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In his time in English football, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho was not known to be the shy and retiring type. His controversial views on all things football has brought the Portuguese much publicity and his latest comments on this season’s Premier League title race has stirred up some old rivalries. Speaking to Sky Sports News, Mourinho was quick to dismiss Liverpool’s title bid on the grounds that Liverpool “in the last few years have been getting worse and worse and worse”. Not content with sticking the boot in Liverpool’s title aspirations, Mourinho went on the offensive against Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal side, claiming that being a team of “young boys” is no longer an excuse for this Arsenal team as they have since come of age and should be winning trophies by now. Of course, Mourinho is entitled to his own opinion on Arsenal and Liverpool and he has been as forthright as ever in giving it but do his words carry some truth? Let’s take a look and find out.
Since taking over from Rafa Benitez this summer, Roy Hodgson has been given a hugely difficult task of returning Liverpool to their rightful place near the top of the league. Uncertainty over the club’s future and question marks over the commitment of some of the Liverpool players have seen the Reds get off to a indifferent start to this campaign. However, Mourinho’s remarks that Liverpool “in the last few years have been getting worse and worse and worse” are some way off the mark.
Later on in the interview, Mourinho went on to say that “the Liverpool of 2004 was better than the Liverpool of 2005, 2005 was better than 2006 and 2006 better than 2007.” The 2004 Liverpool team was the team which pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in European football history when they defeated AC Milan in the 2004-2005 Champions League final. Despite their European triumph, Liverpool’s final 5th place league position that season was not high enough to warrant an automatic qualification for next season’s Champions League. Liverpool required special dispensation from UEFA to defend their title so in the domestic sense, the season was a disappointment for Liverpool.
2005 saw Liverpool improve on their final league position, finishing 3rd in the table while also winning the FA Cup in thrilling fashion over West Ham. While these achievements pale in comparison to that famous night in Istanbul, the season did see an improvement in the league, showing that contrary to what Mourinho thinks, Liverpool were showing signs of improving.
The 2006 season continued this trend with Liverpool consolidating 3rd place in the league while reaching the Champions League final where Milan avenged their defeat two seasons before. 2007 did see a drop in performance for Liverpool as they finished 4th in the league and were eliminated in the semi-final stages in the Champions League but on the whole, Mourinho’s claims that subsequent Liverpool teams were getting worse are not supported by the facts.
Moving on to Arsenal, Mourinho aimed a swipe at Arsene Wenger’s “young boys” and how they flatter to deceive:
“Year after year it looks like success. But no, it looks like it, but no.
“And it’s always the same kind of comment: “It’s a young team” or “it will be next season”.
“I remember when we (Chelsea) played them in a Carling Cup semi-final when they played a team of young boys.”
“That team of young boys are a team of 25, 26 or 27-year-olds. So Cesc Fabregas, Theo Walcott, Gael Clichy, Alex Song and Bacary Sagna are not a team of young kids.”
“They are a team of an age to win things. But I do not think they will do it.”
Unlike his comments about Liverpool, some of Mourinho’s words about Arsenal do ring true. For instance, Arsenal have endured a 5 year barren run without a trophy and some Arsenal fans have become a bit restless. There is no doubt that Arsene Wenger is a master tactician and a champion of youth development but his failure to bring any silverware to the Emirates had led to some whispers of discontent amongst the Arsenal faithful.
Mourinho is right about Arsenal’s tendency to flatter to deceive. The most notable example of this was Arsenal’s 2007-2008 season where they led the Premier League for a long period, playing their signature brand of attacking football only for Arsene Wenger’s men to fall foul to injuries and to the mental pressures of leading the championship eventually finishing 3rd behind Manchester United and Chelsea.
Where Mourinho is wrong however is claiming that Fabregas, Walcott and company are 25, 26 and 27 years old. The reality of the matter is that Fabregas is 23, Walcott is 21, Alex Song is 22; still a few years off from Mourinho’s 25 year old estimation while Gael Clichy and Bacary Sagna at 25 and 27 respectively are far from the “young kids” that Mourinho would like you to think.
During his tenure with Chelsea, Mourinho was frequently in conflict with Arsenal and Liverpool. The ramblings of Mourinho are nothing new to supporters of Liverpool and Arsenal who were familiar with Mourinho’s attacks on their clubs and their managers in his attempt at mind games. He may be miles away but Jose Mourinho will always have something say.
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