Jose Mourinho has once again slammed critics who brand his Chelsea side as boring, claiming detractors want a sterile game of football "played on the moon".
The Blues opened up a 10-point lead at the top of the Premier League
table with a 0-0 draw against Arsenal at the weekend, but Mourinho was
subsequently criticised for his pragmatic approach against the Gunners.
The Portuguese has now hit back, however, and insists that the
obsession with "ball possession" will lead to a game without goals.
"People talk about style and flair but what is that?" he told
reporters. "Sometimes I ask myself about the future, and maybe the
future of football is a beautiful, green grass carpet without goals,
where the team with more ball possession wins the game.
"The
way people analyse style and flair is to take the goals off the pitch.
It's the football they play on the moon – where the surface is not good,
with some holes but no goals.
"Everyone speaks about teams
playing fantastically well because they 'had great ball possession'. It
looks like the goals aren't important. They conclude a team that scores
as many as we do is boring but a team with 70 per cent of the ball who
don't score isn't.
"Maybe, when my grandsons play, football
will be a game without goals and we'll just enjoy people passing the
ball. But when football is played without goals, you will say it's
boring. You will say 'bring the goals back'. For me, it's still about
putting the ball in your opponents' net, and keeping it out of your
own."
Mourinho also says that Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich –
who is famed for craving an expansive style of play – is delighted with
the way the Blues are playing, and has revealed that the Russian
celebrated with the squad after their goalless draw at the Emirates.
"He is very happy," Mourinho added. "I saw him hugging the players in
the dressing room after the game and, yes, I think he's happy and I
think every Chelsea fan is happy if we win the title. If we do, we will
have had a fantastic Premier League season."
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