It’s not like Jose Mourinho to glory in his many successes, but he’s been doing it anyway.
The Manchester United boss is obviously still on a high from winning the Europa League last month , and it seems as though he’s still more than willing to talk to anyone and everyone about the victory over Ajax in the final in Stockholm.
Quite rightly, the Portuguese is revelling in his win, and he’s been revealing all about the tactical plan he used to beat the Dutch side.
And it is so very Mourinho.
Revealing his thoughts to MA students studying football coaching, Mourinho revealed just how much work went into the final.
“I watched eight Ajax matches,” he said, according to Portuguese paper Tribuna Expresso .
“In England, I tend to watch two to three matches because I already know the opponent, but not in Europe. To me, analysing the opponent is key because the way I practice and play is influenced by it.
“We wanted to create instability. We would let them play out from the back while blocking (Matthijs) De Ligt, their right centre-back, making them play through Davinson Sanchez who had more trouble.”
But while he was happy for Ajax to give the ball to De Ligt, he was less happy for his own team to give it to Smalling.
“We prepare a game better when we’re aware of our own weaknesses,” he continued. “Everyone said Ajax played beautiful football and that the beauty of the game matters and blah, blah, blah. I told my players that, for me, beautiful is not giving our opponents what they want.
“I even joked with Smalling – “With your feet, we’re for sure not playing out from the back!”
“That’s where we won the game. During the initial stage of the build-up we never played from our centre-backs to our midfielders, because they are great at recovering possession pressing high. In our midfield they didn’t recover the ball once.
“If the ball isn’t there, what are they going to press?”
The most Mourinho masterplan ever? Probably.
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