Mourinho thinks Benitez has it easy

Pepe LeFrits

"Benítez will not have to work as hard as I did because in one month he has the chance to win three trophies, the Italian Super Cup, the European Super Cup and the Club World Cup. It's heaven for him.

"A coach who arrives at a new club usually has to build a team. While Benítez finds everything ready, the club and the players."

While Chelsea, Inter and Real Madrid were battling relegation when he took charge...

... and if that wasn't enough:

"I understand that if someone wants to compete with them for a player it is very difficult. They are dominant in the market. The player they say they want is the player they get.

"I was interested in Kolarov when I came here but I couldn't compete with them as they went to values that I couldn't. If they have the money they can do it, if they have the ambition to win the Premier League they can do it."

Poor José, having to rummage in the bargain bin to find the likes of Khedira, Ozil and Di Maria to add to the most expensively assembled squad in history.

#15

While we're on the subject of Mourinho...

Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho has thrown cold water over Arsenal and Liverpool's Premier League title aspirations this season.

The Portuguese boss, who enjoyed a three-year stint in the English top flight managing Chelsea, predicts a three-horse race for the title this term between the Blues, Manchester United and Manchester City.

And the 47-year-old, who led Inter Milan to a domestic and European treble last season, has admitted doubts over whether the Reds and the Gunners can cut it at the top of the table, while also suggesting new Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson will struggle to make an impact at Anfield.
Contenders

When asked over potential title contenders, Mourinho told Sky Sports News HD: "I believe Chelsea, Man United and Man City.

"It will be very difficult for (manager) Roy Hodgson to do it with Liverpool because Liverpool in the last three years were getting worse and worse and worse.

"The Liverpool of 2004 was better than the Liverpool of 2005, the Liverpool of 2005 was better than that of 2006 and so on.

"And they arrive at a situation where Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard, Pepe Reina, (Fernando) Torres, if his head is there, are very difficult for Roy to make Liverpool champions.

"He needs time and it's not easy because I don't think they went in the right direction."

Mourinho feels Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger hides behind the excuse of having a young squad, and insists the Frenchman's players should be delivering results by now.

Excuse

"Arsenal too, year after year it looks likely - but no," he added.

"Always the same type of comment, 'it's a young team, we'll be next season'. I remember we (Chelsea) played them in the Carling Cup semi-final with a team of young boys.

"But the team of young boys is no longer the team of young boys. In this moment they are a team that are 25, 26, 27 years old.

"(Cesc) Fabregas, (Theo) Walcott, (Gael) Clichy, (Alex) Song, (Bacary) Sagna. They are not a team of kids anymore, they are the team at the age to win things.

"But I don't think they will do it, I think it will be again Man United and Chelsea, and of course Man City because they have a great squad."

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11667_6333032,00.html

Pepe LeFrits

He's right about Arsenal (being at the age to win things at least), but he's talking arse about Liverpool (nothing new there!).

Paparazzo

From football365:
To whit, Jose Mourinho was on this morning, and even three years after leaving England, he couldn't resist a cheeky dig at Rafa Benitez.

When asked about the man in his old job, Jose replied: "It's not my old job. It's a dream job - my job at Inter was not a dream job.

"He has one game to win the (Italian) Super Cup, two games to win the Intercontinental Cup...Normally when a coach goes to a club he has to build things. It's not a difficult job. He has the squad, the club...his job is not a difficult job - it's a dream job."

Jose's inference is obviously that Rafa has it easy because Jose did all the groundwork and that anything less than last season's treble will be a failure for Mr Benitez.

Well quite. It's not as if Mourinho had this sort of leg-up, is it? Not as if when he took over, Inter had just won three Serie A titles, also therefore had 'one game to win the Super Cup', still had an owner willing to spend millions and inherited a squad featuring Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Julio Cesar, Christian Chivu, Javier Zanetti, Esteban Cambiasso and Dejan Stankovic.

You built that club from nothing Jose.

#15

To be fair to Jose, his moves put Inter over the top. Sneijder, Eto'o, Lucio, Milito. He upgraded the depth of talent a notch or two.

Mr.Nice Guy

Obviously he's incorrect with his comments that Liverpool were getting worse the past three years seeing as in 2009 they pushed United very close. I think after that Liverpool's decline set in, mainly failing to recover from the loss of Alonso, while Chelsea then got their act together under Ancelotti.

I feel he is being quite harsh on Wenger too but this is unsurprising. I think Sky are that much in love with Mourinho that he will just say stuff to them cause a reaction and get people talking. United are Chelsea are in his good books, whereas Liverpool and Arsenal are not, hence his comments.

What interests me most is the stuff he is saying about Man City. This suggests they are also now in his good books and very much on his radar. I saw him on SSN again talking about how one day he would be back in England and I would guess his comments are pretty encouraging for City fans who have doubts about Mancini being the man for the long haul.

RasTa

He also got them firing in Europe, to say he built it from nothing is laughable.

Fromvert

#15 wrote: »

To be fair to Jose, his moves put Inter over the top. Sneijder, Eto'o, Lucio, Milito. He upgraded the depth of talent a notch or two.

Did he have much say in those transfers, thought I read somewhere that Inter's transfers are dealt with above the managers head.

I like Mourinho but he talks some shíte sometimes.

Just loves the sound of his own voice.

I'd say his ipod is full of podcasts of his own interviews.

FreeOSCAR

rarnes1 wrote: »

I'd say his ipod is full of podcasts of his own interviews.

Rightly so, he is hilarious.

In all honesty, Mourinho can say that considering the task at hand is much more difficult for him than that for Benitez, Inter's biggest opposition has lost its stalwart at the back to guess who, Inter, and well I do think Roma will struggle at the back without Burdisso and to be honest, in all Inter a beyond anyone in the division by a mile. While Barca are beyond most in the La Liga with Mourinho having to rebuild "his" team removing big players like Raul to create his own squad, which to be honest, will be difficult, he'll be under scrutiny from the start due to the removal of Raul and well I think most will be after his head as coach as soon as he goes on a poor patch of form.

everdead.ie

He's just so entertaining gotta love him.

Mister men

Can't stand the man. He is a symbol of everything that is wrong about the modern game.

ShamoBuc

He is a prize prat - never liked the man. With every club he creates an Us against the world mentality, and these comments are just the start of it at his new club!

eagle eye

He is the greatest, if I have a mancrush on anybody in the game of soccer its on Jose Mourinho.

He is right too, Benitez is taking over the Champion's of Europe, Mourinho took over a team that had failed miserably in Europe.

I hope he succeeds in Spain and quickly, spend two years there and then come back to the Premier League. I think I'd like to see him take over at City who I hope have not won anything at that stage which makes it attractive to him.

Eirebear

ShamoBuc wrote: »

He is a prize prat - never liked the man. With every club he creates an Us against the world mentality, and these comments are just the start of it at his new club!

And it works!

Nothing galvanises a team more than the belief that everyone is gunning for them, it gets people fighting for eachother and working harder to prove the doubters wrong.

Say whatever you like about the man, but he is an absolutely unbelievable manager as his career so far has proven. I'm not sure he will do it at Real in all honesty, but then again...i'd be a fool to bet against him!

3hn2givr7mx1sc

I got a serious man-love for Jose, but that will be gone if he ends up at City.

I think he's waiting for Fergie to retire, though tbh. I'd say he'd love to manage United. Especially if City are still spending big money when Fergie retires.

DOC09UNAM

Yes you would, I reckon he'll take europe at least, not sure about La Liga, but CL to Real or MU if i was a betting man.

A Primal Nut

I like Mourinho but he's wrong. He has left Benitez with an ageing team. He paid 24m for 30 year old Diego Milito. No other manager would pay so much for a 30yo but as Mourinho knew he had only one year left he only needed to care about what Milito had to offer the following season. Win the Champions League, all-or-nothing.

He also got incredibly lucky with the absured Ibrahimovic-Eto'o deal. He didn't have to work as hard as others when he got a superior striker and 40m to spend.

Considering the team he inherited at Real Madrid, its quite hypocritical of him to say this about Benitez. The Madrid team he inherited is superior (on an individual level) to the Inter team he left behind, and he also has a crazy amount of money to spend, just like at Chelsea.

I have a lot of respect for Mourinho, but when it comes to squad building he's had it easy (except at Porto).

PHB

Sorry, but Mourinho left a manager with a squad that just won the ****ing treble. Anybody who comes into that job will have an "easy" job so to speak.

L'prof

PHB wrote: »

Sorry, but Mourinho left a manager with a squad that just won the ****ing treble. Anybody who comes into that job will have an "easy" job so to speak.

The only way is down. Anything except the treble will be deemed as a failure and I really doubt Benitez can get the most out of his men in quite the same fashion as Mourinho!

Warper

Benitez faces a very tough year as someone said the only way is down for Inter. If they can win Serie A and put in a credible performance in the CL, then he will have done a good job. That is all he can do realistically. To win 2 CL's in a row has never been done before so they can be excused for not going the whole way this season, plus a team needs a bit of good fortune to win it too.

Jose is clearly the best manager in the world today. He takes all the pressure away from the players and onto himself, something he clearly loves. I doubt any other manager could have gotten Inter past arguably Europe's 3 best teams last season in Chelsea, Barca and Bayern, but he did. His style and outspoken interviews will not suit everyone but he is a great character. He owns the media and they love him for it. Hey, he is the special one and whether you're with him or against him he does bring something special to the game.

therokerroar

Mourinho is absolutely spot-on about Benitez and Liverpool.

Reganio 2

Mourinho is right most of the time in fairness, I am pretty sure he dosn't like Benitez he is always very quick to give out about him (Possibly down to Benitez getting the Liverpool job? Who knows) I always keep an eye out for Mourinho's teams as he is awesome add in the fact I like Madrid and detest Barca, this could get quite interesting.

OPENROAD

Has Mourinho always had a big budget to spend?

DOC09UNAM

Reganio 2 wrote: »

Mourinho is right most of the time in fairness, I am pretty sure he dosn't like Benitez he is always very quick to give out about him (Possibly down to Benitez getting the Liverpool job? Who knows) I always keep an eye out for Mourinho's teams as he is awesome add in the fact I like Madrid and detest Barca, this could get quite interesting.

I agree with you here about everything except detesting barca, beautiful football style.

DOC09UNAM

OPENROAD wrote: »

Has Mourinho always had a big budget to spend?

Champions league win with porto, don't know if you'd consider it a big budget tbh.

Mostly homegrown talents like maniche, costinha, carvalho and paulo ferreira that came together to form a fantastic team at the time.

OPENROAD

DOC09UNAM wrote: »

Champions league win with porto, don't know if you'd consider it a big budget tbh.

Mostly homegrown talents like maniche, costinha, carvalho and paulo ferreira that came together to form a fantastic team at the time.

Was he responsible for bringing them through? he obviously had a big budget at Chelsea, how about Inter?

Reganio 2

DOC09UNAM wrote: »

I agree with you here about everything except detesting barca, beautiful football style.

In fairness I can't disagree with the football bit, I just think they get an easy ride in that they are the darlings of football, when they do an awful lot of what's wrong with football. Diving, turning on the sprinklers etc. They are very bitter losers and use their stature to bully teams into selling players (Something Madrid get hounded for but its ok for Barca), its nothing to do with their football to a certain extent.

DOC09UNAM

More than likely, if you see a manager win a CL with porto, you're certainly going to back him financially if you can aren't you??

I know i would if i had the money.

joe316

As usual he's spot on, just because its hard to read for certain fans doesnt mean that its not fact.

He'll be back in the PL in two years, his ego is so big that he'll see himself as the only person that can replace Fergie

Warper

joe316 wrote: »

As usual he's spot on, just because its hard to read for certain fans doesnt mean that its not fact.

He'll be back in the PL in two years, his ego is so big that he'll see himself as the only person that can replace Fergie

Atm, City look a more realistic job for him than Utd. If Utd cant sort out their finances, I cant see him going there.

He also won the UEFA Cup with Porto, something people forget.

#15

Jose Mourinho has admitted the Manchester United job would be “a great challenge” should Sir Alex Ferguson ever step down from his post at Old Trafford.

The self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ has never hidden his admiration for Sir Alex Ferguson and in a recent interview, the Real Madrid coached praised the “proud” values of Manchester United, instilled by their long-serving manager.

Speaking about the recently deposed Premier League champions, Mourinho told the Telegraph: "They play the English way, hard and physical.

“Europe is different. Tactics, strategy, the players you have, the players you pick, it is very different to domestic club football.

“Manchester is a club who are proud and perhaps look at winning the League title as more important than anything else."

Speaking about Ferguson, Mourinho revealed his deep routed respect for the Manchester United boss, and suggested he would be honoured to succeed him at Old Trafford.

Mourinho said: "Sir Alex is a great man, a great manager with a lot of respect from everybody.

He added: “Manchester United would be a great challenge for me. But Liverpool is not the club for me. I know why, but I cannot tell you

Paparazzo

OPENROAD wrote: »

Was he responsible for bringing them through? he obviously had a big budget at Chelsea, how about Inter?

Put it like this, Inter have made .5 billion loss over the last 4 years. Morratis oil company is in difficulty now, so rafa won't have the same budget

Ush1

Real Madrid have come out and claimed this interview never took place.

#15

Ush1 wrote: »

Real Madrid have come out and claimed this interview never took place.

You'd wonder what editor allows stuff like this to go to print.

JPA

Ush1 wrote: »

Real Madrid have come out and claimed this interview never took place.

Which interview? Because the first and 2nd posts were taken from an interview shown on SSN.

Ush1

JPA wrote: »

Which interview? Because the first and 2nd posts were taken from an interview shown on SSN.

Post 33.

Sorry, shoulda been more specific.

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Real-Madrid-boss-Jose-Mourinho-exclusive-I-d-NEVER-manage-Liverpool-but-would-boss-Manchester-United-Arsenal-even-Tottenham-or-Everton-article562971.html