Can Arsenal Learn Anything From Mourinho???

There are no two words that can sum up everything that football means to any person,at any given time,like the words "Jose Mourinho" can. This is a man,who has been successful at every club he's managed,worshipped as a god by those fans supporting the clubs he manages,and is loved by virtually every journalist that's ever interviewed him. And yet........

And yet,he's still regarded by most football followers as an arrogant arse who plays "anti-football" and that they'd never like to see him manage their club in a million years. I can't think of anyone else in world football who can polarise opinion on a subject like Mourinho can. And to me,it's all down to one simple reason.....He wins. No matter where he goes,he wins. And we as football fans have always hated winners,unless of course they play or manage for our team,then we love them. Inter have just won their first European Cup in 45 years,and the first Treble in Italian history. Yet most people have argued that it shouldn't count,because they were playing defensive football under Mourinho!

I've often wondered,as an Arsenal fan,whether we've been spoiled by the quality of attacking football that we've been treated to by Wenger's teams since he arrived 13 years ago. Yes,it's been a joy to watch,but I doubt I'm the only one that thinks that defensively we've been below par for a couple of years now. To win titles,you need one of two things,either the best player in the competition,or the best defence. When we had Thierry,all was well because he could win any game for us,thereby making the defence a lesser need. Mourinho has never had the best player in a tournament in his teams. But his defences have always been rock solid,rendering the need for a truly world-class player almost redundant. The football he gets his teams to play is often described as "dull" and "negative",but was it any different under George Graham,for example? Some of the stuff we played back then was truly awful,but we were winning trophies,and that was all that mattered to us at the time.

Don't get me wrong,now. Under no circumstances do I want to see Wenger sacked and replaced by Mourinho ASAP. As far as I'm concerned,Arsene has a job for life with us,and deserves nothing less than each and every Arsenal fan's total support. To be able to say that Arsenal is now one of the top ten clubs in world football,would have been unthinkable even as recently as 10 years ago. And the majority of the credit must,of course,go to Arsene. Yes,we haven't won a trophy in 5 years,but when we take into account the budget restrictions Arsene's had to deal with in that time,finishing as high in the league as we have is no mean feat. But this season is different,because those same restrictions on how much Arsene has to spend on players have now eased to the extent that he can now buy pretty much anyone he wanted to. The big question now is,will Arsene compromise his strategy of developing young talent by bringing in 2 or 3 top class players? And if he does,will they be players that Arsene believes can play the way Arsenal plays at the moment,or does he bring in more defensive minded players and attempt to play with a bit more caution? Whatever he does this summer,his decisions will be scutinised more than ever if Arsenal don't win anything next year. Put that together with the fact that Wenger's contract ends next year as well,and the importance of his decisions made now,take on a lot of extra significance indeed.......

Till tomorrow readers