Jose Mourinho unsurprisingly said something against the wishes of the FA as they fined him £50k and gave him a one match ban for his comments against the referees in Chelsea’s 3-1 loss to Southampton about a week and a half ago.
Mourinho accused the referees of being biased and we’re “afraid to give decisions for Chelsea” as he seemed fed up with how he and his team are treated saying, “If the Football Association wants to punish me, they can. They don’t punish other managers, they punish me, but it’s not a problem for me.”
The beginning of Mourinho’s statement is below. It goes longer as he explains how he’s not leaving and that Chelsea will still finish in the top four but this below is the main reason why Mourinho is suspended.
“Look, I think you know me, and I think I don’t run away from responsibilities. I think, first of all, I want to say that because we are in such a bad moment, I think you shouldn’t be afraid to be also honest. Because when we were in the top, I understand that there is quite a big pleasure, to put us down. But when you are so down, I think it’s time to be a little bit honest and to say clearly the referees are afraid to give decisions for Chelsea.”
“The result was 1-1, it was a huge penalty, and, once more, we didn’t get one. And the penalty was a crucial moment in the game with the result 1-1. And, I repeat, if the FA wants to punish me, they can punish me. They don’t punish other managers, they punish me, but it’s not a problem for me. I want to repeat because I think my players deserve it, Chelsea fans deserve it, I am a Chelsea fan too, and I want to say it again: referees are afraid to giving decisions for Chelsea. Why? Because when they give, there is always a question mark from you [the media]. There is always a question, there is always a critic, so we are always punished. We are punished because Diego Costa is suspended with images. In other matches we see the same thing and that doesn’t happen.”
“Clear penalties are not given and with us it’s one and one and one and one, and even in the Champions League, in a match we lose 2-1, which is a game with not three officials, but five, we are not given a penalty in the last minute. And this penalty in this game today is more than crucial, and do you know why? Because my team, in this moment, the first negative thing that happens, the team collapses.”
“The team, mentally, psychologically, the team is unbelievably down. It looks like good players are bad players. In the first-half, was again where we didn’t show our quality, but we were in control, we were more than in control, and one mistake, a lack of concentration, one goal and you have a tough time. In normal circumstances, you come to the second-half and you do your game. I told the players ‘no panic, we are not losing 4-0, it’s 1-1, no panic. The team comes out with a good spirit, we have a penalty and the penalty is a giant penalty, and he [referee] was afraid to give, like everybody else is afraid to give, so no penalty. And, after that, the team lost even more confidence and you know that their second goal is an individual mistake and their third goal was another individual mistake.”
This isn’t the first time Jose Mourinho has used himself and his interviews as a means to deflect criticism off of his players and any other person and put them onto himself. Mourinho still believes what he says but there is a specific reason as to why he says that publicly. Because instead of us discussing about how the players fared, we’re talking about what Mourinho said after the game.
Having said that, Mourinho’s conspiracy theorist views about how he and Chelsea has been treated by the FA referees and now apparently UEFA referees is getting a bit repetitive. Has Chelsea been the subject of non calls over the previous few months? Yeah, there’s a case that could be made. There also could be a case made that Chelsea gets away with calls when they should have been. Like with referee calls between every team, over a season, things tend to even themselves out. For as many bad calls going against against them, there are as many calls that go for them when they shouldn’t have.
And if Mourinho is right in that it’s such a pleasure to put the top teams down when they’re on top, why aren’t teams like Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United saying the same thing? Obviously if it’s just about the top teams, they should be under similar issues. Mourinho takes these things too personally and needs to learn to worry about his own team rather than outside forces that deny Chelsea points. Because if it wasn’t for those outside forces all seemingly going against Chelsea, they would be winning every game. Only in Jose Mourinho’s dreams.
