The Sunday Times Interviews Jose Mourinho

missingtime

Excellent read but far too long to copy and paste. Here are some snippets.

We meet in the glass-fronted main room of Inter’s antiquated training centre. A couple of hundred yards to our right are the two new training pitches — one with undersoil heating — Mourinho demanded upon joining the club in the summer of 2008. He enters the room with a smile and an embrace. He is not an interviewee who requires warming up. Question one is about the revolution in Inter’s play — the change from a side outclassed by Manchester United in last year’s Champions League to one that now plays football at a higher intensity than any English side. The answer is fluid and comprehensive. And more than five minutes in length.

“Inter’s history was about going out in the last 16 and always crying after their defeat,” begins Mourinho. “After the defeat in Manchester I was criticised in the Italian press and I was also feeling inside the club my comments at Old Trafford were not very welcome. I was saying in a very objective and pragmatic way, ‘I know why we are out of the Champions League, because they are better than us.’ Where are they better than us? Why couldn’t Inter go through? Why couldn’t Inter go through in Champions League for many years? Why can Inter succeed in Italy and not in Europe? What can we do to improve the team and to find the answer to these questions?

“I went step by step. I cannot play Champions League level without two very strong central defenders. We cannot play Champions League without a specialist in set pieces, because the matches are very, very tight and sometimes you need that man to make a difference. We need a midfield capable of having the ball and controlling most of the matches. We cannot succeed in the Champions League without a striker made for the big moments. Not a striker to score three goals from 15 chances. A striker who is able in two chances to score a goal.

His case is hard to argue with. United have been damaged by Cristiano Ronaldo’s sale to Real Madrid, Arsenal are lost in their attempts to emulate Barcelona, and Liverpool are a self-destructive mess. It is no coincidence that Chelsea took this year’s title with the lowest points total since 2003. Nor does it need Mourinho to point out that Europe’s top scorers this season were Ajax Amsterdam, who failed to win the Dutch league.

“Arsenal won it in an incredible way and after that they thought they could win in a different way,” says Mourinho. “They cannot win it in a different way. Either they go back to where they were or they don’t do it.

“Man United lost Ronaldo. Okay, the coach is a tremendous coach, the team is full of great players, but Ronaldo is Ronaldo, and he scores 30 goals a season. Ronaldo wins points and points and points. When a club and the league loses a player like Ronaldo it loses a lot.

“Liverpool is an incredible phenomenon. From 2004 to 2010 it looks like the team instead of improving is getting worse. Tottenham is coming, Aston Villa is coming, Man City is coming, but I think that magic of a fight of titans, all of them very, very strong in the top of the League, I don’t see this season was like this.

“Chelsea were out of Champions League very, very soon. They could concentrate on the championship — and they did it very well. Carlo is very experienced, he kept the team calm and focused, and he didn’t let them lose focus and confidence. They concentrate very, very well in the championship, and they deserve to win it in the end.”

“It’s so unfair if somebody thinks that Inter is a defensive team,” he says, harking back to the Champions League. “We played a very difficult group phase very well. After that we beat Chelsea twice, and I don’t remember a team to play like we did at Stamford Bridge. I don’t remember. We play against Barcelona at home, go 1-0 down, then we destroy them and we beat them 3-1. And because of a special game, which is a game to send a team into the final, playing with 10 men, and winning 3-1, people say we are defensive. I think we did it in a fantastic way.

“When I read comments by many real football people they understood how well we played that game and how much credit the players deserve. When I read some comments from some, I don’t want to say stupid people . . . For example, I read a comment from one of the best basketball players in the NBA, Steve Nash. He was saying that Inter could play that game with 10 goalkeepers. Fortunately, he plays basketball. He understands nothing about football.

“A football team is made of balance — I don’t believe in a crazy attacking team, I don’t believe in a crazy defensive team. My Porto had balance, my Chelsea had balance, and we have balance in this team. Football is made about balance.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/chelsea/article7127774.ece

civis_liberalis

Cheers for that. Very good read.

Jimmy Iovine

Very good read thanks.

The thing that caught my eye the most was that his teams hadn't lost a home league fixture in 7 years. Incredible to think he could go that long in 3 different leagues facing such a variety of teams and still remain unbeaten.

I also loved the comment about Steve Nash. Classic Mourinho quote right there

3hn2givr7mx1sc

I have grown to love Mourinho since his last few months at Chelsea.
He is the best kind of arrogant, he's funny.:D

noodler

The balance argument validates Gary Doherty.

the_monkey

Excellent read , thanks very much.

flahavaj

Enjoyed reading this in the paper today.

What a manager.

I dream of him taking over from Fergie, best manager in the world.

plasmaguy

Good read.

Two predictions about Mourinho.

1. Inter will win the Champions League

2. He will leave the club in the Summer.

GavRedKing

After beating Chelsea, i hoped Inter would go on to win it although I felt Bacra would beat them.

I hope Jose can win the CL with Inter and the Italian press can lay off him, although the kind of personality Jose has the media will always want to try and get at him.

Legend of amna and an excellent manager.

Good read OP.

Adamcp898

Thanks for that OP, loved the snippet about the Steve Nash comment