Jose Mourinho isn’t noted for shouldering responsibility when results go against him, but as Chelsea’s poor start to the season lurched from bad to worse in Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat to Crystal Palace, he admitted he made an error of judgement.
After Chelsea’s 1-2 loss to Crystal Palace, an article on sports website goal.com read ” SHOCK: JOSE MOURINHO TAKES BLAME FOR CHELSEA LOSS”. An average reader will wonder why this is a shock. It is a shock because it’s rare or even impossible for Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho to take the blame for a loss of any of his team’s matches.
A stuttering 2-2 draw with Swansea saw Mourinho raging against his medical staff, doctor Eva Carneiro and physio Jon Fearn. Carneiro and Fearn were subsequently relieved of match day duties, with the whole sorry episode deflecting attention away from what was a below-par Chelsea performance.
Next came a 3-0 drubbing against Manchester City at the Etihad which Mourinho claimed was a fake result. The football world had a good laugh at that. Chelsea were distinctly second best, but supporters kept faith because Mourinho is the self-proclaimed Special One and he’s given a lot of profit to football betting fans, after all, he works in mysterious ways, right?
In the Champions league between Liverpool and Chelsea in 2005, during his first stint as Chelsea manager, Chelsea lost to Liverpool via a contentious goal which the linesman eventually deemed to have crossed the line. When interviewed after the game, Mourinho responded by saying “The linesman scored the goal. No-one knows if that shot went over the line and you must be 100%”
In February 2006, also during his first stint as Chelsea Manager, Chelsea lost to Barcelona 1-2 at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea’s left back Asier Del Horno was deservedly red carded for a dangerous foul on Lionel Messi; that moment of stupidity obviously cost Chelsea the game. But as usual, Jose Mourinho didn’t blame his defender, rather he suggested Lionel Messi exaggerated the tackle, as evidenced by this post-match comment “Barcelona is a cultural city with many great theatres and this boy [Lionel Messi] has learned very well. He’s learned play-acting.”
In August 2010, on Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid debut, Real Madrid could only muster a goalless draw against lowly Mallorca. Jose Mourinho’s team selection that day played a factor, because he elected to start 19 year old Sergio Canales over the more experienced Mesut Ozil, but when asked why his team couldn’t create chances and only managed a scoreless draw. He answered in typical Mourinho fashion, “Look, I’m a coach. I’m not Harry Potter. He is magical, but in reality there is no magic. Magic is fiction and football is real”.
Above are just a few out of many Jose Mourinho quotes that show it’s difficult for him to take the blame when his teams lose. Against Crystal palace though, he subtly took the blame by saying “I should have made changes when my team wasn’t playing well, I let one ineffective player stay on the pitch for 90 minutes, and that cost us the match”
Football fans might argue that if history is to be observed, his words after the loss to Crystal Palace is just a one off.
But what are your thoughts on Mourinho’s attitude when his teams lose? Is he usually right? Or is he just someone that likes to blame everyone else but himself for his problems?
Please drop your comments below.