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Jose Mourinho, or the ‘Special One’ as he likes to call himself (and a sobriquet that a large chunk of football fans would agree with), is never one to shy away from a battle. He always seems to be mired in one controversy or the other, and he enjoys the spotlight that he attracts with his quicksilver tongue and cheeky comments.As expected of anyone who is unabashed in public, Mourinho has a fair few detractors and has constantly faced criticism throughout his managerial career. As he never backs off from a war of words, he invites a lot of the controversies; his rows with Arsene Wenger and Pep Guardiola have been well-documented.As big as the legion of Mourinho’s admirers is, the critics have always had a number of bones to pick with in Mourinho’s management, be it at his first club Porto or at Real Madrid. Much of the criticism he faces, however, is unfounded and arises either out of a misunderstanding of his mentality, the context of his actions or his play-safe tactics.Here, we systematically take down some of the unfounded charges levelled at Mourinho.
#1 That he has destroyed many talented players\' careers
Jose Mourinho has been accused of stalling many players’ careers in their tracks; of halting their progress to the point from which their careers started going downhill. This acccusation is plainly untrue, just on face value. Instead of letting players rot, Mourinho has always offloaded players who don’t fit into his scheme of things at the club.
This criticism is often made with reference to players like Quaresma, Kaka, Juan Mata and Kevin de Bruyne. We have to remember how he dispensed with each of them: Kaka always had a role to play in the squad and was regularly started in many matches when he was fit, and on many occasions. Each of the other three players was simply shipped off to the best available club, where they continued to get playing time.
If anything, by selling players like de Bruyne, Schurrle, Lukaku, Sergio Canales, Pedro Leon and Lassana Diarra, Mourinho gave them the opportunity to find regular first-team football elsewhere, which should ideally have contributed to their return to form. If some of those players (like Mata, for example) haven’t played at their best at their new clubs, it is not Mourinho’s fault.
#2 That his teams play boring football
It is routinely said of Jose Mourinho’s teams that they play a negative style of football and that they sacrifice their attacking tendencies to overcome their more talented opponents. He has often been criticised for pulling the shutters down and parking the bus in big games.
There is a two-fold reply to this:
A. Mourinho’s teams play attractive football more often than not
Real Madrid set the La Liga’s record for the greatest number of goals in a single campaign with 121 – this broke the previous record held by the Madrid side of the ‘80s by 14 goals – a whopping 11.7%. Chelsea are a free-scoring side this season and have been lauded for their forward-thinking approach. Previously, Inter Milan topped the Serie A in goals scored for the 2009-10 season, as did Chelsea in 2005-06.
Such free-scoring teams have rarely ever been boring, so it is as obvious as daylight that his teams are not boring in general.
B. Big games demand a pragmatic approach
When Mourinho took over the reins at Real Madrid, he was faced with the task of beating Barcelona, who were the best team in the world at the time. Barca have been quite a free-scoring team for a long time now, and with the gulf in class in attack and midfield, Mourinho had to be pragmatic and give his team a chance to survive those encounters.
When Real Madrid grew stronger, by Mourinho’s second season, they gradually adopted a more daring approach to the Clasicos, and the results also improved during the lattter half of Mourinho’s reign.
Mourinho did not have a reliable goal-scorer at Chelsea last season, which meant he could not rely on his attack to cut through the other team’s defence; the natural course of action, then, was to adopt more pragmatic measures. With the arrival of Diego Costa, Chelsea have given a hard time to Man City’s defense this season in both encounters.
#3 That he failed at Real Madrid
What has to be kept in mind while evaluating Mourinho’s years at the Bernabeu is the context of his arrival at the club. Without the context, the magnitude of his achievements at the club is often lost on people who dismiss his tenure as a failure simply because of his inability to land La Decima.
As of June 2010, even though Internazionale were the reigning European champions, Barcelona were widely regarded as the world’s best team, especially after Cristiano Ronaldo’s departure from Manchester United to Real Madrid. Madrid wanted to be back in consideration among Europe’s best, and Mourinho succeeded in bridging a large part of the gap in his first season, bringing in Angel di Maria, Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil who were big difference-makers to the team.
Real beat Barcelona to win the Copa del Rey, although they predictably lost the La Liga. They reached the semifinals of the Champions League that season, a significant improvement in itself. Barcelona knocked them out at this stage.
The next season, Real Madrid won the La Liga title, tallying 100 points and 121 goals in the league. While they lost to Bayern Munich in the Champions League semifinal in a penalty shootout, this represented another jump from the previous season.
Mourinho failed to win silverware in his final season, but Real Madrid had gone from dark horses to genuine contenders for the Champions League title. In the process, they had dislodged Barcelona off their perch as the world’s best team. Mourinho’s strengthening of the squad and the tactical discipline he brought to the club made Carlo Ancelotti’s job a whole lot easier.
The body of Mourinho’s work has to be considered to be significantly positive. Although he failed to meet Florentino Perez’s expectations of victory in the Champions League, his tenure at the club is beyond reproach.
#4 That he can only deliver results with a specific style of play
It is often said these days, mainly due to Mourinho’s constant raiding of the transfer market for better fits to his squad, that he is no longer capable of making a big difference to a club. It has been claimed that after his first job at Porto, Mourinho has lost the ability to inspire his players to beat opponents better than themselves.
This is a ridiculous criticism given how well Mourinho’s teams have done in the Champions League over two-legged ties against better teams on a number of occasions. Chelsea went past Barcelona in 2004-05, while Inter beat Chelsea in 2009-10 and tackled the superior and in-form Bayern Munich in the Champions League final that same year.
Paris Saint Germain were knocked out by Chelsea last year in the quarterfinals despite having a healthy first-leg lead. The Blues also did league doubles over Liverpool and Manchester City last season despite finishing below them.
Mourinho knows how to coax performances out of his side. As a man-manager, there may be no one better at the job than him.
#5 That he does not give chances to youth
This criticism is not fair by any standard, because of two reasons:
A. Mourinho has always been brought into new jobs for quick results
When Roman Abramovich sacked Claudio Ranieri and brought Mourinho to Stamford Bridge at the start of the 2004-05 season, he was given a big budget, a small rope and even lesser time to deliver results and trophies for the club. He remained under the same pressure through his three years in England, and was, in fact, sacked despite winning four trophies in three seasons.
When he joined Inter in 2008, they were two-time defending champions in the Serie A. He was then signed by Real Madrid who aimed to win the La Decima. Finally, he’s now back at Chelsea under the same unrelenting pressure that he experienced in his first go-around.
When there is this much pressure to deliver trophies, it’s only natural that Mourinho has foregone opportunities to blood youngsters in some games.
B. He has tried out youngsters given the opportunity
At Chelsea right now, Kurt Zouma and Nathan Ake regularly get a taste of first-team football. Jese Rodriguez and Alvaro Morata were introduced to Madrid’s set-up by Mourinho himself. At Inter, Balotelli got a regular run of games in their treble-winning season.
It’s not that Mourinho is a big fan of introducing young, unfinished talent to the big stages. But he is definitely not a manager who would impede the career progress of a deserving youngster.
