Jose on Arsene

[total_football]

Taken from an extensive interview given to the Sun:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002390000-2006560709,00.html

From the inteview:

s there any part of you which envies Manchester United or Arsenal for their more expansive, adventurous football? For instance they use wingers.

"We had wingers last season and were told we were not an attacking team. This season we don’t have them so you cannot say that."

But they have a reputation for prettier football?

"I think they sell their product well."

Would you not accept they are more attractive?

"How can you say that?"

Everyone says it?

"Do they?"

You are a very good power team?

"I don’t agree about any of this. We are a team which adapts to the reality which is why Arsenal cannot beat Bolton at Bolton and why Chelsea, under me, have played three matches and got three victories at Bolton with zero goals conceded.

"The best football is the football adapted to the circumstances. You cannot play against Bolton at Bolton the same way you play at home against Watford. My feeling is that some teams and some managers play every game with the same philosophy, with the same game strategy and principles. Sometimes they beat someone 6-0 and sometimes they lose a game they shouldn’t lose.

"One of the strengths is to adapt to different realities which is what I am trying to do with Chelsea in England and Chelsea in Europe.

"Chelsea cannot play in Europe the same way it plays in England."
................................
Arsenal three years ago was the most eye-catching football you will ever see. Would you like to build a team that pretty?

"They were pretty when they were champions without defeat, yes. They were not pretty when they finished fourth when they had to win their last game to qualify for the Champions League. They were not pretty when they get zero points in two matches. They were pretty when they played amazing and were Champions."

So the key is winning?

"Winning and playing well, playing beautiful."

What do you think of Wenger as a person and a manager?

"For me he is a fantastic manager. I don’t think we are the best friends. Not even friends. We are colleagues. I have 200 percent respect for the work he’s done over the years. He’s a fantastic manager, one of the best."

Have you ever had a real conversation with him?

"We had a couple when we met in Geneva for a coaches’ forum. No more than that. Unless you work in the same country or probably the same city for years and years and you get used to meeting each other it is very difficult to be close friends with another manager."

[Rewinder]

I can't believe I'm agreeing with jose mourinho...

[Gunners11]

I can't believe I'm agreeing with jose mourinho...

As I was reading that I was thinking the exact same thing. He actually made a lot of sense ... wow I can't believe I'm typing this.

[AfrcnHrbMan]

I can't believe I'm agreeing with jose mourinho...

yea i feel sick

[chelseacrew]

You know for as much shit people give him if you read all his quotes or see the things he does off the pitch for people you'd realize he isn't the devil:)

[antifan]

As I was reading that I was thinking the exact same thing. He actually made a lot of sense ... wow I can't believe I'm typing this.
Maybe its the drugs they're giving him for his migraines. I think maybe it might have snapped him from his manic phase into a depression.

[RealMadGunner]

"When you give stupid people success, they become more stupid." - Wenger on Jose ..

[Naushad78]

Hope Arsene reads that part about 'adapting.' Or maybe he'd just toss it into the dustbin.

[revelationx]

Exclusive interview for the Sun - yeah right.

Spot the difference between the Sun exclusive and this.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2006/12/08/sfnwin08.xml

Plagiarism? Hmmm.

[canadagooner]

Hope Arsene reads that part about 'adapting.' Or maybe he'd just toss it into the dustbin.

I'd like to think Arsene's wise enough to learn from whatever source is valuable. I'm sure he, like most other people in his position, gets a clippings folder every day and will read and learn from some of those.

[ibby]

I hate to admit it but the guy is ALWAYS right, and in his interviews he does speak a lot of sense and directs the media attention on him rather than his team.

[GunneRy]

I hate to admit it but the guy is ALWAYS right, and in his interviews he does speak a lot of sense and directs the media attention on him rather than his team.
true. still too pompous, though. i think he forgets he's got an additional 150m to spend more than arsene does.

[Cannon]

Hope Arsene reads that part about 'adapting.' Or maybe he'd just toss it into the dustbin.
Wenger has addressed this before and made it clear that he believes its better to have a system of play and stick to that system than adapt on a game-to-game basis. I think he's mellowed a bit on that view at times (sometimes for the good like in the CL run last season but sometimes for worse like the 451 in the Prem this season) but overall sticks pretty close to it. I disagree with Wenger on this issue. Having a system of play is great but you need to combine that with per game tactics and in game adjustments which Wenger has trouble doing. He rarely makes a tactical sub (almost all are injury or form swaps of players that fit identical roles on the field) and even when he does make a tactical in game change it most often a poor one (see bringing in Cygan and switching to a more defensive formation only to blow the game as one example that sticks out for me). If we could ever combine Wenger's system with another manager's tactical adaptations....well we'd have to buy a bigger trophy case.

[yasik19]

If we could ever combine Wenger's system with Jose's tactical adaptations....well we'd have to buy a bigger trophy case.

fyp:p

when i read this last night, i thought Jose was practically spot on with everything he said.

[DougG_ATL]

I'm sorry, I'm not going to concur with anything Jose Mourinho blabs about. He's a pompous ass, whose success has a lot to do with the team owner's deep pockets and very little to do with any true building of a team.

Arsene Wenger is a wholistic football manager, who sees beyond the immediate...I prefer that approach anyday to the "let's buy some trophies" approach. Drogba is scoring mad this season because Mourinho bought Shevchenko and Ballack, who have spread defenses much more thin. RvP, Adebayor and Fabregas don't intimidate defenses in the same way that would free up Henry, or each other. Again, I'd still prefer those three over anyone Chelsea has.

Have we had poor games this season? Absolutely. Missed chances? Underwhelming individual performances? Sure. Those factors accepted, when this Arsenal side builds some team confidence, gets used to the new digs at Ashburton Grove, and toughens up some of the youth, they're going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Mourinho can fook off.

[Gordon]

I'm limited in the number of games I see, but I do not think I've ever seen Chelsea play a different style in any competition. Do they really "change it up" depending upon circumstances? It seems to me Chelsea play Barcelona the same way they play Tottenham. My sense of it is that if Wenger had the resources Mourinho has, he would have 2 more unbeaten seasons under his belt. Could be wrong though...often am...

[davisplaid]

Bollocks..I can't believe so many of you took this cliched wind up.

Did Arsene play 4-5-1 on our run to Paris last season or not? Did Arsene concede an early set piece at the reebok or was that the players? Arsenal play up tempo attcking football because thats what we do best...we can't afford to have two different teams....and if we tried to play like Bolton we'd get battered. If Jose thinks Arsenal finshed 4th last year because of Wenger's tactics instead because of our thin squad that struggled to make up the numbers in the back and central mid all season then he can f*ck off.

Arsene has his flaws, just like any other manager...but this bs about him having only a plan a is total shite. I though he put that to rest last season. As for all this fawning over Moaninho....I don't get it...let's give him all this credit because he hasn't f%cked up the deepest most talentd squad. Congrats. He'a an arrogent c*nt and he can go get f&cked

[Cannon]

Wenger was forced into that 451 in the CL. Injuries made the decision for him and then he just rode that to the end with hardly a change to the tactics for the rest of the cup run. Hard to play that as some tactical masterstroke on his part. If you want to use our multi-year weakness in defending corners to support Wenger here, I'd love to see you make that case. Wenger's failure to get this team to defend corners has been a major flaw for years and is as much his fault as any player. Nobody is saying that Arsenal should "play like Bolton" but playing at Bolton the same way you play at home to Watford is pretty damn silly. The results on that issue have been clear despite Wenger's protests that we've played fine in most of those games. I also don't think anyone here is ignoring the fact that Jose has a "financially doped" club which makes it much easier to adjust your tactics. However, that doesn't mean that he's wrong about Wenger's weakness in this case. Wenger is a great manager...probably the best Arsenal have ever had but tactical adjustments is probably his greatest weakness.

[Rewinder]

Bollocks..I can't believe so many of you took this cliched wind up.

Arsene has his flaws, just like any other manager...but this bs about him having only a plan a is total shite. I though he put that to rest last season. As for all this fawning over Moaninho....I don't get it...let's give him all this credit because he hasn't f%cked up the deepest most talentd squad. Congrats. He'a an arrogent c*nt and he can go get f&cked

We all agress he is a twat, but he is correct in his assesment about wenger. We DID have only a plan A, even the 4-5-1 was not a plan B, but more of a forced reaction.

This season is proof enough that wenger has no plan B. Our only plan is to go and play free flowing beautiful football regardless of the circumstances - that doesnt work. You don't need to have 2 full teams to be able to adapt to each opponent. ManUtd have less depth than we do, and they change things up depending on who they are playing. We even have the players to adapt to each game, but we refuse to do it.

The fact that wenger thinks he will go out and play a one-touch, free-flowing game and outclass the opponent for 38 games a season signals that wenger is almost as arrogant as mourinho or a lot more foolish than we think.

This isn't the premiership it was 3 years ago. Almost every single team is capable of beating every other team on any given day. For a long time our only true rival(league table wise) was manutd. When mourinho began our rivals were chelsea, manutd, and liverpool. Over the last 2 seasons there are probably 8 teams we are seriously in contention with. If we don't believe in adapting our tactics for each team we play, we are not going to win any league titles anytime soon. Before it was ok to have only a plan a, because there were 1-2 teams who could counter it, and it was fine to factor in losing points in those games. Now when you have at least 8 teams who are capable of preventing your plan a, those dropped points because you didnt adapt add up a lot more, almost to the point of not qualifying for the CL.

We have the players required to adapt to different situations - aside from a more offensive replacement for gilberto, so we have no excuse for not doing so.

[Silva 5]

I'm sorry, I'm not going to concur with anything Jose Mourinho blabs about. He's a pompous ass, whose success has a lot to do with the team owner's deep pockets and very little to do with any true building of a team.

Arsene Wenger is a wholistic football manager, who sees beyond the immediate...I prefer that approach anyday to the "let's buy some trophies" approach. Drogba is scoring mad this season because Mourinho bought Shevchenko and Ballack, who have spread defenses much more thin. RvP, Adebayor and Fabregas don't intimidate defenses in the same way that would free up Henry, or each other. Again, I'd still prefer those three over anyone Chelsea has.

Have we had poor games this season? Absolutely. Missed chances? Underwhelming individual performances? Sure. Those factors accepted, when this Arsenal side builds some team confidence, gets used to the new digs at Ashburton Grove, and toughens up some of the youth, they're going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Mourinho can fook off.

agreed...repped