Jose Mourinho is undoubtedly one of the most famous and loved, but also the most hated football coaches of our time. It’s easy to write crazy headlines about the 59-year-old Portuguese.
Where does all this come from? What can be found behind the huge statistics? And has Mourinho really fallen off the bandwagon of development?
Forerunner?
– Mourinho is a really interesting figure in football, because he is one of the first, if not the first coach, who has been an even bigger star than the players. After Mourinho, there have been more such coaching stars, but he was a pioneer in this sense, begins Urheilu’s expert Miika Nuutinen.
A game philosophy is not the first thing that comes to mind about Mourinho. He will not go down in history as a promoter of gaming evolution in the same way as, for example, he did Johan Cruyff or Pep Guardiola.
– What Mourinho will surely go down in the history books is winning.
In any case, Mourinho has managed to influence football coaching in particular.
– Mourinho is the most famous coach who uses a Portuguese Vitor Fraden Tactical periodization method, says Nuutinen.
The training methods are complicated, but Nuutinen summarizes Tactical periodization in such a way that all training is based on playing and specifically on the team’s game model.
– Football has been full of such training that all areas are practiced separately and individually. Tactical periodization is one of the methods through which thinking has changed from, for example, England. When applied well, its benefit is that every minute on the training ground is more efficiently used.
Other coaches in England who are familiar with the model have been, among others Andre Villas-Boas and Nuno Espirito Santo.
Even if Mourinho doesn’t go down in history as a revolutionary in the evolution of the game, he has created his success by being a pioneer in coaching processes.
As another example, Nuutinen says that already in Porto, Mourinho used rare methods in his player recruitment at that time. He acquired players from the lower leagues and used psychological profile as one of the selection criteria.
Arrogant?
Then about the headlines, which are really enough. One of the most legendary stories is related to the Champions League playoffs in 2005. Mourinho, who was piloting Chelsea, had received a two-match suspension for his remarks against the referee in the quarterfinals against FC Barcelona.
That didn’t stop Mourinho from going into the dressing room to give a speech before the quarter-final against Bayern Munich.
Mourinho went to the stadium early in the day, hours before the match started, so it was not a problem. The problem was to get out of the dressing room without being noticed by UEFA observers. Mourinho was carried out in a laundry basket, pushed by a guardian Stewart Bannister.
There were rumors about it for a long time, until Mourinho finally admitted what happened in 2019.
– When he pushed the basket outside the dressing room, the Uefa guys followed and were desperate to find me. So he closed the lid and I couldn’t breathe! When he opened the basket I was about to die. I’m serious, I have a tight spot, Mourinho told beIN Sports.
In Real Madrid 2010, Mourinho commanded his players in the first group match of the Champions League Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos to take the second yellow cards for playing time. Alonso and Ramos were suspended for the last match of the first group, which was Mourinho’s goal, as Real had already secured qualification from the first group. Thus, the duo was able to clear their warning accounts and made it to the playoffs without the pressure of suspensions.
Four Real Madrid players and Mourinho were fined for the trick, and Mourinho was banned for one match.
Over and over, Mourinho has collected suspensions and fines. He has barked at the judges, angrily thrown his medals into the stands and teased the coaches of the opponents about their weight, baldness, language skills or whatever. He has violently ripped football managers and even his players.
On the other hand, many of the actions have been interpreted as a clever media game, with which he has managed to shift attention and pressure aside from his team.
Mourinho’s nickname is known as The Special One. When Mourinho arrived at Chelsea in 2004, he himself told reporters at a press conference that he was The Special One.
Are the headlines unnecessary hype or where does all this come from?
– They are not unnecessary exaggeration. He is a person who shares opinions and feelings. Of course, one factor has been this battle with the media, which has been its own show. Mourinho often comes off as arrogant, which fuels the uproar, Nuutinen sees.
Nuutinen points out that everything that Mourinho has done, at least in his own opinion, has only happened for the sake of winning and success. Especially in his case, it has always been associated with the media game and other adventures.
The coach, who knows Portuguese, English, Spanish, French and Italian, appears in front of the media sometimes completely disgusted or furious, sometimes bursting out politely and respectfully – as happened when HJK visited AS Roma earlier.
– He has also been ready to stretch the rules more than anyone else. Unwritten rules, sometimes written, have not held Mourinho back. Of course, stories emerge from these that will remain in life.
Even though there have been sanctions and criticism, Mourinho has been able to use situations to his advantage and has also used the media to talk about his own team.
– There have been very few situations where it has become clear that the team does not stand behind Mourinho. Even when the teams have been in crisis, there have been no signs of the players turning against Mourinho. Of course, it matters the most in the end games.
A special man?
Mourinho’s star rose at Porto, which he guided to the Champions League in 2004.
Since then, there have been six league championships and five European club team tournament titles. In his career, Mourinho has won the Champions League twice, the Europa League or its predecessor the Uefa Cup twice and the Conference League once.
Last season, Mourinho guided AS Roma to victory in the first-ever Conference League, so he is the only coach to have won all three current European Cup competitions.
Mourinho is considered a special man in the Euro competitions.
– I would still say that the man of the finals, Nuutinen continues.
Mourinho’s team has never lost in the finals of European competitions. Of the five finals, Mourinho’s team has only conceded goals in the first.
When Porto beat Celtic 3-2 in 2003, Mourinho’s Portuguese side had more of the ball. Since then, in every final, Mourinho’s team has clearly kept less of the ball, even if they were the early favourites.
2002–03 Uefa Cup (now Europa League): Porto–Celtic 3–2
2003–04 Champions League: Porto–Monaco 3–0
2009–10 Champions League: Inter Milan–Bayern Munich 2–0
2016–17 Europa League: Manchester United–Ajax 2–0
2021–22 Conference League: AS Roma–Feyenoord 1–0
– Mourinho is a really skilled contextual coach. Over the years, he has been able to strip opponents’ strengths with ingenious game plans and react during games. So to do what it takes to win individual games.
What has set Mourinho apart from many others is his approach to finals. According to the news, you could even say that the bigger the game, the more unrealistic the approach.
– The starting point has always been avoiding mistakes. Others say that the ball is a tool of power, i.e. first you have to win the ball and then you can dominate the game. Mourinho’s philosophy is the exact opposite of Karriko’s: whoever has the ball can make a decisive move with it.
All teams think that the result is the most important thing, but Mourinho’s teams think the most. Everyone knows that in Mourinho’s team you don’t have to worry about style points at all. In the conference league final against Feyenoord, the Roman players went to the corner flag to protect the ball with 80 minutes on the clock.
Staggered?
The winning percentage of Mourinho’s teams in Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid was over 60. In Real Madrid during the three seasons from 2010 to 2013 it was as high as 71.91.
When Mourinho returned to England and managed Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham, the winning percentage was less than 60. Tottenham only had 51.2.
Of course, Mourinho was no longer able to pilot the absolute top teams in England, even though he managed to raise ManU to the second place in the Premier League in 2017-18.
At the time, the general view was that “Mourinho has fallen off the development bandwagon”.
– It would be completely unfair to say that he has fallen off the development bandwagon, Nuutinen answers.
– Mourinho has remained at the absolute top level for 20 years, that is really rare. Even today, the results are not bad. He has won trophies almost everywhere.
Nuutinen points out that we don’t see the everyday coaching processes, but reports from the teams say that Mourinho has adopted modern methods.
– We must remember that he has been a pioneer in the coaching process and relied heavily on sports science in the early stages of his career. Certainly, Mourinho has kept up with the development, but the competition is of course tougher.
Mourinho has not stuck to certain game systems either. In AS Roma, for the first time in his career, he has more widely deployed three defensive lines.
Since Mourinho piloted ManU to second place in the league, his teams’ league rankings have been: 6, 6, 7, 5, 6. The criticism is understandable.
With the absolute top teams of recent years, such as Guardiola’s Manchester City and Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool has a really strong game identity behind it, which has been built up for years. It has made capturing profits mechanical at best.
– Of course, Mourinho has not succeeded in this in recent years, Nuutinen says.
– But you have to understand that, for example, Guardiola has a really strong ideology. Mourinho’s approach is different and there is a conundrum in his philosophy: it’s a different thing to wait for an opponent to make a crucial mistake for 90 minutes in the biggest game of the season than to do it twice a week for nine months. It can get you pregnant.
AS Roma is only third in its Europa League group before meeting HJK. It must win in Töölö if it wants to dream of a place in the top two.
If HJK surprised Roma, it could still fight for third place and the continuation of the season in the Conference League.
– Roma’s season is at a critical stage. Looking at the expected goals, it can be stated that it was unlucky in the group stage and in Serie A, but the results must improve, says Nuutinen.
As always with Mourinho’s teams, AS Roma’s play starts from defense.
– Roma has the second fewest press events in the opponent’s half of the entire Serie A and the average defensive height is lower than other big clubs, meaning that they spend a large part of their time without the ball in the block.
– Recently, however, we have also seen high pressure based on player guarding, which probably HJK should also be able to overcome, Nuutinen explains.
In that, HJK briefly succeeded as Roma’s guest on September 15, until Miro Tenhon the red card ruined the match for the Helsinki team. Roma won 3–0 Paulo Dybala’s, by Lorenzo Pellegrini and by Andrea Belotti with hits.
Dybala, the team’s biggest star, will not play in Helsinki due to an injury.
Roma often open the game along the ground, but when spaces open up, they tend to advance along the same lane quickly.
– The ball phase is certainly the biggest factor that separates Mourinho from the very top teams and coaches. In recent years, he has not been able to precisely organize the attack, but the playing is often rather individual driven, Nuutinen criticizes and believes that HJK’s defense can cause really big challenges for Roma, especially on the artificial turf.
(Wins, draws, losses, goal difference, points)
Real Betis: 3, 1, 0, 8–4, 10
Ludogorets: 2, 1, 1, 7–5, 7
AS Roma: 1, 1, 2, 6–4, 4
HJK: 0, 1, 3, 1–8, 1
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