It seems that Jose Mourinho believes that if he talks about his team, Chelsea, in the media, as if they were underdogs in the title race, that will help them in the long run, even though no one is treating them that way – not when the season began, and especially not now.
Beating Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium came not through one goal and defending the whole 90 minutes. Chelsea were the more dangerous team, as the midfield with Nemanja Matic and Ramires was simply too much for the weird setup Manuel Pellegrini put in front of his rival, using Martin Demicehelis, a centre back and not a great one at that, as his defensive midfielder, leaving Yaya Toure with too much work to do on his own.
Mourinho refers to the title race between Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City as a competition between three horses. For whatever reason, he continues to compare his team to the underdog, the little horse, even though the money they’ve spent just this January Transfer Window clearly shows reality is quite different from how Mourinho tells it.
Two horses and a little horse. One horse that needs milk and to learn how to jump. A nice horse. It is so difficult for us to score a goal. Many times this season we played not as well as today, which was special, but very well and had chances but could not score. This is also good for the Champions League because in the Champions League we have big opponents. This is a good feeling. We played against the best team in this country.
It’s hard to argue with Mourinho when he’s on the winning side, even if his words don’t make sense. His aim is to berate and belittle opposing managers, this time being Manuel Pellegrini and Arsene Wenger.
How does he do it? By speaking about their teams like giants that should be slain by little David’s like a Chelsea team that has spent quite a lot of money on new arrivals this season, including this transfer window with the arrivals of the excellent Nemanja Matic and the talented Mohamed Salah.
Mourinho made sure he’s going to take a jab at the former Chelsea manager, Rafa Benitez, who did the most with the cards dealt to him. It doesn’t stop Mourinho from making sure everyone remembered who came before him, and how much better he is than him.
We love the big games. Obviously, when you love it maybe you feel extra motivated for that. And I keep saying, the best thing for the evolution of this team is not to play Europa League, not to be 15-20 points behind the leader, but with pressure to be there, to be close to the leaders. When we played Arsenal at the Emirates, Arsenal was the leader. Today, City was the leader. This is the best thing that can happen to this team. Maybe Arsenal deserve it more than us, They are top of the league and they are the favorites.