The Daily Mail quotes Jose Mourinho as saying that he will change his preferred playing style and play the attacking football that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich wants.
Mourinho’s preferred style of play has been to hit teams with a fast counter-attacking style of football, a brand of football that failed to excite fans, especially those in Spain who preferred Barca’s tiki-taka styl.
But the Special One is ready to change his footballing philosophy saying:
‘I want to make the Chelsea fans happy – by results, by our playing style, by the mentality and the personality of the team,’ he said.
‘They have to know that there are three options in the match – where we can win, draw or lose – but we always give everything.’
Mourinho tried to deflect claims that his first Chelsea side were defensive minded saying:
‘I know in my record at Chelsea – also at Inter and Madrid – that I made many decisions that helped my teams.
‘If I gamble, as you sometimes call it in England, with a very risky decision, it can go the wrong way.
‘How many times did I play here with three defenders? I remember against West Ham [in April 2006], we were losing 1-0 and we were playing with 10 men after Maniche got a red card early in the game.
‘I still gambled because I wanted to win with 10 men – and we did win, 4-1.’
It makes nice copy that Mourinho is going to embrace the beautiful game and let Mata, Hazard and Oscar pass through defences. The challenge for Mourinho will be when Chelsea are one up with 15 minutes to go. Will he push players forward like Barcelona do looking for a second, or will he shut up shop and take the one nil win?
Historically Mourinho has done the latter, it will be interesting to see if he can change his playing style and philosophy.
And will Chelsea fans care if Mourinho brings more trophies to Stamford Bridge?
