Ibrahimovic: Mourinho was right – we should be more ruthless
Chelsea coach has worked miracles with side that wilted under Mourinho, writes Julian Bennetts
Zlatan Ibrahimovic believes Jose Mourinho was right to admonish his attacking players for a lack of ruthlessness in front of goal, but Manchester United’s mercurial Swedish striker also conceded that he was feeling the fatigue of a long season.
The 35-year-old has played in 44 games for United this season and is the team’s top goalscorer with 28 but was one of a number who failed to take chances against Anderlecht in the Europa League quarter-final first leg in Brussels on Thursday.
Ibrahimovic will be a key figure at Old Trafford this afternoon when United try to inflict on Chelsea only their fifth defeat of the season, with Antonio Conte’s team requiring five more victories to seal the title.
After the draw with Anderlecht, in which the home side equalised in the 87th minute, Mourinho said that United’s defensive players had a right to be “upset” with their attacking counterparts. “They have to kill the game and they didn’t,” he said.
Ibrahimovic was asked afterwards whether Mourinho was right to call out his attacking players publicly. “Absolutely,” Ibrahimovic said. “Today I wasn’t feeling good in the sense of I was feeling tired. But it is not an excuse because I still have to do much more and much better than I did today. I speak for myself and [Anderlecht] was not a good performance.
“We have one month to go, it’s many games we play. I have been playing almost all the games. But we are still grinding, still pushing, because we have this Europa League and the end of the Premier League. We fight for it.”
Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba are United’s two highest appearance makers this season with 40 and 42 starts respectively. United have three more outfield players with more than 30 starts, Ander Herrera, Antonio Valencia and Marcos Rojo. Chelsea have six outfield players with 30 or more starts but none more than César Azpilicueta and Gary Cahill, who are both on 36.
Ibrahimovic raised the issue of Chelsea’s non-participation in Europe. They have played 38 games this season compared with United’s 52, including the Community Shield. He said: “I think they are overall a good team – and then of course they are playing once a week, which makes a difference, also because at the end of the season, I don’t know how many games we have in total but I think we have much more than them.
“They haven’t been playing in Europe this season and they went out from the League Cup early. But they have a great team, or else they would not be No1. “
He said United’s unbeaten league run stretching back to the defeat by Chelsea on Oct 23 “is nothing we focus on. I would prefer to be first in the league and not having this record. It doesn’t give us anything, this record.”
Shortlisted for the PFA Player of the Year award, Ibrahimovic said that it was not a major factor in his thinking. He did, however, say that Chelsea’s N’Golo Kanté would be a worthy winner. “It depends how you look at it,” he said. “For me, if the collective is good, the individual becomes good. So I think whoever wins it deserves to win it. It is nothing I focus on, it is not my objective. I have other objectives.”
Antonio Conte will arrive at Old Trafford today with a Chelsea team that Jose Mourinho assembled but that he has transformed.
The resurgence of key individuals this season demonstrates why Chelsea’s head coach is known in his native Italy as “un martello” – a hammer. He never gives his players a moment’s respite on the training pitch.
His aim? To improve players rather than simply buying them.
As Chelsea close in on his first Premier League title, the fruits of Conte’s labour are clear. Victor Moses is no longer permanently out on loan but instead a superb wing-back. Thibaut Courtois is again a dominant presence in goal. And Eden Hazard has recaptured his stunning form of two seasons ago.
But of all the minor miracles Conte has worked during his first season in England, his greatest of all is the transformation of David Luiz, now in his second spell at Stamford Bridge.
He was aware there were doubters when he sanctioned the Brazilian’s return from Paris St-Germain in a £34million deal last August. He knew Mourinho had effectively given up on Luiz, offloading him for £50million in 2014. He admits to hearing “a lot of bad things” about the 29-year-old after his shock return.
Conte cared not a jot. And, as with everything else this season, he was right.
Eight months later, Conte stands on the verge of a first Premier League title – and Luiz, at the heart of his threeman defence, has been integral to that success. From someone Gary Neville dubbed a “PlayStation footballer” to one of the finest and most disciplined defenders in England, Luiz epitomises the Conte approach.
“I heard a lot of bad things about him [Luiz] when he arrived, and why he was coming back to Chelsea because, in the past, he had performed bad and was ‘not a defender’,” smiles Conte. “This was a great challenge for him, but also for me. I think when you have great ability for your players, and you can work to try and improve some situations, it’s great. His role is a crucial role for us, and I think he has performed very well. But I want him to perform very well for the rest of the season.
“Where did I hear those bad things? I read in the newspapers a lot of bad considerations, saying we had spent a lot of money on him and, in the past, he hadn’t been very good as a defender. For this reason, he had played as a midfielder. I heard a lot of these things. But when we decided to buy him, to take him back, we were sure. We were sure we were taking a really good player and put him again as one of the best defenders in Europe and, I hope, in the world.”
If Conte was aware of newspaper criticisms of Luiz, then the player would have been, too. At Juventus, Conte highlighted negative comments in articles and pinned them to the dressing room wall, challenging his players to prove the critics wrong.
In days gone by, the 47-year-old would not have struggled to find such ‘inspiration’ for either Luiz or Hazard. The defining image of Mourinho’s final months at Chelsea was the Belgian stalking past him and straight down the tunnel at Leicester’s King Power Stadium in December 2015. Hazard was injured, but Mourinho could barely look at the player and would go on to say his work had been “betrayed” by some members of his team in what was his last act at the club.
Hazard, too, cuts a very different figure under Conte. The swagger is back and so is the end product, with Hazard averaging a goal every 173 minutes this season, compared to 547 during the 2015-16 campaign.
Conte spent much of the pre-season talking to Hazard, rebuilding his confidence and making the decision to play him in a slightly more central role. Now, though, the Italian is more likely to seek him out for private chats after victories rather than defeats: for Conte, the biggest danger is complacency.
There has been no sign of that so far this season and the Belgian’s form has been such that the PFA Player of the Year award is seen as a straight fight between him and team-mate N’Golo Kanté.
“It’s crucial at the start of the season, but also during the season when you understand there is less hunger, less concentration,” says Conte of his pep-talks with Hazard.
“I don’t like to speak about last season because last season was bad for all the players, not only for Eden or other players. When you have this type of season, all the people who worked in the club have their responsibilities for the bad season. Not only the players and the coaches, but all the staff.
“Now they are performing very well. You are seeing N’Golo performing, Hazard performing. I’m very pleased for this because my task, and also the task of my staff, is to put every single player in the best situation: physical, tactical, technical, so they can give the best of himself. We are doing a great job with the players.
“With or without the ball. Eden is working very well for the team. When we are in ball possession or not. Eden is becoming a complete player, which is great for him.”
Great for him, great for Conte, and great for Chelsea. Having rebuilt the men Mourinho discarded, Conte is ready to use them today to take another huge step towards the title.