da doce： Chelsea face Arsenal in the Premier League on Saturday, a fixture which is typically preceded by articles condemning the latter’s lack of silverware and Arsene Wenger’s admittedly terrible record against Jose Mourinho; losing seven, drawing six and winning just one of their 14 previous showdowns. That’s if you count the Community Shield as a genuine showdown, of course.
da winzada777： Yet, it feels like the tables have turned ahead of Saturday’s 12.45pm kickoff, with the 4th place Gunners 13 positions higher and six points better off than their west London rivals in the Premier League table. Indeed, their title defence has start off in pretty much the worst manner possible – three defeats and just four points from five games.
So with that in mind, Football Fancast have decided to reverse all the usual anti-Wenger badgering – something I’m as guilty of as anyone – by considering what The Special One could learn from the considerably more modest Professeur. So without further ado, here’s the FOUR things we came up with.
STAYING CLASSY
I have no doubt Jose Mourinho knows exactly what he’s doing when taking a few below-the-belt swipes at Arsene Wenger.
Arrogance is often assumed as part of Mourinho’s personality and thus his comments are often interpreted some underlying, uncontrollable rudeness; but there’s no question his infamous descriptions of Le Professeur as ‘a voyeur’ and a ‘specialist in failure’ were pre-meditated to instigate a reaction.
It’s all part of managerial mind-games, which Mourinho indisputably excels in. Yet Wenger has won three Premier League titles and endured considerably lower lows than his Chelsea counter-part without resorting to such underhanded, crude and frankly unprofessional tactics.
Don’t get me wrong, Wenger’s had plenty of controversial moments too. Let’s not forget the era of ‘I did not see zee incident’ and his touchline shoving match with The Special One last season.
But the latter is the only instance in which the Arsenal gaffer has truly lost his cool, despite relentless and repetitive haranguing from Mourinho. Following a poor start to the season in which the Portuguese has already pointed the finger at his medical staff and his players, perhaps it’s time the Chelsea boss demonstrated some of Wenger’s classiness and composure.
DEVELOPING AND TRUSTING YOUNG PLAYERS
With an average age of 26 years and one month, Chelsea boast the fifth-youngest side in the Premier League. But overall, Jose Mourinho has shown a consistent fear towards trusting young players throughout his illustrious career – many of whom from over the last few years have gone on to be hugely successful at other clubs.
Of course, there are exceptions to the rule like Oscar, Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois, all of whom are aged 24 or younger and feature for the Blues regularly.
But compare that to the situation at Arsenal. Over the years, Wenger has developed, nurtured and trusted future top-class talents more than any manager in the Premier League, overseeing the likes of Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri, Robin van Persie, Theo Walcott, Kieran Gibbs, Kolo Toure, Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wislhere to name a few. Francis Coquelin and Hector Bellerin provide the most recent examples.
Failing to do so at Stamford Bridge can’t all be blamed on Mourinho. The fact of the matter is that every Chelsea manager has struggled to successfully promote academy products to the first team during the Roman Abramovich era, whilst he didn’t stay at Real Madrid or Inter Milan long enough to have a true understanding of their youth systems.
Yet, when witnessing the progress made by Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku at Wolfsburg and Everton respectively, you can’t help but feel Mourinho’s dismissive approach has resulted in unnecessary casualties.
A little more patience, like Wenger has consistently shown throughout his north London tenure, could have resulted in both becoming leading players for the Blues.
TAKING THE ROUGH WITH THE SMOOTH
There’s no doubt about it, Jose Mourinho has a knack of throwing his toys of out the pram whenever things go a bit pear shaped at Stamford Bridge, the end to his first Chelsea tenure being the predominant example.
The Blues had claimed back-to-back titles but after a slow start to his third season in west London, Mourinho suddenly began to criticise the club’s lack of signings and days later agreed to terminate his contract by mutual consent – a huge shock to the Chelsea fan base and English football as a collective.
Clearly, the Special One doesn’t have much interest in losing; back in 2007 it felt like he was getting out to avoid any insinuations that he might be at fault for Chelsea not winning a third consecutive league title, which is ultimately what went on to happen.
Arsene Wenger, meanwhile, has had to accept reduced transfer budgets due to Arsenal’s move to a new stadium, endure lukewarm campaign after lukewarm campaign and even the club’s biggest stars walking out on him for a better pay cheque elsewhere – particularly Emmanuel Adebayor, Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri and Kolo Toure.
Throughout, however, Wenger has never publicly questioned his own club’s practices and never even thought about leaving the Gunners for another team. He’s always stuck by them, thick and thin, accepting that the rough and smooth are both equal parts of the parcel.
Following Chelsea’s poor start to the season, you can’t help but wonder whether Mourinho will actually stick around until May.
CREATING A LEGACY
Encompassing all of my previous points, what Jose Mourinho can learn most from Arsene Wenger is how to create a legacy – something he’s continuously claimed he intends to do at Chelsea since returning in summer 2013.
Indeed, whether you’re a Wenger-phile or a Wenger-phobe, it’s impossible to deny that he’s successfully rebuilt Arsenal towards his own image, his ideals of how the game should be played and his views on how a club should recruit in the modern transfer market.
I’m not suggesting Chelsea should suddenly start investing in a bunch of African teenagers and adopt an often detrimental technically-demanding possession game.
But if Mourinho intends to match Wenger’s 19 years with Arsenal at Stamford Bridge, he needs to improve the club’s self sufficiency in terms of recruitment, accept that not every season will bare gigantic hoards of silverware and perhaps most importantly of all, learn that patience is crucial to longevity.
Better manners wouldn’t go amiss either. But something tells me Jose Mourinho enjoys winding up his colleagues a bit too much to start playing Mr Nice Guy.