most online journalism (generic sites & newspaper adaptations online) are complete ratsh|t which has given rise to lots of quality thought provoking stuff in blogs.
zonalmarking.net is a must for anyone who loves the tactical side of the game.
guardian chalkboards and analysis is very good for a newspaper online.
level3football (although with it's liverpool bias) has some excellent pieces. This one on Mourinho's handling of primma donna's is - long, but - superb.
source - http://www.level3football.com/royhendo/ ... undhog_dayDon’t Worry Karim - it’s Groundhog Day for Jose
Last night’s Revista De La Liga featured a few moments of heated debate between Guillem Balague and Graham Hunter on the subject of Karim Benzema, and his prospects of flourishing under Mourinho at Real Madrid. “They’ll sell him - only a fool would deny it” said Guillem - “He’s finished”. “No they won’t, don’t be so bloody stupid!” retorted Graeme Hunter in evident rage. Well, not really. It was playful flirtation rather than open hostility, but you get the drift.
Back to reality - the Revista editor cuts to the weekend’s footage of Benzema squandering a chance on the break after choosing to take it on himself rather than shoot earlier or bring others into play. Then, continuing the TV coverage, Mourinho, in his hot-headed latino way, throws something angrily around the dugout and openly questions Benzema’s parentage while looking for all the world like a toddler stropping through the paddling pool. All the time sat on the bench - it was quite the spectacle.
This came hot on the heels of Karim Benzema notching a Champions League hattrick against Auxerre only a few days before. Indeed, three weeks ago SKY themselves ran the headline “Jose hails Benzema attitude”. Mourinho was quoted as follows.
“Karim has to understand that he’s not playing by himself, that he has to be more of a team player and work really hard, especially in training… He’s doing just that and I’m pleased to see how his attitude has changed… He’s starting to get the level of involvement that he deserves… I expect a lot from him, I want him to be as good as or better than the player I first saw at Lyon. I know how gifted he is and that’s why I push him.”
Benzema, it seems, is the current bee in Mourinho’s bonnet. Something about this kid winds him up - he makes Jose’s blood boil! I mean - he’s throwing projectiles around his dugout with reckless abandon. He’s losing control!
But of course he’s not. How do we know? Well, because we’ve seen it all before. In fact, we’ve seen it enough times now that we should expect it wherever Jose Mourinho goes. It’s one of Jose’s tricks, and it’s all designed to send a clear message to his squad. And it works - every single time. Jose Mourinho is a very clever man when it comes to sending messages to his squad.
The ‘trick’
On one level, it’s pretty simple - it’s the ‘tough love’ approach with a young player in whom Mourinho sees massive upside potential. The player has all the basic tools in abundance. In fact, in terms of talent, he’s one of the bright young hopes for his nation, and he carries the kind of expectation and pressure that goes with that. He has done for years. So it’s natural that he’s developed a degree of resilience to it, and is open to the stuff that’s actually constructive. It’s only natural - he’s a player with genuine ambition to be one of the best in the world.
So Mourinho, reading the kid’s demeanour, and seeing him in training, can see the benefit in developing his tactical and mental strength. He and his coterie of confidantes have a clear idea of what constitutes ‘fitness’ to be a central figure in a Mourinho team. What better way of underlining those qualities and attributes to his entire squad - to the club and the footballing world as a whole? Why not give them a living case study to bear in mind in their daily work?
Coles and Robbens
This is something Mourinho’s done in the early months at pretty much every club he’s managed. The clearest parallel, of course, is with his treatment of Joe Cole during the 2004-05 season, Mourinho’s first at Chelsea. Cole would no doubt empathise with Benzema right now when he looks at his individual situation. But given the talents both boast, Cole is a good template for Benzema to follow. When you’re open to feedback and what can be, at times, direct and borderline brutal public criticism, and you shoulder it and muster the determination to prove yourself the player you can be, it can reap dividends for your career as an individual. What’s less immediately obvious is how it affects the other players at the club.
Mourinho enjoys giving the impression that certain of these more mercurial players infuriate him, but it’s interesting to note that he doesn’t go down that route with all of them. With some, he’s more circumspect. Take Robben, for example. As you read on, it’s clear he could have been challenged in a similar way based on his attitude and relation to his team mates, but he wasn’t. I think that says a lot about Mourinho, and his reasons for doing what he does in these cases. He’s not only doing it for the benefit of the player himself. He’s teaching the group. In fact, in his eyes, he’s borderline ‘parenting’ the group.
Two birds with one stone
Managers are wiley old foxes at times. They’re not like the rest of us. They can’t wait for things to go wrong - they want things to teeter on the brink from time to time. Why? It gives them the chance to lay down the law and show their squad who the Daddy is. In Mourinho’s case, as I say above, he takes this metaphor pretty literally.
While Mourinho does a good job with this stuff, my favourite example involves Jock Stein. Billy McNeil famously tells the story of how Stein would intentionally pick fights with players in his squad who were mentally strong - players like McNeill. Stein knew these players could take it mentally, and occasionally there may have been a direct point to the pestering. But from a broader perspective, Stein’s real goal was to get messages across to the more sensitive players in his squad. These players could hear the arguments loud and clear, and they’d get the ongoing point without having to cope with the big man’s verbal volley.
On one occasion, after a routine home win, Stein was in the dressing room tearing strips off McNeill again, when McNeill, feeling the attack was unfair, says “stuff this” and heads off to the bath. Next thing you know Stein’s in the bath beside him with his suit and socks and shoes still on. Stein’s still going mental but suddenly he stops, smiles, and says “I’ve went too far this time, eh?”
Laying down “The Law”
For some managers, you have to think this is as simple as beating their chest. When your common garden football manager ‘lays down the law’, he’s throwing tea cups at walls and trying to put the fear of God into his team to show them that he’s the alpha male in the group - he’s the 400lb Silverback Gorrilla.
In Mourinho’s case, however, ‘The Law’ is a far more complex and subtle concept for his players to get their heads around. And Mourinho is at pains to make them understand and embody it. At its most general level, it underpins his entire philosophy; at its most detailed, it defines the emotional, psychological, technical and physical attributes that make a player ‘fit’ to play for his teams. So it’s a message worth making to his players in an ongoing, memorable and dramatic way. He wants them to understand his philosophy and ‘live’ it as fully as they can, after all.
Mourinho formally seeks out the backing of his Chairman or President at every club he works at on this front. He starts by presenting a PowerPoint slide show outlining the general tenets of his philosophy. The following passage is quoted from Mourinho’s biography.
“The concept of club is more important than any player… It is a belief that must be taken on by everyone in the club, especially in the junior ranks.
“...be aware what is important in terms of game philosophy, when we think speak and practice football, is that the game’s principles are much more important than what each player thinks in relation to that very same game. The way the team organises a match is the most important factor of all.”
At every club he’s managed, there are clear examples of Mourinho underlining this message to prominent young players in as clear and as public a way as possible.
Porto - Helder Postiga
During Mourinho’s time at Porto, he had an ongoing love/hate relationship with Postiga. Again, in his biography, commenting on Postiga being sent off at a difficult stage of a game when they were 1-0 down, commented as follows.
“I was furious and I told him that he wouldn’t play for me again. I said that I didn’t want players like that on my team, and that he was straight on his way to the B team…
“...It was our first ‘war’, and many others were to follow. Helder has a great deal of potential, and if he chooses to listen to others, he can go very far in world football. In the meantime, he still has a lot to learn, and I won’t give up teaching him.”
This all played out very publically in the Portuguese national media, of course. Meanwhile his squad arguably developed as strong an embodiment of his philosophy as it’s possible to develop.
Chelsea - Joe Cole
This one played out in front of those of us in the UK, of course. The media were full of it - all part of their infatuation with all things Mourinho during his time in England. The national media’s bright young hope, Joe Cole - well, here’s this guy telling him he’s somehow inadequate, and that he has to knuckle down and learn and change. He needs to put others before himself. And on and on it went.
Some quotes from the saga.
A routine dressing down after scoring a matchwinning goal against Liverpool.
Always eventful, Mourinho’s debriefings are fast becoming the hottest ticket in Fleet Street. He was quickly into his theme. “Joe Cole gave us some dynamism and scored a goal,” the Portuguese began innocently, before adding: “But after that I needed 11 players defending but I only had 10.
“Joe Cole still has a lot to learn. He has to improve if he is going to do it for club and country. He didn’t do enough after the goal. I can make him better. He wants to become better. He has two faces: one is beautiful when he attacks with the ball. I want to keep that face. The other face is not so good, defensively, and I don’t like it so much.”
...“Everyone [but Cole] was fully committed in attack and defence,” Mourinho added. “Duff was fantastic. Paulo Ferreira was like a winger for 90 minutes and also put in good challenges.”
Cole accepted the Special One’s disapproval. “The manager has no axe to grind with me,” he said. “He just wants to make me a better player. I’ll sit down and talk to him and listen to what he says. He’s a fantastic manager.”
A warning after Birmingham - a game where Cole showboated and squandered a clear-cut chance.
“I’ve told him [Cole], one more match like that and he’s out,” he said. “He has to play for the team and not for the public and himself.”
Some praise - qualified praise, but still - praise.
“I think Cole is playing magnificently in every game and he is perhaps our best attacking player at this time,” said Mourinho ahead of today’s match away to Manchester City.
“When I came here nobody knew Joe Cole’s best position – not even him! We only knew that he was a creative player.
“He was not a winger, not a midfield player and not strong enough to defend in midfield.
“He was not good enough on passing and he was very selfish. I knew the talent was there but nobody knew how to get it out of him. At the moment I think he has to play from the right or from the left.”
Praise for the prodigal son falling into line.
“I keep saying to him ‘you do not have to show your talent because everyone knows that’,” Mourinho said. “I need you to show me that you can think through the tactical points of view.”
...The 23-year-old had surprisingly regained a starting place earlier in the week, in the Premiership against Middlesbrough - his first League start for three months. “He was fantastic,” said Mourinho. The manager said he had then sat down with the player for two days at Chelsea’s training ground and went through the statistics for the game. “At the moment he can think his way through the game not as an individual but as one of the 11 players,” Mourinho said.
“For me he is a completely different player.” He also praised Cole’s attitude - even if he has clearly been hurt by the public criticisms. “He is a good boy,” Mourinho said. “Instead of being sad and speaking to you [the media] when he is sad he wants to improve.”
...Cole himself admits that he has been through a tough few months. “The season has really opened my eyes to learning,” he says of the harsh lessons from Mourinho.
Cole on the Mourinho treatment generally
“It’s the best I’ve ever played, certainly professionally,” he said.
...“I don’t know about being untouchable,” he said. “Things can change dramatically. I just want to keep my feet on the floor and be part of the team. I’ve always been one to take criticism and praise in the same way, trying to stay level-headed. I just to want to keep playing because when you’re in form things fall for you like they did, balls dropping for you in the six-yard box. I won’t get overexcited by any praise, likewise by any criticism.”
It’s clear the progress made with Cole rubbed off on the team as a whole. The messages from Mourinho were clear. Play with the team in mind, and think tactically before you think for yourself. It all relates to Mourinho and Faria’s concept of ‘fitness’ - more on that below.
Inter - Mario Balotelli
It’s not clear whether Balotelli was quite such a successful case study, but the same pattern emerges, and the same messages percolate out of the simmering tension - messages for Mourinho’s squad.
Scathing criticism for Balotelli.
“Balotelli? His performance tonight was close to a zero. He had little movement and did little work for the team. He could have done a whole lot more.”
Some praise for Balotelli.
“I really like the way Mario is playing at the moment, the way he works in training and on the field…
...I like the fact Mario respects nobody, it shows he has character.”
Balotelli apologises for his conduct.
“I am sorry for the situation that has been created in recent times. I am the first to suffer because I love football and I want to play. I will wait in silence now so I can return to be useful to my team. I no longer want to think about the past, but look to the future and focus on our next objectives so I can be ready. Mario Balotelli.”
Jose says Balotelli has to think of his team first.
The Portuguese manager commented on the cause of the touchline row. “He’s got to defend first, then focus on his problems.”
A furious Balotelli was substituted moments after the row and the youngster went straight into the tunnel, throwing his gloves on the ground and avoiding the Inter bench entirely.
“In my tactics the players must always defend first and foremost, even if they have a problem,” explained Mourinho on RAI television.
“I don’t care if they picked up an injury or lost their contact lenses. He’s got to defend first, then focus on his problems.”
Mourinho hits out at Balotelli
Jose Mourinho has criticised striker Mario Balotelli for his actions at the end of the 3-1 win over Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.
The youngster was brought off the bench by Mourinho with 15 minutes remaining during the 3-1 success and the San Siro faithful offered a less than supportive welcome as he made his way on to the pitch.
He also reacted angrily at the final whistle, throwing his shirt down as the rest of the Inter players began to celebrate.
The Portuguese said: “I am sorry that the fans were like that with Balotelli. I always want my fans to be with my players right to the end.
“But, in the end, I can understand them because they saw the same thing as me. They saw a team which was dead, exhausted after all their efforts.
“Nearly all of you for the last two years have been saying that what he does is normal and then there is just this idiot of a coach who says it is not normal.
“The coach takes all the flak - I can’t motivate him, I can’t educate him, this or that, next year it’s best if Mourinho goes and not Balotelli.
“And then, in the second most important match in the world at club football level, all of my team leave the field dead and one player could have done a little bit more to help the team who was in danger.
“The fans wanted more, his team-mates wanted more and he did not give it.”
Real Madrid - Karim Benzema
So the pattern’s pretty clear. Pick the kid with room to grow and use him as your educational stalking horse. In the process, who knows? It might turn out like Cole - the kid might learn whatever he’s lacking and become a genuine weapon for you - one who truly boosts the output of your side - who makes its mechanism more efficient.
Praise rains down in cats and dogs - Mourinho on ‘making do’ with Benzema after the loss of Higuain.
“Sometimes you need to go hunting and you don’t have your dog, but you do have a cat,” Mr. Mourinho said, turning zoological about Mr. Benzema’s role. “So you take your cat hunting. It’s better than hunting alone.”
Hot on the heels of a hattrick versus Auxerre in the CL
“I still haven’t decided if Benzema will start in Zaragoza. It is a serious problem. Because if I put him in the side at the start and things don’t go well, then I don’t have any alternatives on the bench. I know the best thing for Karim is to have continuity in the side, but it don’t know if it is best for the team,” said Mourinho.
Benzema says it’ll help him.
He said: “Mourinho is a coach very different to the ones I have worked with before in my young career.
“It is now three months that I have been working with him and I am progressing. He is helping me improve and reach my best level.
“I am happy here, it is up to me to make him choose me.”
It’s Groundhog Day. But Benzema seems well equipped to cope with the feedback he’s getting, and you would be surprised if he rode it out to become almost indispensible for Real Madrid. The point isn’t necessarily Mourinho complaining about dogs versus cats. It’s as much about educating his squad about his philosophy.
Who’s the Daddy?
In doing this, Mourinho regularly comments along the lines of “I won’t give up on him”, or “One day he’ll look back on this and he’ll thank me”. This is, of course, all part of a greater theme in his work. When he was banned from his club’s UEFA Cup 2nd leg in 2003, for example, he cried when he was parted from them as they made their way down to the dressing room. He even exchanged tender texts with Costinha, who was watching from his hospital bed in Portugal. This is a man who sees himself as a father figure to his group when he manages a club. Whether that’s spontaneous or whether it’s something he consciously engenders isn’t clear. That’s something I’m interesting in exploring further. It’s all part of what makes him tick.
Control of rapport
What’s clear is that, as any good leader will do, Mourinho is happy to control rapport to the full when dealing with a player. He’ll reel the player in with praise, and then send them out into exile with damning remarks and gestures. It’s all reminiscent of a horse whispering ‘join up’. Establish the elastic control of rapport with a player, and then pace and lead, pace and lead, and pretty soon you’ll have the player’s reins tightly in your hands. When you achieve that, you stand a good chance of using that stalking horse (if you’ll pardon the Shire Horse of an analogy) to drive your philosophical and methodological plough on your behalf.
The philosophy - ‘fitness to play’
For me, in each of the excerpts listed above with each of the players involved, Mourinho makes clear references to the behaviours and attributes he expects from his players if they’re to make themselves central to his and his staff’s plans.
It’s clearly stated from his days at Porto - again from his biography.
“All in all, this is our concept - Rui Faria’s and mine - that the ‘physical side’ alone doesn’t exist. For us, to say that this or that player is in great physical shape is a mistake. The player is either fit or not. And what do we mean by fit? It is to be physically well and to be part of a game plan, which a player knows inside out. With regard to the psychological side, which is essential to play at the highest level, a fit player feels confident, cooperates with and believes in his team-mates, and shows solidarity towards them. All of this put together means a player is fit and it is reflected in playing well.”
If a player like Postiga or Cole or Benzema, whose natural tendency is to use their talent without restraint or consideration for his team mates or their collective game plan, can truly begin to embody these ideas and become truly ‘fit’ to play, then it sends a clear message to the entire squad.
He did it - it’s high time you did the same.
