Mourinho brings special touch
On Sunday, Chelsea defeated Manchester United 1- 0 in the English Premier League. The London club is just two victories from being champions of English football with six games left in the season. The match was a master class in strategy, designed by “the special one,” Chelsea coach
Jose Mourinho.
United dominated possession for 70 percent of the game. But the longer the game progressed, you knew United would never score. Mourinho’s match plan was somewhat built on the principles of catenaccio, a system of defense and counterattack perfected in Italy in the 1960s. It was amazing to watch.
Chelsea’s foundation is laid at the back. The center back partnership of John Terry and Gary Cahill snuffs out attacks like blowing out a candle. They cover each other instinctively. Branislav Ivanovic and Cesar Azpilicueta guard the corners and switch up by firing counterattacks down the wing. Chelsea’s midfield of Cesc Fabregas,
Oscar and Eden Hazard forms a trio of trouble for opponents. The team’s goals are born here.
Surely, Hazard is the Premier League Player of the Year. His strike was the difference Sunday. Mourinho should collect the award for top manager if Chelsea stays on course to win its fourth title in 10 years.
In the foreword to the book “Jose Mourinho: Special Leadership,” Jorge Vasconcellos, a professor of business administration, uses the teachings of Austrian American management guru Peter
Drucker to explain Mourinho’s dominance among football managers.
Drucker instructed students to concentrate on strengths while forgetting about weaknesses. Excel at one thing, forget the rest, know thyself.
The young Mourinho discovered his “one thing” — analyzing soccer in his home country of Portugal. At age 15, he was being paid to observe teams and make reports. By college, his knowledge of soccer’s mechanics was extensive. He was never going to make it as a top professional player. Released from his shortcomings as an athlete, he set out to work his way up Europe’s coaching apparatus.
In 2004, he won the UEFA Champions League with Portuguese club FC Porto. Bigger teams came calling, and he arrived at Chelsea under the tutelage of Russian oligarch
Roman Abramovich and his checkbook. With great resources, Mourinho built a winning team. His management approach set him apart from his peers as he won the league each of his first two years. He left in 2008 to coach Inter Milan, where he won another Champions League title. Real Madrid was his next stop, winning the Spanish crown, before returning to Chelsea in 2013.
Drucker points out that professionals produce results by themselves. Leaders produce results through others. And when they combine in soccer, it’s a force to be reckoned with. Mourinho’s model designs an open communication with players, motivating them to concentrate on their strengths and not worry about other things. He discovers what is on players’ minds, building an intimate knowledge of their needs.
He brands into his team motivational precision. Chel- sea’s legendary striker, Didier
Drogba, says, “He makes us not only feel we can win, but makes us absolutely convinced of that. He changed us in such a way that no one can imagine. Before we were normal players, now we are warriors. ... He infected us with the virus of victory.”
Mourinho has many haters. Detractors lambaste his tactics, which effectively neuter beautiful, attacking play. But not everyone buys into soccer as a lovely picture. Observing the qualities of strategic defense and counterattack has its own allure, the application of control as a means to an end. It requires analysis and foresight, and Mourinho is the master of the form. As Drogba says, “To be one step ahead is paramount to Mourinho.”