Mourinho on Tottenham’s defensive approach
Posted by Pierre Igot in: FootballSeptember 20th, 2004 • 3:45 am
I am not sure what the Chelsea board of directors had in mind when they brought in FC Porto manager Jose Mourinho to replace Claudio Ranieri this summer, but they probably didn’t hire him to provide comic relief in the media coverage of the English Premier League. (Ranieri used to provide his own brand of humour, but at least he didn’t appear to take himself too seriously.)
Yet that is exactly what the Chelsea manager has done, following his team’s failure to capitalize on Arsenal’s draw with Bolton on Saturday, with a 0-0 home draw of their own against Tottenham on Sunday. He actually went as far as to accuse Spurs of negative tactics.
As Rob Smyth and Lawrence Booth put it in today’s edition of The Fiver, the Guardian Unlimited‘s tea-time take on the world of football:
Jose Mourinho has slammed Tottenham for daring to give the most immaculate defensive performance seen at Stamford Bridge since Mourinho played 9-0-1 on the opening weekend.
I guess Mourinho still has a thing or two to discover about the many ironies of the English Premier League.