The (no longer) Special One is back in the Premier League. Gone for eleven months, Jose Mourinho has swapped the comfy place in the Sky Sports studio to become manager at Tottenham. His tenure at Manchester United showed how far not only the club but also himself had fallen from their previous great statuses. Levy has offered Mourinho a last chance for him at one of football's big jobs but there are numerous things about his managerial style that Mourinho must change.
His final match as Manchester United boss was a horrendous 3-1 defeat to arch rivals Liverpool. His side looked bereft of confidence, bereft of fight and bereft of ant tactical approach. One of the defining characteristics of all Mourinho teams was their organisation but there was a clear lack of that towards the end at United. He is a manager in decline and his achievements have progressively got let impressive as the years have gone by. At United, he won the League Cup and Europa League. At Chelsea beforehand, he won the Premier League and League Cup. Then at Real Madrid, won La Liga and the Copa Del Rey. The trophies accumulated have become less impressive and have not matched his 2009-10 treble with Inter Milan.
Mourinho's football philosophy was born out of distaste for Barcelona. Simply dismissed as a translator when Bobby Robson was manager, he felt as though they did not respect him for what he did at the club. Then he was rejected when applying to become manager in favour of Pep Guardiola (a good decision looking back) which increased his anger towards what the club stood for. Guardiola, who was inspired by the legend that is Johan Cruyff, dominated with possession-based, high intensity football. Mourinho simply couldn't do the same. Diego Torres, in his biography of Mourinho, outlines the his several key beliefs, with the most important being "Whoever has the ball has fear".
This belief comes from the idea that those who have possession are the ones who have to create the initiative with the ball. They have to find the space between the lines and open up the opposition to score. It puts the pressure on themselves ("Whoever has the ball is more likely to make a mistake"). When humans are faced with high pressure situations, errors are made. These errors in a footballing world result in giving possession to the other side, who will enact a fast counter-attack to punish the mistake. It sounds effective, and has worked for Mourinho at Real Madrid and Chelsea, but modern football has evolved to a point where his tactic is obsolete.
The two best examples are Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp. Manchester City and Liverpool are extremely comfortable in possession and are not afraid when trying to force the issue. They have no fear. Teams have become so adept at exploiting the tiniest of gaps they can muster that Mourinho's philosophy is redundant. Sitting back and allowing the opposition the ball to try and break you down is a recipe for disaster. The emphasis of football has shifted to attacking that defending is no longer seen as an achievable way of winning. Mourinho at Manchester United had become a footballing dinosaur.
One question still remains: Has Mourinho actually changed? He is a proud man who has a lot of confidence in his own ability - quite rightly - but his pragmatic, reactive football has led to his decline as a manager. His trusted assistant Rui Faria has not come with him to Tottenham (he is managing Al-Duhail in Qatar) and he has appointed Joao Sacramento in his place. This seems like a game changer.
Sacramento was part of the set up at Lille under Marcelo Bielsa. His relationship with the Argentine was not the best and the pair had many disagreements. A fellow Portugal man of Mourinho, Sacramento has also worked at Monaco (under Leonardo Jardim) and the Argentina national team. In Bielsa and Mourinho, they are practically opposites in football ideology. Bielsa sides are excellent in transition and play with extreme intensity. He is like Guardiola and Klopp, so involving someone of that mold shows Mourinho may have rethought how he will play football at Tottenham.
This ultimately, though, Jose Mourinho. Nothing is ever certain when he is involved and we may well see a midfield pivot of Eric Dier and Nemanja Matic in the near future. However, for a man who epitomised anti-Barcelona football, it seems as if Mourinho now recognises that pro-Barcelona football is the way for him to achieve success at Tottenham and yes, he may have finally learnt from his mistakes.
His final match as Manchester United boss was a horrendous 3-1 defeat to arch rivals Liverpool. His side looked bereft of confidence, bereft of fight and bereft of ant tactical approach. One of the defining characteristics of all Mourinho teams was their organisation but there was a clear lack of that towards the end at United. He is a manager in decline and his achievements have progressively got let impressive as the years have gone by. At United, he won the League Cup and Europa League. At Chelsea beforehand, he won the Premier League and League Cup. Then at Real Madrid, won La Liga and the Copa Del Rey. The trophies accumulated have become less impressive and have not matched his 2009-10 treble with Inter Milan.
Mourinho's football philosophy was born out of distaste for Barcelona. Simply dismissed as a translator when Bobby Robson was manager, he felt as though they did not respect him for what he did at the club. Then he was rejected when applying to become manager in favour of Pep Guardiola (a good decision looking back) which increased his anger towards what the club stood for. Guardiola, who was inspired by the legend that is Johan Cruyff, dominated with possession-based, high intensity football. Mourinho simply couldn't do the same. Diego Torres, in his biography of Mourinho, outlines the his several key beliefs, with the most important being "Whoever has the ball has fear".
This belief comes from the idea that those who have possession are the ones who have to create the initiative with the ball. They have to find the space between the lines and open up the opposition to score. It puts the pressure on themselves ("Whoever has the ball is more likely to make a mistake"). When humans are faced with high pressure situations, errors are made. These errors in a footballing world result in giving possession to the other side, who will enact a fast counter-attack to punish the mistake. It sounds effective, and has worked for Mourinho at Real Madrid and Chelsea, but modern football has evolved to a point where his tactic is obsolete.
The two best examples are Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp. Manchester City and Liverpool are extremely comfortable in possession and are not afraid when trying to force the issue. They have no fear. Teams have become so adept at exploiting the tiniest of gaps they can muster that Mourinho's philosophy is redundant. Sitting back and allowing the opposition the ball to try and break you down is a recipe for disaster. The emphasis of football has shifted to attacking that defending is no longer seen as an achievable way of winning. Mourinho at Manchester United had become a footballing dinosaur.
One question still remains: Has Mourinho actually changed? He is a proud man who has a lot of confidence in his own ability - quite rightly - but his pragmatic, reactive football has led to his decline as a manager. His trusted assistant Rui Faria has not come with him to Tottenham (he is managing Al-Duhail in Qatar) and he has appointed Joao Sacramento in his place. This seems like a game changer.
Sacramento was part of the set up at Lille under Marcelo Bielsa. His relationship with the Argentine was not the best and the pair had many disagreements. A fellow Portugal man of Mourinho, Sacramento has also worked at Monaco (under Leonardo Jardim) and the Argentina national team. In Bielsa and Mourinho, they are practically opposites in football ideology. Bielsa sides are excellent in transition and play with extreme intensity. He is like Guardiola and Klopp, so involving someone of that mold shows Mourinho may have rethought how he will play football at Tottenham.
This ultimately, though, Jose Mourinho. Nothing is ever certain when he is involved and we may well see a midfield pivot of Eric Dier and Nemanja Matic in the near future. However, for a man who epitomised anti-Barcelona football, it seems as if Mourinho now recognises that pro-Barcelona football is the way for him to achieve success at Tottenham and yes, he may have finally learnt from his mistakes.
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