Just How 'Special' is Jose Mourinho?

Wednesday, 28th April 2010 at 12:10pm

Following Inter Milan's dramatic semi final victory over Pep Guardiola's seemingly invincible Barcelona side, the plaudits for Jose Mourinho have been flowing from all corners of the media.

Tony Cascarino writing for the Times said that Mourinho was more valuable than any star player and that he will be the hottest signing in world football this summer if he leaves Inter Milan.

"This was a display of tactical genius that should be a lesson to every team in Europe, especially those in England," he wrote.

Matt Dickenson, deputy football correspondent for the Times, wrote, "His stock as a manager who guarantees success could scarcely be higher."

The plaudits continued at the Daily Telegraph who led with the headline, "Barcelona fall victim to Jose Mourinho's act of divine intervention."

His record speaks for itself: five league titles in three countries, two continental trophies and a plethora of cup wins all point towards a great manager; one of the very best.

Jose Mourinho

But just how special is Mourinho?

Last night's aggregate success owed more to substance than it did to style, the hallmark of the most recent three teams - FC Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan - that Mourinho has managed at the highest level; this is by no means a derogatory comment.

All three sides have been notoriously hard to beat when they are away from home and impossible to beat in front of their own supporters: Mourinho hasn't lost a home fixture in his last eight seasons; a record he is fiercely proud of.

Each of those sides has been built upon an excellent defence ahead of a top quality goalkeeper and a level of discipline that is rarely seen in football. When Inter went down to 10 men against Barcelona, the adjustment was instant; every man knew exactly what his role on the pitch was.

Upon the foundation of a great back five are many a good team built, but it would be unfair to suggest that 'The Special One's' sides aren't capable of playing exciting football.

Mourinho's vintage Chelsea sides produced a number of memorable performances, notably a 4-1 win at Anfield, a 3-1 win against Manchester United at Old Trafford and a 4-1 win against Barcelona.

The latter was also run through the Jose mill last week when his Inter side came from a goal down to secure a 3-1 victory, a win that formed the basis for last night's heroics.

It is clear that no one is as successful as Mourinho's been without being a top manager, but the three clubs where he has known such great success have all had one thing in commons: money.

FC Porto is one of, if not the, richest clubs in Portugal and Mourinho was able to bring in a raft of talented players, including Nuno Valente, Pedro Emanuel and Paulo Ferreira.

Chelsea were in their second season of ownership by Roman Abramovich when Mourinho arrived and he was able to recruit Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira, and Thiago among others, all for large sums of money.

Inter have long been bankrolled by Massimo Morrati, whose spending since becoming owner of the club has only been topped by that of Abramovich at Chelsea.

It would seem unfair however to class Porto in the same financial league as Chelsea and Inter. In Mourinho's defence, the Portugese club are by no means one of the richest clubs in world football and the club's success on the continent was down to a combination of excellent players and great management.

However, if money wasn't the main factor at Porto, Mourinho's inheritance of an extremely talented squad had a huge effect on the club's fortunes, as the club was blessed with players of the calibre of Ricardo Carvalho, Deco, Costinha and Victor Baia.

A similar pattern was evident at Chelsea when he inherited a squad containing the likes of John Terry, Frank Lampard, Claude Makalele, Joe Cole, Petr Cech and Arjen Robben.

Likewise at Inter, where Mourinho added only three players ahead of his first season in charge and a handful more before the start of the 2009/10 season - Wesley Schneider, Diego Milito and Samuel Eto'o being three of them.

But simply having good players isn't enough, as fans of Real Madrid will surely testify. Ranieri failed to lift a trophy with his one season of playing fantasy football with Roman's rubles and Porto were nowhere near good enough to lift back-to-back UEFA Cup and Champions League titles when Mourinho took over as they did in 2003 and 2004.

He is a great manager; that fact is undeniable, but Cascarino's remarks about him being a tactical example to the rest of the world might be overstretching the mark.

To suggest that this season's final berth is solely down to Mourinho would be to overlook the fact that he has an excellent team at his disposal: Julio Cesar, Walter Samuel, Lucio, Esteban Cambiasso, Schneider, Milito and Eto'o form the spine of a team that most managers would die for.

It is also worth noting that three times in his Chelsea career, Mourinho was outwitted by Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez: twice in the Champions League at the semi final stage and once in the FA Cup semi final, something which seems almost unthinkable given the current malaise at Anfield.

It wasn't until Mourniho parted ways with Chelsea that they were able to defeat Liverpool in the Champions League, first with Avram Grant and then Guus Hiddink.

He was also beaten in the knockout stage by Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United in Europe's elite competition last season.

That he is talented isn't in any doubt, but it would be interesting to see Mourinho take over a club with little in the way of finances and existing talent. If he could mould said team into a title winning one, then his critics would have very little left in the way of ammunition.

However, with his next port of call likely to be one of the two Manchester sides or Real Madrid, it seems as though we may have to wait a long time to see just how special Jose is.

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