Well, it looks like the professor out foxed the apprentice. Fair play to Jose, he knew the limitations of his team, and had the one plan he knew would work and thats to play a defensive game. Chelsea don't concede many and this is there biggest strength, defend well and hit teams on the break and his plan worked. It's not in Chelsea's remit to go out and attack while being the away side, it's up to the home side to break teams down. Hell, how many times have we said the very same thing, that we can't break down teams when they are ultra defensive. Jose did the same last week against Athletico Madrid, set out to defend take the game back to Stamford Bridge, where they obviously think they can get a result. He's a very astute manager and he got his tactics spot on in my book. Sounds very much like sour grapes to me.
Definitely sour grapes BUT when team challenging for the European Cup and Title adopt Cardiff tactics it's a sad state of affairs - but as we saw the week before last Chelsea will do pretty much anything to win. Perhaps winning 1 - 0 against a ten man Swansea made the chosen one realise his team is crud.
I think Rodgers' point was that it isn't hard to coach a team that way? Implying lots of top managers could play the way Mourinho does, but choose not to for whatever reason or personal taste... which is surely right?
Managers are often accused of having no plan B. Mourinho showed his class and experience by adopting tactics designed to nullify a rampant and confident Liverpool. Plan B? I think Mourinho has plans A to Z. Chelsea have had to cope with tough Champion's League fixtures. The squad was jaded. Mourinho also had to consider the upcoming game against Athletico (arguably a more important game). Liverpool's players were fresh in comparison having had no such exhausting fixture schedule, which might account for them being so high in the table. It would have been sheer stupidity for Chelsea to engage Liverpool in an open game and Mourinho is anything but stupid. His weakened team had to dig in and frustrate Liverpool and they did it magnificently. Rodgers wanted Chelsea to attack more thus leaving gaps for Suarez, Sterling and then Sturridge to run amok. Did he think his former mentor was an idiot? Mourinho knew that his team wouldn't cope with Liverpool in an open game, so he created bespoke tactics to nullify them and the tactics worked brilliantly. He knew that their only chance was to defend deep then hit them on the break - and they did it twice!! My earnest wish is that whoever the Swans appoint as manager shows just a fraction of the nous that Mourinho possesses in Spades.
He went there and did a highly professional job - lets face it its a sport (and entertainment) but it is a professional one. Lots of people may not like the way he sets up his team to get results but he clearly had a plan which his team executed perfectly. There is a bit more to it than just telling 10 players to get behind the ball. He has systems that require the team to have spent a lot of time on these systems in training even more so when he brings in players who might not normally start. Brendan may not like it but part of a top manager is being able to get his team to counter the style of play that Chelsea came out with on Sunday.
