Mourinho resolves to make his point with silverware

[anarchy (beautiful jealousy)]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,277-1381449,00.html

November 30, 2004

Mourinho resolves to make his point with silverware


By Tom Dart


Chelsea have to deliver, manager who rejected Newcastle and Liverpool says
“WE ARE now in a time of rotation,” Jose Mourinho said yesterday. He was
talking about his selection policy, but the Chelsea manager could as easily
have been referring to the power shift at the top of the table, with
everything swivelling in the West London club’s favour: Arsenal sinking,
Chelsea ascendant. Tonight at Craven Cottage, in the quarter-finals of the
Carling Cup, Chelsea have a chance to showcase the strength in depth and
relentless consistency that make them increasingly likely to win the title.

When Manchester United take part in this competition their team list reads
like a repository of might-bes and probably-never-will-bes. Arsenal rely on
creative but callow youth. Only Chelsea’s second string is truly
first-class: Scott Parker (England international), Wayne Bridge (the
second-best English left back in the country), Alexei Smertin (the captain
of Russia), Mateja Kezman (prolific for PSV Eindhoven) and Carlo Cudicini
(last season’s first-choice goalkeeper and still one of the best).

The financial generosity of Roman Abramovich, the owner, is Mourinho’s
good fortune, but the Portuguese has shown he can revel in the trappings of
wealth while avoiding its traps. A little more than two weeks ago, Chelsea
went to Craven Cottage and won 4-1. In the Barclays Premiership they are
organised, spirited and hungry; the attitude and aptitude of his reserves
tonight will show just how deep an imprint Mourinho has made on his squad. 

Mourinho’s official biography, serialised in The Times, reveals that his
skills attracted the attention of English clubs even before FC Porto’s
European Cup victory. He was wooed by Liverpool in the spring but demurred.
Four years ago Sir Bobby Robson asked him to join the staff at Newcastle
United with a pledge that within two years he would be head coach. Mourinho
declined: Robson should have known him better, he suggests. A man who, when
in charge of Uniao Leiria, had enough chutzpah to order the club’s hierarchy
to leave a training session because they were a distraction, would hardly
want to work as a subordinate.

By describing himself as a tinkerer, Claudio Ranieri, his predecessor,
conjured the image of an amateur mechanic fiddling blithely under the bonnet.
Mourinho’s biography demonstrates that he operates with the precision of a
surgeon. Before the European Cup final he gave his Porto players individually
tailored DVDs of their opponents.

“You can have the top stars . . . you can have the best stadium, you can
have the best facilities, the most beautiful project in terms of marketing . . .
but if you don’t win, all the work these people are doing is forgotten.
You have to win and especially, as I have, you have to win a trophy for the
first time,” Mourinho said yesterday. He has to win because Abramovich’s
investment insists on it; he has to win because his own ego demands it.

So far, so excellent: through to the next phase of the European Cup at a
canter, five points clear of Arsenal in the league, only six goals conceded.
Critics carped earlier in the season that Chelsea were not attack-minded
enough. After scoring four goals in each of their past three away Premiership
games, only Arsenal have a better goalscoring record. As Arsene Wenger’s
team struggle to comprehend the fitful nature of their genius, Chelsea marry
exuberance with efficiency.

Arsenal have not won the League Cup since 1993; Manchester United’s only
triumph in the competition came a year earlier. It would underline the
opulence of Chelsea’s resources if they were to succeed in the Carling Cup
while maintaining a push for Premiership, European Cup and FA Cup glory.

Arsenal and United face off against each other tomorrow in a malign embrace
that, if it follows the pattern of previous encounters, will be sizzling,
scabrous and mutually destructive, even though their stars are certain not
to take the stage. If Chelsea beat Fulham tonight, the man with vaulting
ambition etched into his being can enjoy the show from Old Trafford and
continue to design his team’s giant leap forward.





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                                                        Love will tear us apart

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