Jose Mario Dos Santos Mourinho Felix. The Setubal Portuguese native Manchester United coach is a man that elicits contrasting emotions from fans and analyst. Arguably one of the most successful coach in the history of football,his "controversial" stance backed by a non genuflecting mouth has sometimes taken the shine of his footballing ingenuity. News about him are drawers of clicks,a bait of sort and a sure marketing success. This explains why journalists manufacture lies or twist fact boost the commercial viability of whatever business they represent. The man isn't an enigma, you either love him as a fan of his style or hate him extremely...for his style. His every moves are criticized, criticisms laced with a sordid bale of jealousy, anger and hatred. It's always to paint him as the pantomime villain. Its his job to be the voyeur of other clubs(Cc Arsene Wenger!) which should explain illogically, the unnecessary questions he is asked about other clubs by journalist. His system of football is quick to be condemned. He isn't spared as he is said to have lost touch with modern football. His tactics are impugned, seemingly deficient, forgetting that the gengepressing Klopp has only 7 honours to his name in more than 16years of coaching. Zinedane Zidane won 5 in a year. They'll tell you that he didn't play football at the "highest level", whatever that means. Rafael Benitez played for Real Madrid Club de Football, Madrid's second reserve team that played in the Spanish Fourth Division in 1978. 1979 saw his promotion to the Castila. In 1981,he went to Parla a team with a 5,00 capacity stadium that spent 29 years playing in the 4th division. He moved to Linares in 1985 for which he spent a year. The first line of Linares CF's Wiki page has something like " Linares Club de Futbol was a Spanish football club..." but that notwithstanding. He has had a fantastic coaching career and we are yet to see him being called out for not understanding footballing emotions because "he didn't play at the highest level". He is always said to be a defensive coach. No one remembers how his Madrid team won the league with 100 points, a record with 121 goals scored,with a +89 goal difference. Rinaldo had one of the best season under Mourinho with 60 goals scored. Under him,the likes of Di Maria and Ozil played arguably their best football ever. His Chelsea team of 2004 hold the record for the most points accumulated in a single season at 95points. Let's even agree to the deficiency of Mourinho's defensive punch bag system of football. This " deficient " system has won him 24 honors. Marcelo Bielsa,a legendary coach who prioritized beautiful football to anything and was a sort of inspiration to the likes of Mauricio Pochettino and Guardiola hasn't won upto 10 trophies. These critics are quick to praise the "ingenuity" of Otto Rehagel's Greece's ultra defensive European champions. He was called childish for jumping and excessively cerebrating the success of his team while the likes of Conte and Klopp are praised for their "passion". He can't state a problem without being attacked. He is called a check book coach who has done little or nothing to help going players come through the academy. Independent.co.uk has it that about 55 players have had their debuts under him. Varane,Morata, Casemiro,Nacho, Cherishev,Zouma,Christensen, Arnatouvic,Jesse,Joselu,Fabinho,Adan,Solanke,Traore Bertrand,Balotelli,Loftus-Cheek amongst others.
Coaches are quick to fall for the seduction of journalists who whip up angles nonexistent to different realities, presenting them in form of questions that need reactions. These coaches react and are quick to call him out. When he responds with characteristic brutality,the entire universe goes on a disgusting overdrive. Conte is allowed to call him a victim of chronic and persistent disorder of mental processes, a progressive brain degeneration as a result of old age and when Mourinho,in characteristic fashion,refutes this with the remembrance of Conte's match fixing episode, he was called a bully. The catalogue of shameless punditry we have in this dispensation isn't helping either. Some of them have never passed the opportunity given to be employed as coaches. Yet they seat in the cozy atmosphere of their studios forgetting how irresponsible they were as humans and how apocalyptic they were as coaches..
There is deep seated anger and hatred for the man. His tactics brings him honours. While many think it defensive and offensive for beautiful football, I like to see it as making a team play the way you want. A defensive team sits at home and allows the other team move with the ball. They allow them. They make them play their way and when the team with all the possession goes sleeping,they're slaughtered on a counter. At the end,scores and trophies matter. No one remembers how possessive of the ball your team was. The thing with him is the polarising opinions e elicits. You either love him when he is in charge of your team or hate him when he isn't (with a silent prayer that he comes to your team). He won't bulge. He won't change. If you have a problem with him,I'm sorry that is where it'll end. With you.
Photo Credit: manutd.com