese boss has endured many European disappointments before, few, if any, have been so ignominious.
While the game was more closely fought than Man United’s 3-2 home quarter-final defeat to Real Madrid in 2000, in many ways, the loss was just as paltry and disappointing.
On the aforementioned occasion, United had been deservedly beaten over two legs, much as Chelsea were during the week. The BBC report, at the time, noted:
“Redondo, wide on the left, flicked the ball… with his back foot in a display of sheer class. The United defence was caught sleeping and Raul side-footed into the net unopposed.”
While the current PSG team had been deprived of their inspirational, Redondo-like figure (Zlatan Ibrahimovic) early on, owing to an unjust red card, there was still no doubting their superiority in virtually every department on the pitch.
Nevertheless, like Chelsea almost certainly will this season, United went on to win the Premier League comfortably in 2000. And also as was the case with the Londoners, Ferguson’s team at the time had already won the Champions League quite recently (for 2012, read 1999) and had long since established themselves as a force to be reckoned with domestically.
Moreover, akin to Chelsea, United had been expected to win following a seemingly decent first-leg result (0-0 at the Bernabeu). They were the reigning European champions and the defeat had been their first loss at Old Trafford in 16 months (Chelsea are still unbeaten at home in the league this season). As then-Real midfielder Steve McManaman noted after the game: “Everyone expected us to get beaten, so it’s nice to come here and turn the tables.”
And similarly to Mourinho during the week, Ferguson, following the defeat by the Spaniards, admitted: “You have to accept it, the best team won on the night.”
That famous 2000 match has since been labelled, in footballing terms, as “the precise moment at which the world changed”. From then on, more often than not, Ferguson shunned his usual 4-4-2 in Europe and opted instead for a 4-5-1.
Jonthan Wilson, writing in The Guardian, has noted how the defeat would influence United for the remainder of Fergie’s time in charge, ultimately helping to inspire their second Champions League triumph under the Scot in 2008:
“For a time he bore the brunt of the anger of fans who had seen a team that had won seven titles in nine seasons with 4-4-2 transformed into a team that won one in five with 4-5-1. But revolution isn’t supposed to be easy.
“With Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez as a front pairing of constant movement, one or both dropping off to create space for Cristiano Ronaldo cutting in, United became part of the tactical avant garde (perhaps almost despite themselves, because had Louis Saha been fit, the swirling trident of unorthodoxy might never have been given its head). The shape could change by the week, with Park Ji-sung and Giggs adding their qualities to a protean mix – sometimes 4-3-3, sometimes 4-2-3-1, often 4-2-4-0 or 4-3-3-0.
“It brought a hat-trick of league titles, and two European finals — one won — and Ferguson by the decade’s end had his vindication. The idea of 4-4-2 as an absolute default to which English teams had to stick was over, and for the first time since Alf Ramsey’s national team lifted the World Cup 1966, an English side was a world leader in tactical innovation.”
Yet curiously, it seems as if the wheel has come full circle, as the modern Chelsea team’s problem seems to be the opposite to United in 2000. While Fergie’s side were too gung-ho, Mourinho’s men’s midweek performance was characterised by a stark reluctance to attack and a need to try to hold on to a slender lead, irrespective of PSG being reduced to 10 men.
This method has worked perfectly for Mourinho for much of the season — notably, in the Capital One Cup final, when they were outplayed in midfield by Spurs at times, however their ruthless ability to capitalise on the opposition’s occasional defensive lapses led to a 2-0 victory (see below) and the first trophy of the Special One’s second spell at Stamford Bridge.
It has been a similar story for Chelsea in the league. Though attackers such as Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa have flourished at times, a solid backbone has been at the heart of their success — the Blues have conceded just five goals at home all season and 22 in total (the record is even better if you ignore their anomalous 5-3 loss away to Spurs, which accounts for almost a quarter of the goals they have conceded during the 2014-15 campaign). The United team of 2000 ultimately conceded over twice as many (45), but also scored more regularly (they netted 97 times, whereas Chelsea have managed just 57 goals so far).
Chelsea’s attack has certainly improved this season — Costa and Fabregas have ensured that. But defence evidently remains the priority for Mourinho.
Abramovich has frequently demanded that Chelsea play with flair and attacking verve, and the controversial coach appeared to adhere to this demand during the start of his second spell in charge.
However, a 3-2 December 2013 defeat away to Stoke (see below) — the second consecutive match that they conceded as many goals — proved the turning point. Having shipped 17 in total from 15 games at that point, they conceded just 10 during the final 23 matches of the campaign.
At the time, Mourinho even suggested that the defence was a significant problem during a post-match interview.
“The big problem for me is the way we play. The other day at Sunderland, we conceded goals at set pieces and today we had another one — but don’t speak to me about organisation, because it’s not about that.
“We don’t score enough goals for the football we play.”
While they kept scoring at roughly the same rate (they managed 38 goals on top of the 33 they had already scored), their defence improved markedly. Caution became the Londoners’ overriding style, and anyone who didn’t fit in with this approach — namely, Juan Mata — was cast aside.
And while this method has largely worked for Chelsea, the formula for once looked redundant and naive in midweek. Even with 10 men, PSG were well worth their victory. Unlike inferior Premier League teams, Mourinho appears to have discovered that you cannot afford to adopt excessive levels of caution against Europe’s top sides — they will find a way to punish you eventually.
Like United in 2000, while Chelsea’s formula works perfectly well in the league, in Europe, it is unlikely to yield similar levels of success with several creative, skillful teams such as PSG palpably adept at exposing the system. It may have worked for him at Porto and Inter, but teams are more alert to the innovative coach’s formula now, and his Chelsea side surely deserve better, as they are arguably more talented than either of those previous aforementioned teams.
Mourinho is already considered a great manager, and as with Ferguson, has two Champions League titles to his name. Yet whether the 52-year-old Portuguese manager can reconfigure his flawed style to adapt to the ever-changing European footballing landscape, while emulating the legendary Scot’s longevity at the top of the sport in the process, remains to be seen.
Reacting to Wednesday night’s game, Sky pundit Jamie Carragher said: “I think with Jose Mourinho’s teams, they will always be respected but they will never be loved.”
By allowing his side to evolve and become more attack-oriented in the big games — without, of course, sacrificing too much of their defensive nous — Mourinho will at least go some way towards disproving the former Liverpool defender’s provocative theory.
Originally published at 08.35
