Mourinho's craftiness in full flow as Chelsea prepare for final
When it comes to providing opinions on the beautiful game for football lovers to ponder, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has been in sparkling form this month. The wall of silence which preceded, and followed, January's Premier League game with Manchester City has been blown away by a gust of effusive banter from the Portuguese that at times threatens to reach hurricane proportions.
Despite having recently been fined 25,000 pounds by the FA and warned about his future conduct following his claims that there was a campaign against Chelsea, the Blues boss was courting controversy again at the weekend following the London club's 1-1 draw with Burnley.
In a live television interview, he picked up where he left off before Christmas calling into question the standard of refereeing and raging about Ashley Barnes' tackle on Nemanja Matic that went unpunished, yet saw the Serb dismissed for retaliation.
It's fair to say that the vast majority of Chelsea supporters are behind Mourinho, subscribe to his philosophy and believe what he says. "I speak about these incidents week after week, because they happen week after week. My players are not getting the respect they deserve and it is too much," he said in the aforementioned television interview. Is the Special One just moaning for the sake of it when he makes such a statement? The naysayers will say 'yes' -- and Chelsea fans will say 'no'.
Whatever your point of view, it makes for good discussion as does much of Mourinho's dialogue. One of the greatest skills he possesses as a manager is the ability to draw the pressure away from his players and play down Chelsea's chances in advance of big games. Sometimes the kidology is downright humorous.
Before the now legendary 'Gerrard slip' encounter with Liverpool at Anfield last season, Mourinho told his players, "We are going to be the clowns. They want us to be the clowns in the circus. The circus is here. Liverpool are to be champions". His players disagreed and Chelsea won 2-0.
Now, the Special One is trying to convince the world that Tottenham are favourites to win Sunday's Capital One Cup final as a consequence of the suspension of Matic. "It will be an advantage," he said. "In football an advantage is an advantage." Spurs have a Europa League tie against Fiorentina to play in Italy on Thursday that Mourinho seems to have casually overlooked, though he did point out that the North London club have a "good squad, almost replicas with two players for every position".
The funny thing is that when Chelsea were undone 5-3 by Spurs in that New Year's Day howler at White Hart Lane, Matic had a stinker, probably his worst game with Chelsea. It was uncharacteristic of the Serb to go missing in the way he did in the first half, prompting some Tottenham fans to quip this week that Matic had overreacted against Barnes' tackle to avoid being similarly embarrassed in Sunday's final.
Of course that's not true. Matic will be missed, but try telling Chelsea's captain, leader, legend John Terry that Tottenham will be in the driving seat because of the combative Serb's absence. Terry will have chuckled like the rest of us at Mourinho's words. The Chelsea boss and his skipper will be focussed on two things: Stopping prolific Spurs striker Harry Kane and avoiding a lapse of concentration in the latter stages of the game when Mauricio Pochettino's men are prone to score goals.
Sunday's Capital One Cup final is a massive game for the managers, players and supporters of both clubs. Not just because it is a final, but because it is a London derby. Mourinho has yet to lose a domestic final as Chelsea manager. In his first stint as Chelsea boss, he won the League Cup twice, against Liverpool [2005] and Arsenal [2007], and the FA Cup once against Manchester United [in 2007].
Mourinho has described all his finals as "big finals", and now he has the chance of more silverware against Spurs. There will be more talk, and more playing down Chelsea's chances, but come 4pm Sunday, the Chelsea starting XI will be ready -- both physically and mentally. It is easy to condition the body, but the mind less so -- unless your name is Jose Mourinho of course.
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