"For me it depends on the perspective. Normally you [the media] like to say a team that is defensive and defends very well doesn't deserve to win."
‘But I also have my opinion, different from your opinion. My opinion is the team that defends very well, that leaves their philosophy in the dressing room, changes their attitude, plays all the second half with nine players in front of the box, doesn't concede and scores one goal, from that perspective they deserve to win."
"This is football. This is very good tactical organisation. Congratulations to them."
That was how Chelsea Manage, Jose Mourinho, captured his side’s 0-1 loss on Sunday against arch-rival, Arsenal in the Community Shield at Wembley, England.
Here’s how it happened:
Arsenal sat back and looked to counter and Chelsea mounted attack after attack in the second half. The Blues handily out-possessed, out-tackled, out-passed, and out-shot the Gunners, according to the baseline statistics of questionable merit. But these numbers do support the manager's overall point. Arsenal played solid defense to secure the lead instead of their normal m.o., which would've been to continue pressing forward for another goal. Their backline stood tall and strong, their midfield got stuck in, their wingers and attackers tracked back diligently. The pretense of "beautiful" football replaced by organized, disciplined, effective – i.e. winning — football.
In a post-match comment, Mourinho, spoke about Arsenal’s apparent strategy of parking the bus, a tactic attributed to Chelsea against the erstwhile beautiful football of the London club. The comments followed the refusal of the two rival managers to shake hands, while the Chelsea, also threw his runners up medal into the crowd for a young Arsenal fan, shrugging off the loss in the traditional curtain-raiser for the new season.
The Chelsea boss added: “I have never had a psychological edge,” Mourinho said. “I think what happened before it is not normal. Because it is not normal, I never paid attention to that. I always thought that one game is one game and has no relation with other
games
. 13 matches is an eternity. It is too much. I never pay attention to that.”
But, Arsene Wenger, who lauded former Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech, who many see as contributing to stopping the Blues from breaking his side down, also praised his side for the defensive solidity.
Celebration time
“There is an extra satisfaction because we beat a good team and against the offensive potential that Chelsea has, we didn’t concede a goal,” Wenger said. “He did well and maybe he [Cech] had an influence on the Chelsea players as well because they think that to score against him they have to score the perfect goal. When you have that, sometimes you try too hard.”
“There is an extra satisfaction because we beat a good team and against the offensive potential that Chelsea has, we didn’t concede a goal,” Wenger said. “He did well and maybe he [Cech] had an influence on the Chelsea players as well because they think that to score against him they have to score the perfect goal. When you have that, sometimes you try too hard.”
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