Last night ahead of Monday’s mega clash between title contenders Manchester City and Chelsea Blues boss Jose Mourinho as printed in the Daily Mirror asked why is City escaping the public criticism that he had to endure ten years ago with Chelsea?
Mourinho transformed the underperforming Londoners into a footballing powerhouse after an unprecedented spending spree following an injection of cash into the club from new owner Russian Billionaire Roman Abramovich that had the footballing world accusing Chelsea of buying the title.
Manchester City has quietly been doing the same thing spending a whopping £600 million over six years prompting Mourinho to say it was “double standards.”
Mourinho said: “I don’t know why they are so popular when we weren’t. I don’t know why.
“In my time we were accused of buying the title, no? Because our owner was Mr Abramovich, just arrived in the country. Maybe now people see City in a different way.
“I’m not sure if it’s because it’s taken them six years to get to this stage while we won straightaway.
“And I don’t care. I don’t envy the fact that they have this kind of protection, of whichever word. It’s the way it is.
“Teams with success, people tend not to like them, no?
“If they want to make it impossible for us to compete with them in the market, yes it’s impossible.
“Financially, no, we can’t compete. Back then it was a free world. There was no Financial Fair Play. If your club was a rich one, your owner a rich one, there were no rules. It was an open situation.
“But times change. Many things people considered wrong 50 years ago are something very normal now.
“Maybe 10 years ago a huge investment in the club was something people hated, but in this moment it’s something people accept in a different way.”
It may very well be a question of double standards applying to Mourinho tonight should his Chelsea team take a defensive approach at the Etihad after he accused West Ham United of playing 19th century football when they held Chelsea to a 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge.
In an effort to take some of the pressure off what many people will consider to be one of the biggest games of the season so far Mourinho is saying that it will be a huge achievement just to finish second in the Premiership.
Mourinho said: “Yes. But if we finish second it’s fantastic.
“If we finished second doing the formation work, it’s an acceleration of our process. It’s good.”
The Portuguese manager claimed that City are the complete team whereas Chelsea is still a work in progress.
He added: “I don’t know if other teams have been scared of City, whether it’s not so much that they don’t attack them – and more that they can’t.
“Maybe they can’t. I want to attack them. I can tell you that. But after 10 minutes, people might say I’m not attacking. If I don’t, it’s because I can’t.”
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