BlackAlbino6:


Wao!!! Even as a Chelsea fan, I never had the courage to dig that deep into the man's rich CV.
Actually Jose Mourinho is not overrated, though I still yearn for a more exiting play pattern from him.

[size=14pt]FourFourTwo's 50 Best Football Managers in the World 2015: No.1[/size]

15 July 2015


Without further ado, the best manager in world football profiled by Nick Ames...

They say never go back, but it’s as if Jose Mourinho was never away. Since returning to Stamford Bridge two summers ago, the Portuguese has proved that he is forged from everything that makes the Premier League such a compelling spectacle both on the pitch and beyond it.
Nobody, perhaps with the exception of Sir Alex Ferguson, has matched Mourinho's ability to hold opponents in his thrall regardless of the circumstances. The 52-year-old is a master of calling the tune, whether through the way he sets out his team or how he goads even the mildest-mannered of opponents – witness Manuel Pellegrini during the last campaign – into losing any psychological battle. Last season was the perfect example of his gifts.


Master of the procession
Chelsea began the season playing arguably the best football of any side Mourinho has managed. The Portuguese has sometimes been chided for his pragmatism, his willingness to win three points via the most straightforward route possible. But the summer signing of Cesc Fabregas pointed at a new direction and the team set a blistering pace, its dazzling midfield combinations invariably being finished off by another new signing, striker Diego Costa.

“Mourinho's side always did enough, even if it wasn’t pretty, but then Mourinho's sides always do
As injuries and suspensions began to bite in winter, Mourinho changed tack. A 5-3 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur seemed to sting him: Chelsea were noticeably more cautious after the turn of the year, with Costa struggling for fitness and Fabregas tiring, but their results remained by and large the same.

Mourinho's side always did enough, even if it wasn’t pretty, but then Mourinho's sides always do – and perhaps the flagship game for that approach was the 1-0 home win over Manchester United on April 18 that virtually guaranteed them the title. "This is a game we will never lose. Never," he told Eden Hazard in the build-up, and so it proved as Chelsea, despite seeing just 30% of the ball, executed their gameplan perfectly.

Chelsea's apparent conservatism drew criticism in the season's final weeks but it seemed patently unfair. In fact, it was simply evidence of Mourinho's remarkable ability to adapt to circumstances and secure results – something that he has done throughout his career. Witness his Champions League title with Inter Milan in 2010, when Mourinho decided that his team would be more dangerous without the ball than with it against Guardiola-era Barcelona, and promptly walked away with an against-all-odds semi-final victory.

Euro sceptics
Chelsea will be overwhelming favourites to push on and make others bend to Mourinho's will again in the 2015/16 campaign, although there are question marks beyond the debate about style. Mourinho's relationship with Roman Abramovich, which decayed to the point of his departure from his first stint at Chelsea in 2008, has looked healthier than ever but there will be those who wonder what the owner's decision to let long-serving goalkeeper Petr Cech join Arsenal – clearly against the manager's will – might do if the Gunners put a challenge together.

There’s also the thorny issue of Europe: if a run to the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2013/14 was fine, defeat to 10-man Paris Saint-Germain two rounds earlier last season was not and vast improvement will be expected this time.

If Mourinho finds his back against the wall, there are always those duels against other managers to win. The usually calm Pellegrini, whose job Mourinho effectively took when he was appointed at Real Madrid in 2010, could be found grumbling about him well after last season ended, accusing him of wanting "to take credit for everything" when Chelsea win and professing to "differ from him on all fronts". Pellegrini had accused Chelsea of playing like a "small team" in a 1-1 draw at the Etihad in September but it felt, and still feels, as if he had fallen into Mourinho's favourite trap.

Nobody plays the relentless, 24/7 Premier League soap opera like Mourinho, who has a habit of provoking fury in his rivals with a few well-chosen words that set media bandwagons rolling while he remains impervious. He is his own best spin doctor, too, as an appearance on Sky Sports’ Goals on Sunday programme the day after Nemanja Matic's red card against Burnley showed in February. Every motion is calculated for maximum effect.

Jose Mourinho in the Champions League
Beating Barca in 2010, losing to Liverpool in the Champions League in 2007 and that Porto 1-1 draw at Old Trafford
You win some, you win some
“
Nobody plays the relentless, 24/7 Premier League soap opera like Mourinho
None of that will change next season and perhaps Mourinho will even find himself in a closer battle, in the league and in the newspapers, against Arsene Wenger, who has never defeated him and with whom there is no love lost.
Regardless of the match-up, it is impossible to bet against a manager who has won eight league titles with four different clubs in the last 12 years. For all that ‘philosophies’ are deemed desirable in up-and-coming managers today, Mourinho lives by the one that really counts. His philosophy is purely to win – and he has rarely done anything else.

Tactics corner (by Michael Cox)
Jose Mourinho always trains his side primarily in two different systems, allowing him to switch quickly and easily for specific purposes. At Porto and in his first spell with Chelsea it was 4-3-1-2 and 4-3-3, then with Inter it was 4-3-1-2 and 4-2-3-1, before 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3 at Real Madrid and upon his return to Stamford Bridge.

That summarises Mourinho’s approach: he’s flexible and reacts according to the demands of individual matches, but he’s also highly organised and there’s little doubt his teams will be well prepared for the task in hand.

Mourinho has often faced accusations of being defensive, and he’s generally cautious in big games. However, some of his sides – particularly Real Madrid – have been rampant against weaker opposition. Perhaps a more accurate criticism is that his teams rely too much upon direct, counter-attacking play.

Mourinho hasn’t revolutionised football in a stylistic sense. Instead, he’s simply a master of carrying out standard tactics with devastating efficiency at exactly the right times – and, in that sense, he’s a very astute tactician.

Read more at http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/fourfourtwos-50-best-football-managers-world-2015-no1#zIoJ7FXi2W5MwMDy.99

Guardiola: Mourinho is the best

Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola says that rival Jose Mourinho is 'the best coach in the world' after claiming that you do not need to have played the game to be a great manager.


Real Madrid's Mourinho never played at a high-level, while Guardiola enjoyed a distinguished playing career in midfield for Barcelona and also represented Spain.

However, Guardiola believes that a great boss is not necessarily carved out during a playing career and revealed his admiration for his great rival.

"It is not necessary to have played football to become a great coach," Guardiola explained. "[Arrigo] Sacchi changed this sport without having played, while Mourinho is probably the best coach in the world.

"To have been in dressing rooms before can help in certain situations, but to not have been can also have advantages."

Guardiola also said that he hoped he would be allowed to choose when he retired from management, rather than being sacked.

"When I was a player I knew the moment when I could not give any more at the same level," he added. "It was when I felt tired and I know that as a trainer the same thing will happen. I know that day will come when I am tired of it and I will leave.

"I hope that day comes because normally in the life of a coach they sack you before that because you lose games. At the moment I can choose, but I know that it will not always be like this. If I lose then they will kick me out."

joseph1013:
Some of Mourinho's annihilation of opponents

2010–11 Season
6–1 victory over Deportivo La Coruña

4-1 victory over Malaga

6–1 over Racing Santander

4–0 over Ajax

8–0 against Levante

3–0 over Ajax

joseph1013:
Let's hear from Guardiola himself

TheSuperNerd:
I "fan" no European club but I love "tactically beautiful football".

I also love "keen tactical football devoid of certain beauties" so long as it gets you results.

Plus, I love "winners" because I love winning all the time. *winks*

Come on now, let's be very honest here. I believe we've all seen the arguments, analyses, and points raised.

Jose Mourinho remains one of the best and finest coaches/managers in football history. He's NOT OVERRATED OR OVERHYPED. In fact, I like him majorly for one thing, "HE KNOWS HE'S THE BEST AND HE'S NOT AFRAID TO SAY SO"........ Some call that "total" Arrogance...... But I call it "IN-YOUR-FACE CHAMPIONS' MENTALITY". Take nothing away from "THE GENIUS" OF MOURINHO....... He wasn't lying when he once called himself "the special one".

EVEN SIR ALEX FERGUSON IN HIS LATEST AUTOBIOGRAPHY WILL TELL YOU MORE. On the day of Mourinho's unveiling to the press on his first day in England in 2003 for the 2003/04 season, Sir Alex knew here was "TROUBLE".

Like Sir Joseph1013 said. Enough said. *smiles*



On Pep Guardiola, this dude is without a doubt "the most elite coaching brand" for Total football/Tiki taka today. He has the titles and accolades also. Bound to go down in history as one of Football Elite's managers (just like Mourinho).

I love them both based on my "first two full sentences". Both are "great managers" BUT PLEASE, NEVER DO I WANT TO HEAR ANYONE TERM MOURINHO OVERHYPED AGAIN. Tu comprends??

Sir TheGoodJoe and Sir Tomtoxic, Thank you for your "GLADIATOR-LIKE" CONTRIBUTIONS. I WAS TEMPTED TO COME IN AT SOME POINT BUT BEHOLD, I STOOD BACK AND WATCHED. You both made good points and fine analyses from the angles you both were viewing yours.

Sir TheGoodJoe, please, maybe it was a "spur of the moment" reaction when you tagged Mourinho "overhyped"..... But you and I know how great a tactician and coach/manager Mourinho is. You know the statistics and the records. I know you may find his style "somewhat boring" BUT IT IS HIS STYLE AND HIS TACTICAL INGENUITY JUST CAN'T BE DENIED. He has the trophies and accolades to prove it.
Every where Mourinho has been he has conquered. Same for Guardiola (who has only been at 2 clubs so far). So let's end this aiit.

YOU GUYS ROCK!!!! *smiles*

Note: Every coach, no matter how great, has a flaw or flaws (archilles' heel). And Every great coach has passed through "drought" before no matter how short it was.

joseph1013:


The thing is, you don't need to play an exciting pattern to be a great coach. Infact, FourFourTwo, one of the World top football magazines, rates Mourinho as the best coach in the World for of 2015. See what they have to say about him:



If you say Mouriinho does not destroy teams but only go by with slim 1-0,2-1 margins, how do you account for the fact that he won by seriously wide margins while he was in Madrid. Infact, the margins were so great that he has the record for the most goals and most points in La Liga history. To put that into perspective, that is the league that Guardiola was for 5 years, and in which the Greatest player ever, Messi, who continues to break insane records, continues to play in.

It's even more interesting because coaches that people hail as attacking coaches like Guardiola, Cruyff, Ancelotti, Bosque, Manuel Pellegrini, Bernd Schuster, Fabio Capello, Carlos Queiroz, Guus Hiddink, Jupp Heynckes, Frank Rijkaard, Louis van Gaal, Bobby Robson, Luis Aragonés, etc have all coached in Spain, yet none of them come close to that amazing record.

Enough said!

TheGoodJoe:


You said he is not overrated or over hyped. Yet you go on to call him the best. Is that not overrating and over hyping? Is Mourinho better than Guardiola?

TheSuperNerd:
**smiles**

Come on Sir GoodJoe. I termed him "one of the best......"

He calls himself "the best" and I like it when such people with great achievements know this about themselves.

Mohammed Ali (real name, Cassius Clay) thought the same way and talked the same way. And he proved it times and again.

I'm not saying Mourinho is better or Guardiola is better. I'm saying both belongs to the "most elite class" of Top tacticians and football managers/coaches we have today.

As for Mourinho being the best, IFFHS agreed so in 2004, 2005, 2010, 2012.

Guardiola also carries such accolades in 2009, 2011 etc.

All I'm saying is Mourinho is not wrong to think himself "the best". He has the records to prove it.

I even termed Guardiola "football's most elite manager
" in all-round attacking football/total football/tiki taka/all-dominating philosophy.

Both belong to the top. That's my point. I can't choose one over the other. But none of them is out of place to term himself "the best". Why? They both have the achievements to back themselves up.

TheSuperNerd:
**smiles**

Come on Sir GoodJoe. I termed him "one of the best......"

He calls himself "the best" and I like it when such people with great achievements know this about themselves.

Mohammed Ali (real name, Cassius Clay) thought the same way and talked the same way. And he proved it times and again.

I'm not saying Mourinho is better or Guardiola is better. I'm saying both belongs to the "most elite class" of Top tacticians and football managers/coaches we have today.

As for Mourinho being the best, IFFHS agreed so in 2004, 2005, 2010, 2012.

Guardiola also carries such accolades in 2009, 2011 etc.

All I'm saying is Mourinho is not wrong to think himself "the best". He has the records to prove it.

I even termed Guardiola "football's most elite manager
" in all-round attacking football/total football/tiki taka/all-dominating philosophy.

Both belong to the top. That's my point. I can't choose one over the other. But none of them is out of place to term himself "the best". Why? They both have the achievements to back themselves up.

TheGoodJoe:



My point is that, I will not rate Mourinho as one of the best because apart from he won titles, there is not too much we can celebrate about him. A coach who chose to play 5 central defenders in a game because of his opponent superiority can not be the best. Maybe in your books, that is tactical brilliance. In mine, it is an acceptance of the superiority of his opponents.

When once he got his goal and PSG got a red card, Mourinho decided to defend because he knew he was up against the better side.

So, rating such a coach as the best or one of the best is nothing more than over hyping.

joseph1013:


The thing is, you don't need to play an exciting pattern to be a great coach. Infact, FourFourTwo, one of the World top football magazines, rates Mourinho as the best coach in the World for of 2015. See what they have to say about him:



If you say Mouriinho does not destroy teams but only go by with slim 1-0,2-1 margins, how do you account for the fact that he won by seriously wide margins while he was in Madrid. Infact, the margins were so great that he has the record for the most goals and most points in La Liga history. To put that into perspective, that is the league that Guardiola was for 5 years, and in which the Greatest player ever, Messi, who continues to break insane records, continues to play in.

It's even more interesting because coaches that people hail as attacking coaches like Guardiola, Cruyff, Ancelotti, Bosque, Manuel Pellegrini, Bernd Schuster, Fabio Capello, Carlos Queiroz, Guus Hiddink, Jupp Heynckes, Frank Rijkaard, Louis van Gaal, Bobby Robson, Luis Aragonés, etc have all coached in Spain, yet none of them come close to that amazing record.

Enough said!

BlackAlbino6:


The article says it all about Jose Mourinho, but fails to deny the fact that, he is more defense minded than attack.

cc:icon4s

Icon4s:


men I dnt like discussing abt Mourinho cos I dnt like his coaching philosophy.

TheGoodJoe:


Pointing out that Heynckes started the change does not mean anything because I already pointed out. The league was not a one man league before Heynckes came in. If I am correct, Bayern were fourth on the table before Heynckes.

At that time, it was not a one man team. Heynckes revolutionised the team and they did well. Guardiola came and continued the legacy, breaking some league records of Heynckes.

Because, These men coached Bayern, to destroy their opponents, you can not imagine their competition and tagged the league a one man league. It was not a one man league before Heynckes and Guardiola. It is their excellence that have made you tag the league a one man league.

BlackAlbino6:


The article says it all about Jose Mourinho, but fails to deny the fact that, he is more defense minded than attack.

cc:icon4s

Tomtoxic:

am not pointing out that heynecks started a change am pointing out that heynecks made it a 1 man league before handing over to guardiola so don't make it seem like guardiola had a hand in making it a one man league simply put he didn't just inherit the Bayern team he inherited the bundesliga title.
u knw generalization is bad saying Brentford would defend against city c'mon we saw an mk dons attack and dominate and won man u so what makes u think Brentford would defend.
bruh on a serious note Wenger should not be taken seriously u don't need to confirm from ifa b4 u knw defending isn't easier if not y couldn't Wenger defend wen Chelsea hit him for 6 or man u whipping him 8-2.

TheGoodJoe:


You are all over the place and you miss the point. Arsene Wenger is more of an attacking coach and he plays an open football that leaves them susceptible to goals. Just like Pochettino or Roberto Martinez.

Arsene Wenger chose the harder route, (Although he is changing this season). But, in general, he chose the harder route. So Wenger saying defending is easy, means, he can easily set up Arsenal to pack bus and rake points. He means, there is nothing genius about that.

Are you saying that if you select ten championship teams, all of them will choose to attack Man City or most will attack or few to none will attack. Your answer will prove my point.

Listing a championship team that attacked Man Utd does not change the point.

As for Heynckes, he did a great job and it takes a great coach to continue the greatness. That is why Guardiola is great. If inheriting a top team means constant success, why did Moyes fail woefully?

TheGoodJoe:


You are all over the place and you miss the point. Arsene Wenger is more of an attacking coach and he plays an open football that leaves them susceptible to goals. Just like Pochettino or Roberto Martinez.

Arsene Wenger chose the harder route, (Although he is changing this season). But, in general, he chose the harder route. So Wenger saying defending is easy, means, he can easily set up Arsenal to pack bus and rake points. He means, there is nothing genius about that.

Are you saying that if you select ten championship teams, all of them will choose to attack Man City or most will attack or few to none will attack. Your answer will prove my point.

Listing a championship team that attacked Man Utd does not change the point.

As for Heynckes, he did a great job and it takes a great coach to continue the greatness. That is why Guardiola is great. If inheriting a top team means constant success, why did Moyes fail woefully?