WHY CAN’T MOURINHO CRITICISE HIS PLAYERS PUBLICLY? FERGIE DID!
JOSE MOURINHO was angry and could no longer contain his feelings. So, after a crucial match had ended, he walked into a packed press conference, chose his words carefully and publicly criticised one of his players.
‘When he scored the goal, the game finished for him,’ Mourinho said. ‘After that, I needed 11 players for my defensive organisation and I had just 10. He has to improve when the team need him to be part of defensive organisation.’
Those words were delivered by Mourinho on October 3, 2004 and they were about Joe Cole. He had just scored Chelsea’s winner against Liverpool. Cole had been given some praise but the fact he had not continued to do his job led Mourinho to be brutally honest.
Do you remember how everyone thought he was a breath of fresh air? Jose was box office then. He was new to the English game but he delivered home truths and his honesty struck a chord. He was tough but he was a winning machine. If he singled out a player in public, what was the problem?
Now fast forward to last Sunday. Mourinho was angry and could no longer contain his feelings. So, after a crucial match had ended, he walked into a packed press conference, chose his words carefully and publicly criticised one of his players.
‘ The second goal, Nordin Amrabat on the right side, our left back is 25 metres distance from him instead of five metres,’ said Mourinho. ‘Even at 25 metres, then you have to jump and go press. But, no. We wait. Some of the boys are having trouble coping with negativity.’
Luke Shaw was the player in question. Mourinho was right in his assessment of the goal that led Manchester United to lose at Watford. I’m not condoning this happening every week but there is nothing wrong if a manager publicly criticises someone now and again to get a reaction.
Yet Vicarage Road presented a problem for Mourinho, one that showed how football has become a game of double standards.
Managers aren’t allowed to say anything bad about players now, not even if their criticism is valid, in case they get upset.
I couldn’t believe someone chose to inform a newspaper on Shaw’s behalf that England’s left back was unhappy at the way Mourinho spoke about him. I was equally amazed to read a report that other players were ‘shocked’ by some of his words behind closed doors.
These players represent Manchester United, a club where you have to win. They haven’t done much winning for three years but they have become good at whining. Maybe that says more about them than ababout Mourinho? And let’s not think that he is the first United manager to employ such a tactic. Remember this? ‘We were playing really good football and all we needed to do was see out the game by keeping possession but Nani decided to try and beat a player, lost the ball and they got a penalty.’ And this? ‘I took Wayne off because Villa were a very fast, young side, full of running and their substitute was running past him.’
They are two of many examples from Sir Alex Ferguson. The first quote was after a League Cup tie that United lost 5-4 at Chelsea in the last minute; the second was delivered on the night United won the title in 2013. If he felt criticism needed to be aired in public, Ferguson did not flinch.
Wouldn’t it have been refreshing if Shaw had actually come out and said Mourinho was right? Shaw is there to stop crosses coming in from the wing and help his team keep a clean sheet. Against Watford and Manchester City, he didn’t do his job.
His reaction, however, means Mourinho has to contend with accusations that he will lose the dressing room. It’s absolutely pathetic. He was tough in 2006, when he took off Shaun Wright-Phillips and Joe Cole after 26 minutes of a game against Fulham. Now he is portrayed as a tyrant.
What did Mourinho do that was so different to Ronald Koeman? He replaced Ross Barkley at Sunderland after a poor 45 minutes and then criticised his performance. He took off James McCarthy at West Brom after 38 minutes when the system wasn’t working.
Koeman, though, gets plaudits for showing he won’t be messed with. Everton supporters sing his praises because, they say, Roberto Martinez would never have done it. The reality is Koeman has had a few good results. Had he lost those matches, the reaction would not be the same.
You think that is an overreaction? Look at Swansea’s Francesco Guidolin. He replaced Neil Taylor before half-time against Chelsea, then took off Ki Sung-yueng at Southampton last week. Both players showed dissent, stomping off without acknowledging him, but that meant Guidolin has lost the dressing room.
I said after England had been knocked out of Euro 2016 that we were raising babies, not footballers and the events of the past week have only served to strengthen my opinion. Why are so many players unable to handle criticism?
GERARD Houllier used to have a tactic when he was Liverpool boss. He would occasionally single out one person and tear a strip off him. If he picked a member of the defence, we knew he was speaking to all four of us. It was a message to everyone.
Yet when I spoke to Mourinho at Soccer Aid earlier this summer, he said you cannot criticise individuals in a meeting any more. You can’t ignore what happened at Chelsea last year, when there was a massive disconnect between him and the squad, but I’m pretty sure a manager of his calibre won’t allow that situation to happen again.
Was Mourinho’s criticism of Shaw really that bad? No. All this proves is that we have reached a point where a manager can’t say anything at all in public.
People ask all the time if I want to become a manager. I will never say never but it makes me wonder how I would cope with situations such as this or the ridiculous pantomime that Yaya Toure’s Manchester City career has become.
Whatever happened to players taking responsibility? What happened to recognising that, every now and again, you don’t play well and you make mistakes? What happened to having respect for the manager and his decisions? It drives me mad.