Why Mourinho Is A Genius And How Liverpool Fell For His Mind Games

After Chelsea played Athletico Madrid in the Champions League Jose Mourinho decided to play his mind games. He knows exactly what he’s doing and came out to the whole world and declared the second leg of the Champions League semi-final was his priority and he would rest key players at Anfield.

Jose Mourinho is the king of hype and predictably the press went crazy – Manchester City were reportedly “unhappy” at this revelation and it was the most talked about football topic for the last few days. And as expected, Liverpool didn’t know what was going on.

Mourinho’s aim was to give something to think about and that is exactly what happened. Another aim was to put all the pressure on Liverpool and remove any expectations on his Chelsea side. After all, Liverpool only needed a draw remember.

The Chelsea manager was fooling nobody with rhetoric about “not caring about the Premier League” but it was making headlines and getting press. We all know Mourinho is a winner and his record against the top sides is almost perfect.

The line up Chelsea started with was missing some big players, but they have a strong squad and predictably parked the bus. The reasons for this were twofold; it allowed Chelsea to ensure they got a result and it also justified his “weakened” selection.

Jose Mourinho clearly got to Liverpool and Brendan Rodgers because the complaints after the game were that “Chelsea parked two buses”, “Liverpool try to play football the right way” and “Chelsea were time-wasting”. All true and valid points, but the bottom line was Liverpool only needed a draw. All the hype surrounding Mourinho obviously got to Liverpool because they tried to win the game, and that was their downfall.

If you only need a point and Chelsea are “parking two buses” and clearly setup for the counter-attack, then surely playing out a dull-as-dish-water draw would have done? Chelsea posed no real attacking threat (the first goal was a mistake and the second on the break when Liverpool threw everyone forward) so why play into their hands? Liverpool’s fantastic recent run went to their heads and they believed their own hype.

If Chelsea only needed a draw and were playing at home you can bet your house that he wouldn’t have approached the game the same way Brendan Rodgers did.

The result of all this is that Liverpool no longer have the title in their own hands.

 

31 thoughts on “Why Mourinho Is A Genius And How Liverpool Fell For His Mind Games

  1. I will have to remember the next time I act a prix to tell eeveryone it was ‘mind games’. Sorry mate but I agree the press were taken in by Jose. But not as part of mind games. Simply a pricetrying as he has all year to set himself uup for an excuse for failing. Which chavs not winning the league is. The only saving grace in our annual failings is that we can fix it. How can you fix their problems? They have already spent enough getting there.

     
    • If Mourinho needed excuses for failing, he wouldn’t be the winner he is. Mourinho doesn’t even consider failing, let alone make excuses for it.

       
    • Taking the games of last weekend as the most recent example, the total transfer fees of the starting XIs of Chelsea and Arsenal were as follows:
      Chelsea v Sunderland… Chelsea total cost £130.5m
      Hull v Arsenal… Arsenal total cost £135.8m

       
        • No it’s not wrong:
          Chelsea v Sunderland

          Schwarzer FREE
          Ivanovich 9m
          Cahill 7m
          Terry FREE
          Azpilcuta 7m
          Ramirez 18.3m
          Matic 1.5m / 22.75m
          Oscar 25m
          Willian 32m
          Eto’o FREE
          Salah 11m

          TOTAL:109.3m (with Matic at original 1.5m)
          130.5m (with Matic at subsequent 22.5m)

          Hull v Arsenal

          Szczesny FREE
          Sagna 6m
          Mertesacker 10m
          Koscielny 10m
          Monreal 8.3
          Arteta 10m
          Ramsey 5m
          Cazorla 20m
          Ozil 42.5
          Podolski 11m
          Giroud 13m

          TOTAL: 135.8m

           
          • carzola was 15 or 16 mil. but fair play that surprised me. I bet theres a difference in wages tho

             
  2. Rodgers needs glasses. He says he saw two buses. But there was only one… the other vehicle was a hearse, carrying away most of Liverpool’s title hopes for burial.

     
  3. Wasn’t a master class! It’s so ridiculous that so called football experts believe this. LFC’s captain slipped and this was a massive mistake in a massive game. And that’s it. If Mourinho was such a great coach he would have succeeded at Real. Fact is he didn’t.

     
    • totally correct, master class act does not depend on accidents, they do have their own plans. there are people in the media that even a fart from mourinho is a master class fart. i dont comprehend how a sane person can be so taken in.

       
      • Beating Manchester City home and away
        Beating Liverpool home and away
        Unbeaten against Arsenal, including a 6-0 thrashing
        Unbeaten against Tottenham including a 4-0 thrashing
        Unbeaten against Man Utd home and away draw

        Sounds pretty close to a masterclass to me.

         
        • Losing at Sunderland at home, should’ve lost to Westbrom at home, and draw with ‘parked bus’ west ham at home…..master class indeed

           
          • What does one call 6-0?
            5-0 is a thrashing.
            4-0 is a good beating.
            But SIX-NIL? What’s that called? What do YOU call it?

             
    • Didn’t he win the league with Real with record points or goals or something like that? Or both?
      What record did Mr. Wenger set that same season? Or anytime since?

       
      • went a whole seaseon unbeaten, built a new stadium and kept us in the CL for 17 seasons on a budget less than stoke. real madrid failing to win the CL and getting knocked out before final is prob a lot easier than getting arsenal in top 4 in england

         
  4. YES, Mourinho was trying to escape failing in the media. Don’t forget his comments on Big Sum of westham. “a 19th century football”. He played similar football against Atletico and Liverpool. He spoiled Spanish football as Inesta suggested and is spoiling the EPL. why do Chelsea supporters get to the stadium? Is it to watch football or Mourinho playing 11 of his players in their own penalty area applying his cowardly tactics?

     
    • Gon’t be childish. Mourinho wasn’t talking of playing defensive football. He was talking of hoofing it. Anyone with half a brain would know the difference between controlled, tactical defense and simply booting the ball away as far as possible for 90 minutes.

       
  5. Mourinho is not a genius. He tries to win at all costs, even if it means dull, defensive football. An average manager could get average players to follow Mourinho’s plan. He did not get away with it at Inter and especially Real. In fact the players at Real refused to stoop as low as Mourinho desired. He is a serial anti-football expert.

     
    • you are very right boss. he is destroying football. people pay their hard earned cash to be entertained not watch 9 defenders in the field of play. i think he has now run out of ideas and only thinks about being famous at the expense of developing the game.

       
  6. Even if u hate Jose, he is a winner. people celebrate wins not beautiful play. beautiful play entertain the funs for 90 min but wins forever live. A Madrid is under pressure now and Stanford bridge is lyk Hail. no visitors smiles after 90 min.

     
  7. Chelsea owner does not knw wat he really wnts frm a coach. Morihno came a second time to fool him playing 18th century football

     
    • Mourinho is inside your heads. You can’t get him out. Even when you try to belittle him, you keep using words HE planted in your brains. It was he who coined the expression “Parking the bus”. And it was he who started this “18th century football” expression. He has you wrapped around his little finger. Just like Brian Clough did to a previous generation. Both Clough and Mourinho know how to manipulate rabble.

       
    • Ur hatred cant stp him ur insult nd foolishness dont acount,he x a top nd world clas coach u dont no anytin abt fotbal u watch wit sentiment,stp causin who God ve bless ok do u watch madrid against bayer in d cl laast wk? weather 18 or 19 century fotbal wat ppl nid x winnin nd nt fancy nd beautiful so let us stp al dis nonesence if u see sumbody dat x gud admit dat he x rogers x gud bt jose mou x mor seperior

       
  8. In boxing, Mourinho would be Ali, clever, defensively expert, and then stinging like a bee.
    Rodgers would come out swinging but soon getting sucker punched.
    Wenger would slap his way through the bout and complain he hasn’t enough money for a decent pair of boxing gloves..

     
    • Nothing clever about Mourinho. Look the guy did brilliantly at Porto and was fairly OK at Chelsea first time around.Since then he has been increasingly overwhelmed by the fear of losing and progressively obsessed with being defensive at all costs. Even West Ham have attacking intent, and Palace look more like the affluent club than Chelsea.

       
  9. poor Jose…. pity to him a trophy less season for him, it’s unless he starts couching football and not how to defend for 95 mins. its terrible and nothing like world class its unless he changes the tactics rather he will still again go trophyless nxt ssn…….

     
  10. I get what you’re saying but Mourinho was lucky… and if he’s such a genius he wouldn’t have lost to Sunderland last week…

     

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