quinta-feira, março 12, 2009

amor de adepto




Para rematar uma série de posts sobre The Special One, José Mourino, deixo esta foto que é considerada a melhor do dia de Liga dos Campeões para o Gazzetta dello Sport, que ilustra o afastamento do Inter de Mourinho pelo United de Alex Ferguson, que contou com um golo de cabelça fulcral de Cristiano Ronaldo.
Para além de ser o mais fotografado, como a foto ilustra, Mourinho esteve alguns minutos do intervalo do jogo a dar autógrafos às dezenas de adeptos do United que chamavam por ele.
Qual é o outro treinador de uma equipa adversária a quem os adeptos pedem autógrafos durante um jogo decisivo? Eu desconheço.

Curioso é ainda este vídeo que mostra o golo de Cristiano Ronaldo visto da bancada (a emoção é bem diferente, e os cânticos dos adeptos do United com o nome de Mourinho - que admitiu que tem uma equipa muito inferior ao United).


3 comentários:

kt disse...

It's interesting in that link Mourinho's remarks about Inter after the game, because one of his original statements has been that coaches who plead for time are cowards making excuses, but now he's saying it's a long process and you can't expect miracles (in the CL anyway). Did you get the impression he thinks his squad are a long way off winning the CL (worse than Porto's?) and he'll leave if he doesn't get the players he needs? And he suggests large sums for star transfers won't be forthcoming. Is 'only' winning the scudetto enough.

Paul Hayward of the Guardian summed him up:

Sports personality of the week

José Mourinho buttered up Sir Alex Ferguson, claimed the Old Trafford groundsman was his friend, spent every minute of Wednesday's match in the technical area, lost 2-0, muttered darkly about Inter's policy failings, tipped United for the "quintuple" and then allegedly punched an abusive United supporter as he boarded the team coach.

Some people can live a lifetime in a day. When this flurry of theatricality was over, Mourinho sought a meeting with the Inter president to tell him what's wrong with his club. Do we miss him? Yes. Kind of.

emot disse...

First of all is important to be careful with words. Mourinho knows this well (in the press conferences he listens carefully to what the translator is saying and emends errors of translation).
Mourinho explains this very well.


1) He said that other coaches ask for a year of tolerance without titles and he imposes on himself the need for titles and some results in his first year.

2) The tiffosi wanted the CL from Mourinho - bare in mind that the last three scudettos were easily handed by Milan and Juve (all still messed up by Calcio Caos process). That's true. He failed. True too. But that team as a big problem that makes the difference in CL and isn't so obvious in Serie A.

3) I got the clear impression in the time I was in Milano that Mourinho isn't happy with the type of team that he as. He told this, plain and simple, to the portuguese journalists, me included.

Why? As he explained before the game in Old Trafford (in the press conference), this Inter team is a lot different, in many ways, from his FC Porto team. There's a lot of old players, accomplished, a lot less ambitious and a lot more accommodated with their careers, and that is, clearly, a handicap.
In FC Porto he created the team, with few resources, players that noone knew in Europe, and made them, together, a great team. The midfield was his main engine, with a "diamond" structure that worked like a machine.
In Chelsea there was also the diamond and it worked nicely too.
In Inter, the diamond isn't complete. There are some good players, but not a good machine, they don't complete each other.
That team doesn't have a great organizer... there's no Deco, Lampard or Gerrard there.
That team doesn't have a boss in the defense... in the back they are old, or short, or injured.

Before going to Chelsea, in Portugal I used to hear the prophets of disgrace saying that he would fail to win anything, because he was only good with players that weren't stars or known yet, because he would shape them to his needs more easily (a average player, in the hands of Mourinho would get a great one).
He proved this prophets wrong. But that extra motivation is impossible to get from players that are in the last months of their careers and already won a lot.

Inter as a big problem. They have the same players for 'thousands' of years, and a lot of oldies that don't produce half of what they used to (Vieira, Figo, Materazzi, who is always injured, and others).
In this time of age, money is short. I believe that Mourinho will stay in Italy if they can get three key players. He wants to show that he can do more in CL (and win it again). Even though he appears to be unhappy in Italy, where there are very strict ways of thinking football, he will try to succeed all the way.

After he will return to Spain, this time as a front man, and then return to England. In the end he always have Portugal and the portuguese, me included.

The theatricality is a main characteristic of Mourinho - is mainly juicy stuff that is amazing to watch (there should be a DVD on sale with that stuff!!). But in that theatricality he says more truethful things than most of the football people.

kt disse...

Cheers for your reply, it's interesting to hear a Portuguese opinion of Mou. Although I think he divides opinion there like elsewhere.

I think he’ll without doubt be one of the all time legendary managers (if he isn’t already) and critics don’t appreciate how hard it is to go from one culture to another and integrate and suceed. Look at Scolari..
His main problems are his functional football and confrontational personality. This means I think his career will probably be a series of short term jobs, maybe like his admired Capello.

I think he’s gutted about Chelsea, as given longer he could have built one of the all time great teams there, and he realises the Italian league in comparison has less prestige and potential at the mo. But if he does succeed there it’ll be an even greater triumph!
The big thing they also always say about Italy is the pressure. To quote Mou he said himself there was a different calmness for a coach, footballing-wise and socially a different world for a football man there.