Having beaten Manchester City 1-0 on monday night, Chelsea now sit just 2 points off front runners Arsenal and are level with Manchester City themselves. But who masterminded this vital victory? Jose Mourinho, after the game, revealed that their very own masseur Billy McCulloch gave their team talk, prior to going on to win the game with a clinical strike from Branislav Ivanovic. This leads many to wonder: is Jose Mourinho all he’s cracked up to be? Or is this another of his infamous mind games?
The former Porto, Inter Milan and Real Madrid boss said: ‘I didn’t speak. It was Billy the masseur that spoke to the team. He was screaming so much in Scottish I didn’t undeerstand him.’
‘I am serious. But the players were clapping. It was Billy’s team-talk. The last time I spoke to the players was midday.’
So has Mourinho been trying to toy with the minds of his rivals? Or has he genuinely lost the motivation with the Chelsea squad?
If Jose had lost his motivational power within the team, there’s no way on earth that he’d publicise it. A mind game seems a lot more likely, but if so it’s of a different taste to his usual games. If it is a mind-game, he’s certainly been clever about it. Instead of coming right at a specific manager, he seems to be trying to get into the minds of all the rivals at once. If this proves to be true and works, he’s certainly pulled off one of the greatest mind-games in premier league history.
Or maybe it’s just Jose’s way of saying he’s reached the limit of what he can do. Maybe he’s letting the world know that he is that good a coach, he doesn’t need to say a word for his team to perform. One thing for sure, with Mourinho it’s never what you think.
– Sam Rowbotham
