One year and six days ago Jose Mourinho, then Manager at Chelsea, felt the sack. It came in the midst of a season in which the Blues picked up just 11 points in their first 12 games. The sacking came off the heels of the previous season, in which Chelsea lost just three games the entire season, en route to the Premier League title.
The effort earned Mourinho the Manager of the Year award and it concluded with the Portugese often “parking the bus” down the stretch.
“Boring boring Chelsea” chanted fans of rivals to deride what Jose Mourinho, a boss with a reputation for being defensive-minded already, was doing. A decade earlier, Mourinho earned a title at Chelsea in which the Blues won 11 games by the score of 1-0.
Thus his comments this week are the very definition of irony.
“You have to be honest and say that is very difficult,” the current manager of Manchester United responded, when asked if his club could catch the Blues and win the title.
“It’s not just the difference in points, it’s also the Chelsea philosophy of playing. They score one goal and they win. They defend a lot. They defend well. They are winning and, in the last 20 minutes, they bring defenders in.”
“They don’t care what people say, what people think. They just want to win. And, because of that, I don’t see them losing many points.”
Just dripping in irony here.
You know it’s intentional too, as Jose Mourinho is a brilliant tactician who is among the best in the world, not just England, in mind games. The “they don’t care what they think” was a really nice touch. Of course, what else can Mourinho say and do right now, as his team is currently points behind Chelsea for top of the table, and they received a 4-0 pasting at Stamford Bridge in late October.
Jose Mourinho champagne glass photo courtesy of football memes.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.