JM on Drogba

Former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has branded Blues striker Didier Drogba ''a diver''.

Drogba has often been criticised for going to ground too easily but was vigorously defended by Mourinho during his time in charge at Stamford Bridge.

Now, just over a year after leaving Chelsea, Mourinho has turned on the 30-year-old while also hitting out at Cristiano Ronaldo, Fernando Torres and Robin van Persie for the same thing.

Mourinho told feelfootball.com: ''I am no longer Chelsea coach, and I do not have to defend them any more, but I think it is correct if I say Drogba is a diver.

''Drogba, Ronaldo, Torres and Van Persie are the divers. Who dives more? Who has won more penalties in recent years? But English football is the one that criticises the divers the most.''

Mourinho claims he is against diving but encourages his players to go to ground if they are fouled.

He added: ''I hate diving, but I'm not happy if a player is kicked by somebody in the box and he tries to remain standing.

''It's very, very rare a referee gives a decision if the player doesn't go down so I tell players not to be naive, but to be fair.''

Edited October 22, 200816 yr by Oblivion

Mourinho finally get ssomething right!

From the same guy that tried to register as 'upthekop' that doesn't surprise me?

He is a diver about a dozen people on here have labeled him that as well. Another pointless comment from JM, I still love the man though!

From the same guy that tried to register as 'upthekop' that doesn't surprise me?

oh dear, i remember him getting several things right whenever we played the dippers.... SSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! :D

It's a fair comment now he's not our manager. But... how can he leave Gerrard off that list? And how many pens has Drogba ever won by diving? I can't think of a single one

Jose, you are both a hypocrit and a traitor.

You teach and tolerate Drogba how to go down when contacted, and then have the cheek to label him a diver.

And, do you really expect anybody to believe that Italians, Spaniards, and Portugese don't dive, and it is only when they come to England that they learn to dive.

That has got to be the most complete bollox you have ever spoken.

But, off course, we know that you only say these stupid things to meet your current agenda. So anybody who knows what you are like will know exactly why you say such stupid things.

...and, no mention of the worst diver of them all (gerrard).

21/10/2008 11:50

Mourinho: England Are A Bunch Of Divers And Hypocrites

Inter coach Jose Mourinho has launched a sensational attack on English football and he has accused the Premier League of being dominated with diving players and hypocrite coaches...

The 'Special One' has beenmaking huge strides with the Nerazzurri in Serie A but he has turned his attention back to the Premier League where he spent three years at Chelsea.

Mourinho believes there are more divers in England than there are in Italy and he has revealed the best of those who like hitting the ground as he blasts the Premier League and shares his belief of a cheating attitude in blighty.

"I am no longer the Chelsea coach but there is a diving culture in England," Mourinho told Feelfootball.com

"I think I am right if I say that [Didier] Drogba, [Cristiano] Ronaldo, [Fernando] Torres and [Robin] Van Persie are all divers.

"These are strikers who have won plenty of penalties over the years.

"English football criticises divers but it's the coaches' who teach the players to play this way.

"Where as in Spain, Italy and Portugal, players are taught to win in the right ways by playing proper football.

"Therefore when a player moves to the Premier League, he has to adapt and learn how to dive.

"Drogba is a better player now than what he was, as is Torres and Ronaldo."

The coach also gave his own opinion on diving and he admits he doesn't like it and that players should only go down if they are hacked badly.

"I don't like players diving but I will not be happy if one of mine stays on his feet if he gets fouled badly," added the 'Special One'

"It's rare for referees to give free kicks if a player stays on his feet, even if the challenge is a bad one.

"I tell my players to be firm and not naive."

Mourinho's latest attack is likely to cause a massive reaction from England as the coach continues to pick a fight with everyone involved in the game.

It's not the first time the coach has caused controversy with his lyrical vibes.

Salvatore Landolina

Edited October 22, 200816 yr by TT

He's obviously just trying to take the pressure off the Inter players.

He's obviously just trying to take the pressure off the Inter players.

excactly right, and guess what? it will work.

Wonder what Drogs will think when he hears his bestest buddy father figure has to say. Oh dear.

Does anyone still think that Jose loves Chelsea so much that he'd never manage the scouse scum?

I would like to believe it, but the longer he's away the less I beleive.

(if that makes sense)

"English football criticises divers but it's the coaches' who teach the players to play this way.

"Where as in Spain, Italy and Portugal, players are taught to win in the right ways by playing proper football.

Quite possibly the worst diving display I've ever seen was Porto v Celtic in the UEFA Cup Final the year before Porto won the CL. Anyone recall who was manager back then?

beat me to it backbiter, the Proto team, that whole campaign was terrible at diving under Jose

"I think I am right if I say that [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Fernando] Torres are divers."

And then

"Where as in Spain and Portugal, players are taught to win in the right ways by playing proper football."

Hmm... looks like he caught "talkoutofyourarseitis" from old red nose.

Wonder what Drogs will think when he hears his bestest buddy father figure has to say. Oh dear.

I think Drogba knows Mourinho well enough since their time together, that if he had a problem with what Jose said he'd pick up the phone and they would have a chat. Drogba knows better than anyone that things people say can be taken and splashed across the news wires as "Mourinho slams Drogba as a diving, cheating so and so shock!" to make things appear more hysterical than they are.

Too many people leap on every interview Jose gives and starts making a huge great big meal out of it.

When you are a manager of a club you support your players through thick and thin and Jose did that 100% when he was with us. Now he's no longer our manager I guess he feels he can be a little more open about things. I may have been mistaken but I think Drogba admitted once that Mourinho encouraged him to go to ground if he was tackled badly and not stay on his feet for the sake of it. I think that was what Mourinho was alluding to at the end.

When you no longer manage the club perhaps you are freer to be more open because you are no longer responsible for the group. It's the same with my work, whilst I'm in my job I'll support the people within in and go along with the party line, I'm paid to do so and and I feel a debt of loyalty to the people there to put on a united front. However, if I left and moved to a new firm, I might take a different view if someone asked me something about the place. It's human nature and I actually don't think being at a football club is much different to working at in an ordinary business in many ways.

I really don't see what some are getting so upset about, calling Jose a "traitor" and "hypocrite". Well if Jose is a hypocrite then he can join in the long queue at one time or another which includes Wenger, Fergie, Benitez and most of the other managers and a whole host of damn players and not just in our league! Come on what's he done that's so terrible, just named a few players he could think of that he felt could be called divers - and some are bitching because he didn't name every single player that could be coloured with that description but only named two or three? It was an interview not a damn entrance exam to college!

I'm quite certain if he was back here in the PL he would be saying how great English players were in comparison to their diving Spanish, French and Italian counterparts - it's all a mind game and he's not the only footballing person who plays it but he is the one who gets the most media attention every time he says something because of who he is and the press encourage it - that's the difference.

Quite possibly the worst diving display I've ever seen was Porto v Celtic in the UEFA Cup Final the year before Porto won the CL. Anyone recall who was manager back then?

Totally agree, Porto were a total disgrace that night, and Portugeuse football has carried on where they left off.

Normally I tend to wish wholesale death and destruction on anyone and anything associated with Septic FC, but that evening I found myself feeling quite sorry for them. Thankfully this only lasted for a fleeting second or two, and of course I rejoiced in Porto's win - despite the fact they were the biggest bunch of cheats I'd seen in football for many a year.

Another instance of Jose saying too much, what is the point of this anyway? The positive is Drogba wont be joining Inter anytime soon.

Jose as Porto manager was a successful manager with a big mouth who walked away with little, or no, affiliation for the club he just left.

Jose as a Chelsea manager was a successful manager with a big mouth who walked away with little, or no, affiliation for the club he just left.

Jose as an Inter manager will be a successful manager with a big mouth who will walk away with little, or no, affiliation for the club he just left.

Coming out what he has doesn't surprise me in the slightest - the idea that it is a ploy to take the spotlight off his players convinces me as much now as it did when he was Chelsea manager (not a lot) - exactly what spotlight is there on the Inter players just now that he felt compelled to remove? Easily the best squad in the league, top of the league and comfortable in the CL (but these things without being hugely impressive - so no great pressure due to failure or over hyped expectation).

Jose loves the spotlight and he likes it on him, not his players - not to protect his players but to enhance his brand. I have no problem with that but I don't feel any compulsion to dress it any other way. He knows full well the football world knows he advocates diving, he knows full well that statements like that will create media reaction due to the hypocrisy and he knows full well that the way to maximise the media attention on himself is to use a Chelsea player as his primary example.

I know a lot of people think of Jose as a Chelsea legend but just as you can build legendary status you can also knock it down. Jose is starting to knock it down and the fact that I am sure he doesn't care one bit means he has just knocked it down a little bit more.

Are we 100% sure this remark was even made?

Correct me if I'm wrong but it has only appeared to be quoted from a football site using the url as the name.. hmm, maybe a little website promotion!

Internet rumours are great for websites and would like to see this sourced from somewhere like the BBC or Sky Sports before adding Jose to the traitor list *

* Zola is currently number one!

I know a lot of people think of Jose as a Chelsea legend but just as you can build legendary status you can also knock it down. Jose is starting to knock it down and the fact that I am sure he doesn't care one bit means he has just knocked it down a little bit more.

Pretty much my thoughts to the letter, loz.

I couldn't help but smile when I saw him give a short interview on Sky tonight and I remembered what he's been to us. In particular, I will never forget how he went to our supporters' stands at the end of the Arsenal game, when we had lost the title - "Chin Up !", pointing at the players; that was his best moment for us, IMO.

But, and this comes with a heavy heart, he is losing my respect and my love with, it seems, every little thing he says. And to answer a similar thread, I wouldn't want to see him back at the Bridge. He may be a legend, but that doesn't give him the right to say every damn thing he wants to. Respect is earned and continuously retained; he may have just taken it for granted with us, Chelsea supporters.

These lot have said the same thing

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/oc...rleague-chelsea

Simon Burnton The Guardian, Wednesday October 22 2008 Article historyThe former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, who vigorously defended Didier Drogba against accusations of gamesmanship during his two years at Stamford Bridge, has undergone a surprising change of heart and now calls the Ivorian striker "a diver".

In March 2006, when Drogba appeared to admit to diving in a television interview, Mourinho sprung to his defence, calling him "a fighter". "He is the type of player I would say, 'With you I could go to every war,'" he said.

Now he suggests he was forced to say things he did not believe even at the time. "I am no longer Chelsea coach and I do not have to defend them any more," he told feelfootball.com. "I think it is correct if I say Drogba is a diver."

The Internazionale manager also criticises Cristiano Ronaldo, Fernando Torres and Robin van Persie for the same offence. "Drogba, Ronaldo, Torres and Van Persie are the divers. Who dives more? Who has won more penalties in recent years? But English football is the one that criticises the divers the most."

Mourinho claims he is against diving but encourages his players to go to ground if they are fouled. "I hate diving but I'm not happy if a player is kicked in the box and he tries to remain standing," he said. "It's very, very rare a referee gives a decision if the player doesn't go down so I tell players not to be naive but to be fair."

Are we 100% sure this remark was even made?

Correct me if I'm wrong but it has only appeared to be quoted from a football site using the url as the name.. hmm, maybe a little website promotion!

Can I retract this..

Straight from the Horses mouth

Hit the play button that should be on there.

But, and this comes with a heavy heart, he is losing my respect and my love with, it seems, every little thing he says. And to answer a similar thread, I wouldn't want to see him back at the Bridge. He may be a legend, but that doesn't give him the right to say every damn thing he wants to. Respect is earned and continuously retained; he may have just taken it for granted with us, Chelsea supporters.

I'm sorry you feel that way about Jose I really do but I take issue over your last comment about respect and being able to speak his mind about us.

Found this clip on the same site from Jose talking about his relationship with the Chelsea fans and his arrival prior to the Monaco game when fans he met were telling him "don't come to Chelsea you have no chance of being a success here and no chance of being in our hearts, we love Claudio". When he arrives he starts to wonder does he have a chance to gain the fans love. Three games in after he joined, the fans first start singing "Jose Mourinho" and how he loved all the songs. No matter what his faults, I love hearing Jose speak about stuff like this.

Jose Mourinho reveals his special Chelsea ‘welcome’ – and promises to return one day in the future…

I guess I'm just cynical about all this "respect" guff that fans often demand. For me football fans generally are about the most fickle beings on the planet when it comes to the word "respect" towards their manager and players. One minute they are God's gift and their names are being chanted in the stands, the next when they leave/displease us in some way we seem to spend our time trying to write them out of the history of the club or belittling their achievements or character and nit picking over anything they dare say. Some do manage to survive as so called legends but they are often few and far between.

Respect is indeed a two way street but it's usually one way traffic in fans minds. Fans seem to always expect some kind of higher blood oath to have been taken by managers and players when they join a club and rather bizarrely expect for it to continue when that person leaves. Whilst for some people it may prove a life calling to really become the fabric of a club (I'm thinking Maldini at Milan or say Fergie at MU) for the rest it is a series of stepping stones in a career - be it good or bad - between various clubs and different challenges, just like it is for us in our own lives and work.

Jose is surely now free to speak about what he wishes and if that includes references to Chelsea than fair enough. To date he's not said anything about Chelsea I find terribly insulting or unduly upsetting, Drogba dives and now you're telling me this? Well I'm shocked and appalled you've suggested such a thing Jose what a hypocrite you are for only saying it once you left us. ;)

He can't help the fact his high media profile which yes he encourages, means that he gets interviewed incessently and so gets asked lots of questions - and he answers them usually. It's clear from this interview (well for me it is) that he retains great affection for Chelsea and the fans. He said his one regret at this club was not being able to say goodbye to us - and I don't think he's saying that in some false way for publicity either.

I don't demand that Mourinho be anything more than he always was, he was no paragon of virtue when he was here, he caused the club at times great trouble and strife which annoyed me but hand in hand with that were the truly great moments which will live long in the memory. I don't expect excess cap doffing from him or a vow of silence to be taken when anything Chelsea comes up. Jose doesn't owe me anything now, he gave 100% of himself to the cause whilst he was here and that's good enough for me - for players who leave us ditto. Flop or success I wish them well in their future careers and they don't need to give me a pound of their flesh anymore.

Whatever some people's rapidly deteriorating views about him which is their right of course to hold, no one can or should try to take away from his achievements at the club - the silverware is in the cabinet simple as that along with the sea change in mentality he wrought which Scolari still is making good use of now. We all hope Scolari adds to that silverware with his own panache and style but as most Chelsea fans don't care what Jose does now that he has left the club, in fact some seem willing him actually to fail, why the hell should he be treading on egg shells talking about a player at his former club who had a rep for hitting the ground too easily for many?

Edited October 23, 200816 yr by callista

Good post, Callista, I agree with virtually all of that!