Glen Johnson in blast at Mourinho

As a manager of a lowly non-league football team I was fascinated by the recent comments of Liverpool signing Glen Johnson about his former boss at Chelsea, Jose Mourinho.

Johnson, left Chelsea in 2006 when Mourinho was in charge. He had been signed three years earlier by Claudio Ranieri. Since he was discarded by Mourinho Johnson has gone on to establish a place in the England team and has now made a multi-million pound move to Anfield.

Wrong

Johnson clearly feels that Mourinho got it wrong and he suggests that the current Inter boss is not a man of his word. He talks about a game in the 2004-05 season shortly before Chelsea took on Barcelona in the UEFA Cup. He told the Sunday Times,

“We had a couple of games to play before the Barcelona match. Mourinho picked me for a game and told me in front of five witnesses that if I played well, I would keep the shirt. I immediately told my agent that it didn’t matter how well I played, I would be dropped because Mourinho wouldn’t want me anywhere near the team for the Barcelona game. Sure enough I was voted Man of the Match, and I was dropped from the squad. You would have to ask Mourinho what his reasons were but I know it was because he didn’t want to see me play well and be forced to pick me for Barcelona. That was the day I knew I had to leave Chelsea. Managers have to stick to their word. You have to be able to trust them.

“I left Chelsea because I had to play football. I got the feeling I was finished there when they signed Ferreira. Mourinho told me that wasn’t the case but there were a lot of things he told me that weren’t true.
“I remember speaking to my mates and telling them that while I was being paid to play football, playing football was the thing I was doing least in my life. Even when I got the odd chance in the first team, I knew even if I scored four goals I’d be out for the next game. That thing kills you as a professional footballer and I suppose I became a bit of a time bomb.

“It gives me a lift when I wonder what Mourinho thinks about what’s happened to me since I left Chelsea. He never spoke to me about why I wasn’t playing. He probably thought I would go to Portsmouth, fade away, disappear and not do anything in the game, and probably 70 per cent of football fans thought the same. I think I’ve proved my point as far as Mourinho is concerned. People, even Jose Mourinho, make mistakes.”

There are a few points to pick up on out of what Johnson said. When Mourinho played Johnson and told him if he played well he would keep the shirt, that seems to me like basic man management and motivation. If Mourinho knew that Johnson would be left out of the next game whatever he did, what exactly should he tell his player. How would Johnson have reacted if Mourinho had said, “I’m going to play you today because I want to give our other right back, who is better than you, a rest before the big game.”

Mourinho and any manager, has a duty to get the best out of his team. In order to do that, each player needs to be motivated and Mourinho did what any manager would have done.

Opinions

Football is a game of opinions and all managers know that they select players who other players and fans do not think is as good as others who get left out. All players who are not picked think that they should be in the team. It is only right that Johnson would have thought he was better than Ferreira and should have been playing, but Mourinho obviously thout Ferreira was better. The manager is judged on results and Mourinho doesn’t seem to have done too badly.

As far as being ‘man of the match’ in the game in question, well that is another subjective call. How many times has a ‘man of the match’ been selected in a game that you have watched and you have been totally unable to understand the decision?

Mistake

Johnson asks if Mourinho realises he made a mistake when he sees what has happened to him since he left. The answer is almost certainly, no. He made decisions that he thought were right at the time and he was generally proved to be correct. I’m sure he is really pleased that Johnson has done so well and would wish him the best for his future career.

Even at my lowly level, I know that team selection will always lead to players being disappointed, confused or angry. It is the manager’s decision as to who plays and who doesn’t and they live and die by their decisions. Johnson feels that Mourinho made a terrible mistake. I don’t suppose Mourinho has lost too much sleep over it.