Mourinho versus Zeman

It was bound to happen. Zdenek Zeman, who never met an authority figure he couldn´t tweak or jab at, has called out the ultimate thin skinned opponent: José Mourinho. Thin skinned you say? Absolutely. This is a guy who had his youth team coach fired last week because he was too close to the Barcelona players, and because he praised Pep Guardiola for his service to football.

It wasn´t even what Zeman said either. The newspapers are all glomming to the fact that Zeman disrespected Mou for his negativity. This is what Zeman said: ¨José Mourinho is a great communicator who hides his mediocrity well.¨ In the context that the quote was taken by Gazzetta dello Sport, with Zeman having come out of hospital for a heart operation and his chain-smoking habit banned, you could say he was waiting for an opportunity to be goaded into the media storm again. These two are diametrically opposed coaches in terms of their philosophical approach to football. Zeman lays his heart at the feet of attacking football to a fault, and what is obvious to me is that so does Mourinho, to a fault as well.

Zeman added that Mourinho´s teams play defensively and wait for opponents mistakes and that football has changed very little under Mourinho. Is there anything controversial in that? They do play defensively and he absolutely does wait to take advantage of mistakes on the counter. He prefers parking the bus on offensive minded team, absorbing pressure and hitting them on direct attacks to an undermanned defense. All of that is true. The part where he questioned Mourinho´s effect on football? Well there is nothing new about playing this way. He is consistent. When asked about Italy´s chances over England, Mourinho said, ¨He’s constructed a side who play very good football, but he (Prandelli) has to be aware because England have quietly got to the last eight and they are very pragmatic. That´s where his center lies, in the deepest heart of pragmatism. It doesn´t mean everybody should live or work there. Some people require a bit more romance.

Mou called out Zeman: ¨I respect the opinions of everyone and that includes Zeman, but who is he? Where does he play? I didn’t know he was the Roma Coach and I’ll have to catch up on what he’s won. I’m on holiday at the moment, but I have some free time and I’ll look to inform myself with the help of Google.¨ That´s an invalid argument though. Just because Zeman hasn´t won anything doesn´t discount what he said. There is no correct way to play football: attacking versus Defensive football. The eternal debate will continue and it won´t be solved here, but Zeman´s approach is just as valid as Mourinho´s.