You might have clicked on this article thinking ” Jose Mourinho doesn’t need any justification, we’re top of the league”, and you’d be right. Very little that Jose Mourinho does needs justification; his success speaks for itself. However, I’m not talking about that, I’m talking about the nonsense (go on, admit it) that comes out of his mouth on a regular basis. Thus, it will be the task of this article to try and justify some of Mourinho’s words of wisdom.
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Today’s focus: ‘Villa have one of the best squads’ – Jose Mourinho, 7th February 2015.
Chelsea FC faced Aston Villa in what seemed like an easy game, with an opportunity to maintain or extend their five point lead atop the Premier League should Man City slip up in their match being played simultaneously. The good guys ran out 2-1 winners in a game that could either be described as a hard-fought victory, or an unflattering result. Man City, meanwhile, needed James Milner to rescue a point in the 90th minute against Hull, leaving the leaders now 7 points ahead. During the post-match media rounds, Mourinho came up with this gem of a quote which left people adamant that he was simply taking the piss. Not this article, though. Let’s justify it.
Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
Aston Villa, up until the moment Jores Okore nodded home Carles Gil’s cross, had not scored in 659 minutes. Fine, not a good start for one of the best squads in the league but nonetheless this can still be salvaged. How about the club’s form? Well, they have lost their last four (including the Chelsea game). Ok, but that might just be a minor blip, right? No. They’ve won 2 out of their last 20 games, losing 12 times. Oh of course, this must go hand in hand with not scoring for 11 hours.
Let’s look at the stats then. Villa have averaged 7.42 shots per match. To put that into context, those with the 2nd lowest goal tally, Hull and Leicester City, average 7.54 and 8.29 respectively (Chelsea average 11.71 for those interested…anyone? Anyone??). They also average the lowest shots on target per game. In terms of possession, they are distinctly mediocre sitting in 10th with respect to pass completion, and 13th in terms of ball time. Defensively, though, they have kept 7 clean sheets which puts them in the higher echelons of the league while only 8 other teams have conceded less than they have. In this area they shape up alright it seems. However, this is little consolation and in general the stats don’t seem to be in the corner of Mr Mourinho.
‘Villa have one of the best squads’ – Jose Mourinho, 7th February 2015
Not all is lost, though. The last factor to evaluate is the players themselves and perhaps this could give credence to Jose’s words. This Villa squad is surprisingly filled with talent. Cleverley, Sinclair, Agbonlahor, Kieran Richardson, Joe Cole. Turn the clock back 8 years and this was the future World Cup winning England team. Now not so much. Still, players like Weimann and Vlaar are top quality footballers who’d likely find a starting berth in most other Premier League teams. Furthermore, this team were undefeated in their first four games this year, sitting pretty in 2nd place with three wins. However, that has since been shown to be an anomaly (which could have been indicated by the fact that they had only scored 4 goals in that run). Overall, this squad is not exactly brimming with current or even up-and-coming world class talent and once again Jose is undermined.
Well there it is, Mourinho has said something ridiculous and this article has tried to justify it. So, have we?
No.
Apoliges to Villa fans but this squad is just not very good. Having said that, there is no way they should have suffered an eleven hour goal drought either. For all Mourinho’s attempts to talk up Saturday’s victory as something special, this Aston Villa team is just not one of the best in the league and there is very little evidence to convince anyone otherwise.
Truth 1 – 0 Justifying Jose
Now over to you. Can anyone justify this statement from Mourinho? Does anyone even care given how entertaining he is? Sound off in the comments below!