Jose Mourinho: The Special One?

The Euro championships in 2008 came as a breath of fresh air to all the football lovers who'd gotten tired of watching the ultra-defensive tactics at play for far too long in international (mainly European) football.

The focus this time around was on Spain and the way they approached the game, the way they played free-flowing, attacking, and eye-pleasing football.

This was in stark contrast to the holders coming into the tournament, Greece, who had won the tournament four years earlier playing an ultra-defensive game which, all credit to them, they did pull off pretty well, but which nevertheless left a bitter taste in the mouth.

They won all their matches by scoring a solitary goal of one of a handful of counter-attacks, after which they comfortably parked a bus in front of goal and played out the game.

Hardly championship-winning stuff!

A very clear analogy can be drawn in club football, too. The UEFA Champions league in 2003-'04, just before the Euro tournament which saw Greece emerge champions, had a very similar tale.

Porto were crowned champions, beating the likes of Manchester United and Lyon along the way. However, their brand of football was hardly entertaining.

The focus was quite firmly on a tight backline, with the philosophy that in a game of 90 minutes, surely a couple counter-attacks would come about one of which would hopefully result in a goal.

This resulted in one of the most boring CL tournaments in recent memory, barring a couple of the quarter finals which did not involve Porto. An argument could ensue that they were the underdogs fighting against the big boys and that it would be folly to not guard against their weaknesses.

However, as Russia proved this time in the Euro championships and as Hull City are magnificently proving in the ongoing Premier League season, there is another way, and one which will ensure that your fans or anyone who pays to watch your football never goes home disappointed.

What Russia did quite magnificently was they took the attack to the opposition in spite of being underdogs in most games they played.

This had the effect of unnerving the big boys and putting them right on the backfoot, after which the "underdogs" could have a very sustained spell of pressure instead of the scanty counter-attacks they would have otherwise had.

Porto were, without a doubt one of the most undeserving Champions League winners and UEFA cup winners in recent years.

And at their helm was a certain Portuguese called Jose Mourinho.

It's very hard to understand what makes the man as arrogant as he is. While at Porto, he orchestrated a very bland style of football. Make no mistake about it, they had some of the most talented players in Europe at the time, what with Deco, Maniche, Benni McCarthy, Derlei, Carlos Alberto, and others in the squad.

However, the style of football drew a lot of criticism due to the suppression of natural talent and more emphasis on rigid formations and tactics. He can still be forgiven considering he was the manager of a small club, and trophies surely were higher on their priority list than beautiful football.

But next comes the story of Chelsea, bankrolled by one Roman Abramovich, a Russian oil baron, and one of the richest men in the world. The club now had enough money to buy half of London, so its quite safe to assume trophies weren't galaxies away.

However, even with the kind of squad he assembled at Chelsea, containing some of the who's who of international football, the beautiful game was still just a dream for the Chelsea supporters. The football was still as institutionalised as it had been with Porto.

True, they did become a tough nut to crack, and won the odd game quite convincingly on the score sheet, but even at their prime, they never looked like the Manchester United of 99 or the Arsenal of 2004.

Far from it!

And that is the reason why players like Andriy Shevchenko, who's got immense natural talent, could never find their feet in the rigid system of Chelsea. The free-flowing football was still missing in the Chelsea game and Jose just wasn't the man to deliver it.

Let's for a second even pardon this obvious blotch in his claim to be "The Special One". Let's accept that this is Jose's style of football and this has given him success in the past and he'll stick to it.

Fair enough.

Now when Chelsea won the league in his first two seasons in England, it was like a honeymoon. They were unbeatable in the Premier League, and made quite a name for themselves on the European stage, too.

But when United rose to the challenge, reached the mark set by Chelsea and pushed it further ahead, you could see signs of discomfort in the Chelsea ranks, for even with their new purchases like Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack, arguably two of the best European players at the time, the team was in a disarray.

Jose's pride was hurt, and where he should have been the man to have guided the team safely through this phase, he was more pre-occupied with himself, and was hardly a calming figure in the dressing room.

He started squabbling with the owner about purchases and his influence on the team. In a nutshell, he partially lost it!

Here I'd like to point out that a manager is not only assessed by the trophies he's won but also by how he stands by his team through bad patches, how he protects them and how he eventually pulls them out of it.

Jose was a terrible failure at this in Chelsea. When faced with a situation, he simply walked out on his team, citing issues with the owner as the reason. A load of rubbish!

At the time when his players needed him most, he abandoned them mid-season. And he's still got the nerve to call himself the "special one."

It appalls me how little respect he's got for some of the stalwarts of the job he's still a relative newbie at performing.

True, he's a exceptionally talented guy, but unless he learns how to deal with the bad times, he's never going to be remembered in the hallowed portals of great managers like Sir Alex, Bill Shankly, Jock Stein, or Sir Matt Busby.