Football is no stranger to mind games, managers saying this or that to try to provoke a response, and we have seen that sometimes it not only works but the effects can be very public. Take Rafa Benitez and Kevin Keegan for example. However, over the last month or so José Mourinho has persisted in trying a contradictory approach to put pressure on the opposition, and it seems to have backfired.

 

 

Mourinho got the ball rolling with his "The title race is between two horses and a little horse that needs milk and needs to learn how to jump" speech. He said this after Chelsea had defeated Man City at the Eithad and his team were 3rd, with the same points as Arsenal and 2 behind Man City, and all having played the same number of games.

 

OK, he might be trying to keep the spotlight off his team and to hopefully force a mistake from the other two but it just seems absurd to think of Chelsea as ’little’ and needing ‘to learn to jump’ after being the first team to beat Man City at home and being near the top of the Premiership.

 

If he was managing a team with a lower reputation and without a lot of financial clout it would make more sense, and if you asked anyone who has an interest in football I doubt anyone would call Chelsea little compared to most clubs in the world. With a squad, backing and results like they have you can see why it all sounds and comes across a little comical.

 

Then again if it does have some effect on the other teams then it doesn’t matter what is said? Well, looking at the table a month later you could say that it might have been a factor in Arsenal slipping 4 points behind Chelsea, having played one game fewer. Also it could explain why, after beating Tottenham 4-0 at the Bridge, that Mourinho used the same tactics, only this time solely aimed at Man City.

 

Again you can kind of see what he is trying to achieve, deflecting the pressure to the other team, but, again, his comments seemed very contradictory of what people know. This time Jose said that he “would prefer to be in City’s position” with Chelsea 9 points clear but with Man City having 3 games in hand.

 

I’m sure every manager of any team would rather have actual points then games in hand, the points are real and not just in theory and if I was part of the other team this was directed to, I would find this more laughable then troubling.

 

And it seems the results back this up too, a week later it was Man City that looked fired up, winning with 10 men. Meanwhile Chelsea looked to be the team with things on their mind, losing to Aston Villa and with 2 players and the manager sent off (although I will concede that Willian’s second yellow and José's dismissal seemed a bit harsh.)

 

In conclusion, if Mourinho’s little horse speech did help in some way to distance Arsenal from the title, his second go at using a similar tactic not only seems to have reversed the desired effect but it also allowed Arsenal back in with a decent shout and let a fourth horse enter the race in Liverpool.

 

 

I don’t deny that José is a very good manager with the results to back this up, I just hope he recognises his contradictory comments have not been a complete success. If he does keep trying to undermine his opponents with laughable comparisons, that really would be flogging a ‘little horse’ to death!