Patient Mourinho happy to wait for mistakes
There was much grumbling after Chelsea's 0-0 draw away to Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final last week about the tactics employed by Jose Mourinho, but it would be no surprise to see him adopt a cautious approach again in the second leg on Wednesday.
"We always have a plan. You don't just go out on the pitch and play the way you want to play, you always have a plan," said striker Demba Ba after scoring the opening goal at Anfield.
The Senegal international had hardly been involved when, just before half-time, Steven Gerrard slipped to present him with possession and a clear run on goal.
"I was waiting for a mistake, it wasn't a surprise," Ba said. "We knew we weren't going to get many chances.
"You have to keep going, you have to keep doing gambling and fortunately the mistake came."
The strike fitted a pattern identified by Mourinho's biographer Diego Torres, who said that at Real Madrid, he came up with a seven-point code for key games.
The plan stands out for the glaring contrast to the philosophy encouraged by a coach like Pep Guardiola who demands almost constant possession from his team.
Instead Mourinho's idea is based on the belief tight matches are won by the team which makes fewer errors. Errors are more likely to be made when in possession, so his side does not focus on retaining the ball but rather encouraging mistakes from the opposition and pouncing quickly.
It would be no surprise if Mourinho adopted a similar approach at home on Wednesday, the problem being that Atletico often do something similar in big games: this is a match in which neither side will be overly keen on having the ball.Atletico, for all their possession, struggled to create clear chances in the first leg and are likely to prefer playing on the counter-attack in London.
Mourinho's approach with Chelsea is not universally popular and the idea that a squad worth millions and millions of dollars should have such little interest in possessing the football is a strange one.
But football is a results driven business – the record books do not show, for example, that Chelsea were completely outplayed by Bayern Munich in the 2012 Champions League final that they won.
"Winning is what matters. You can play perfect football, lots of one-touch, and you lose," Chelsea's German forward Andre Schuerrle said at a press conference on Monday.
"But there's no point in playing well and losing. If our plan is to win playing this way, and we win, then it's perfect."
With both Chelsea and Atletico knowing the only measure of success on Wednesday is progressing to the final, an intriguing contest awaits.
Source : Sapa-dpa /ar