Mourinho: Mind Game Master

Article by e-Chelsea Correspondent Lee Beevor

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With Chelsea top of the Premier League, it appears Jose Mourinho’s tactic of deflecting the limelight from his players has succeeded. Unfortunately, leading the way in February means this state of affairs cannot continue. It seemed he had engendered the belief in much of the media that his Chelsea was in development, as opposed to the finished article. The victory at Manchester City altered that, and the dismissal of Newcastle removed any lingering doubts of our readiness to compete.

Despite this, Jose continues to downplay the prowess of his side, by stressing the advantages of others. These are the mind games for which he became famous in his first stint of managing in England. Of the present crop of rival managers, only Wenger has experience of sparing with the Special One. It appears this prior knowledge has helped him to fare a little better than Pellegrini, who is quite simply out of his depth. Mourinho’s mastery of this dark art is one of the reasons I predicted Chelsea will win the league in my article “The Most Exciting Season in History?”

The way he alleviates stress from his players in the media and just as importantly, ramps up the pressure on his opponents, is without equal. Time and time again, he elicits a response from rival managers, who waste their energy responding to Mourinho’s barbs. Wenger has seen it all before, but cannot resist being drawn in. However credit is due for his statement that those denying they are in the race do so for fear of failure was quality! Pellegrini by contrast, is proving to be a sucker and one fears for him in the weeks that follow. After blindly following every piece of bait thrown by Mourinho, he has said he will no longer respond to Jose in every press conference. He then proceeded to show considerable frustration, as he did exactly that for the next ten minutes!

Brendan Rodgers learnt from Mourinho himself, having seen him operate at close quarters during their time together at Stamford Bridge. This clearly manifests itself in the confident and bullish nature of some of his media briefings. Where he lets himself down is his tendency to be excessively positive. Last season, he responded to a couple of wins with the crazy prediction of securing a Champions League berth and doing so in second position! Suffice to say, the loss of the following game and seventh place finish should have taught him a valuable lesson. Sadly it seems this is not the case, with the comeback win against bottom of the table Fulham convincing him of their renewed title credentials. Jose immediately seized the chance to load expectation on Liverpool, stressing the advantage of having no midweek European commitments.

For Chelsea to overcome Manchester City, who I consider to be the major threat, we will need to take any advantage available to us. The fixture list is starting to appear favourable, but the task remains formidable. As fans, we know that our manager is by far the strongest of the four contenders and will not bulk in sight of victory. We can be confident he will create plenty of white noise to engage and confound the other challengers. Underneath this cloud of engineered chaos, Chelsea will remain focused on their task. Mourinho will use every tool at his disposal to secure triumph for his club and in doing so, consolidate his status as the master of the mind game.

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