Jose Mourinho: Has arrogance crossed the line?

We all know about Jose Mourinho. We call him the Special One. Oh wait, didn’t he call himself that not long after he joined Chelsea FC from Porto? We might call it arrogance or egotism but as every other sport, only the result matters, which is something the Portuguese manager has been consistently showing over the years he has been the boss.

The recent comments by Rafa Benitez’s wife, Montze, have been just a mere jape, for which she is known well for. Understanding the gravity of the situation is one the essential necessities for a top-notch manager as he needs to ensure a good public image for the club, if not himself. He should also have known better, as he has been on the receiving end of things since eternity. But unable to keep his cool, he spat back which turned into a dirty mud-slapping affair. After her joke about Benitez cleaning up after his move to other clubs, his reply was an inappropriate attack on the manager’s physical stature, saying his wife should have cared better about his diet. Well, this coming from a man who claimed, “If I wanted to have an easy job, I would have stayed at Porto. Beautiful blue chair, the Uefa Champions League trophy, God, and after God, me“. Doesn’t seem so out-of-place now, does it?

His mentality towards the game has been purely result oriented, ever since he had been managing back in Portugal. When at Chelsea, with the new influx of money, the new owners demanded results. With his strong tactical understanding of the game, he played the team and with his comments, he played the opposition. His mind-tactics aren’t a new technique any more, but back then it affected players and managers adversely. This style of his made him infamous among the Premier League crowds, save Chelsea fans. “Parking the bus”, a term which has become synonymous with Chelsea, began with Mourinho when he played against Tottenham back in 2004. His single striker up-front attack was a change against the then-prominent system of counter-attack. It can be said to be a modification of the same, but it involved no build up play, no team tactics, but rather an opportune moment and a splendid striker, which they had in the form of Didier Drogba. It was hard to chew for the football veterans.

On the other hand, one can claim Jose Mourinho to be under his limit,  as he has the results to prove for it.  But that doesn’t mean he can straight away disregard all the dirt he has been receiving, for there is no smoke without fire. He once said – “”Places like this are the soul of English football. The crowd is magnificent, singing “—- off Mourinho!” and so on“.  He might have been one of the only few people to consider that a compliment. Or rather, when karma hit him back against Liverpool in the Champions League semi-final, back in 2005. He was quoted saying, “The best team lost. After they scored, only one team played, the other one just defended for the whole game.”  I wonder what Chelsea had been doing a good decade past then. There have been various comments at other reputed managers too, like calling Arsene Wenger a “specialist in failure” or when he considered himself much above Frank Rijkaard due to the latter’s lack of trophies.

We all know Jose isn’t one of those who cares if the world were to burn if he gets what he wants. But what is a little disheartening is to see a manager who has all the credentials to be among the best managers in the world of all time, with the likes of Bob Paisley and Sir Alex Ferguson among others, but would rather ruin his own image with his antics.

P.S – This is a fan’s viewpoint and doesn’t project any bias or sentimentality of the website towards the club or the person.