Jose Mourinho Reportedly Set to 'Taunt' FA by Copying Arsene Wenger

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is reportedly set to bait the FA by referring to referees as "weak and naive" if they upset him, having seen Arsene Wenger avoid punishment for similar criticism of match officials earlier this season.

Mourinho is currently appealing the £50,000 fine and one-match suspension the FA handed him for accusing officials of being afraid to give his Blues side penalties.

However, he will reportedly continue to "taunt" the FA by deliberately reproducing the "weak and naive" phrase when he is aggrieved by a refereeing decision, per John Cross in the Mirror and Sami Mokbel in the Daily Mail.

Alastair Grant/Associated Press

The Portuguese manager used the phrase in his criticism of Tuesday's referee for failing to award a "big penalty" in the Blues' Champions League draw with Dynamo Kiev, per Dominic Fifield in the Guardian.

Mourinho is undoubtedly echoing Wenger, who accused Mike Dean of naivety after his Arsenal side lost 2-0 to Chelsea back in September, but avoided any punishment from the FA, per talkSPORT.

Even in praising referee Roger East after Chelsea's 2-0 victory against Aston Villa on Saturday, Mourinho remarked that he was "not weak and naive," per Sky Sports' Tom McKeown.

The FA will have to tread a fine line if Mourinho does indeed continue to produce his mantra, for it stands to be accused of double standards if the Blues boss is punished when Wenger wasn't.

Former referee Graham Poll in the Daily Mail, though, believes Mourinho will fail with his campaign and branded him "pathetic and childish."

There are surely other matters that Mourinho should be focusing on rather than taunting the FA and Wenger, not least the defending Premier League champions' disastrous start to the season.

They currently lie 12th in the English top flight after an unprecedentedly poor run in the opening matches of the season, per Bleacher Report's Sam Tighe:

But Mourinho has never been a man to shirk controversy—in fact he often courts it to promote an "us against them" mentality within his squad—and a spat with the FA may be just what he needs to galvanise him and his team back into winning ways.