Mourinho parks the bus in Madrid, and is mocked for it…
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Following Chelsea’s 0-0 draw with Atletico Madrid in the Champions League semi-final first leg on Tuesday evening, ex players, national nespapers and football journalists took to twitter to highlight the hypocrisy behind Jose Mourinho’s tactics…
Back in 2004, Mourinho coined the phrase ‘parking the bus’, to criticise a Tottenham side who set up defensively against his Chelsea outfit:
Mourinho on Tottenham… pic.twitter.com/kOVffTjB4J
— Paddy Power (@paddypower) April 23, 2014
Against Atletico though, Mourinho played for a 0-0 result. He deployed three holding midfielders in Jon Obi Mikel, David Luiz and Frank Lampard, refused to let his fullbacks surge past the halfway line, and even used natural central midfielder Ramires as a defensive right-winger. While the result gives Chelsea every chance of qualifying for the Champions League final ahead of the second leg at Stamford Bridge next week, the Portuguese coach himself came under severe criticism for his extremely negative approach.
Spanish journalist just informed Mourinho that “the son of West Ham’s owner has described it as 19th century football”. Mourinho unimpressed — Daniel Taylor (@DTguardian) April 22, 2014
Am a big fan of Mourinho.But please, don’t call him a Mastermind when he puts up a wall and doing nothing in the in the offensive department — Jan Aage Fjortoft (@JanAageFjortoft) April 23, 2014
Play with no risk with a defensive wall: Big Sam: Have a go at him ruining the game Mourinho: Mastermind
— Jan Aage Fjortoft (@JanAageFjortoft) April 23, 2014
Terry and Cahill were very solid, but it doesn’t half help when your fullbacks don’t attack and you’ve got a plethora of holding midfielders
— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) April 22, 2014
LEAKED: Jose Mourinho’s top secret tactics board from last night’s match… pic.twitter.com/uaw3iewNvo — The Sun (@TheSunNewspaper) April 23, 2014
Hypocritical from Jose Mourinho. pic.twitter.com/DJUnl11j3j — Football Quotes (@FootballQuote_) April 23, 2014
Imagine what Jose Mourinho was like when he actually was a toddler.
— Jim Boardman (@JimBoardman) April 22, 2014
However, as Michael Owen sums up below, the Blues were more than entitled to play in such a matter. Jose Mourinho’s previous Champions League successes have been based on an impenetrable defence – and Chelsea’s only other European Cup victory under Roberto Di Matteo involved a number of heroic defensive performances rather than attacking flair…
Chelsea fully entitled to play that way. They play to their strengths and protect their weaknesses. Up to opponents to break them down.
— michael owen (@themichaelowen) April 22, 2014
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