PSG’s secret weapon: Jose Mourinho?

PSG’s secret weapon: Jose Mourinho?

French sporting daily L’Equipe has published reports claiming that Jose Mourinho has been offering advice to PSG coach Carlo Ancelotti on how best to defeat the Catalans. L’Equipe went on to claim that Mourinho prepared and delivered two videos outlining his tactical approach to dealing with Barcelona, and emphasizing the team’s weaknesses. Mourinho himself has not publicly commented on these claims, but his assistant, and frequent mouthpiece, Aitor Karanka called them “ridiculous.”

Image: Tom Hevezi [AP]

RFEF opens disciplinary proceedings against Mourinho and Vilanova

RFEF opens disciplinary proceedings against Mourinho and Vilanova
FC Barcelona’s official website has announced that the Judge of Competition for the RFEF has informed the Club that they will open an invistigation and extraordinary disciplinary proceedings for José Mourinho, for a serious infraction, and for Francesc ‘Tito’ Vilanova, for a minor infraction, after becoming acquainted, through the media, of the actions that took place in the final moments of the Spanish Super Cup second leg, which were not recorded in the referee’s report. Both Clubs will have 10 days to present their allegations.
 

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Part II: “Football was stolen from the people”

Part II: “Football was stolen from the people”

As well as leading Argentina to World Cup glory as coach in 1978, César Luis Menotti led FC Barcelona during the 1983-1984 season, and several other top clubs throughout his career, including River Plate, Boca Juniors and Santos FC. Menotti recently sat with El País to harp on the beauty of Guardiola’s game, Argentina’s aggression toward Messi and the sea of Mourinhos in the modern game. Read on for the conclusion of a truly epic interview.

The following is a translation from an article from El País. The original article can be found here. Part I can be found here.

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Mourinho: “Barcelona can play with their eyes closed”

Mourinho: “Barcelona can play with their eyes closed”

The new coach of arch-rival Real Madrid, Jose Mourinho, took a little time recently to analyze the situation between his own club and FC Barcelona before the start of the new season. Mourinho confessed that there is a major difference between the play of FC Barcelona and his new team. As reported by Spanish newspaper El Mundo Deportivo,  the 47-year-old coach believes that Barca has a great advantage when it comes to familiarity between the players and the team’s style of play. 

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Oh what could have been – A cautionary tale!

Oh what could have been – A cautionary tale!
A few days have now passed. The result, and its disappointments, have finally sunk in. It wasn’t to be. It seems easy enough to say now, but the Bernabeu was just not meant to house the men from Catalunya. There we go. We move on.
Yet there are many lessons we can learn from our loss against Inter Milan, not least of all just how lucky we were that a certain Portuguese was never given the reigns of our club.

Milan Aftermath: Did Pep Get His Tactics Wrong?


Much was made before Tuesday’s match in Milan about the tactical battle that would unfold on the pitch between Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho. And while Barcelona fans are licking their wounds and contemplating next week’s second leg, we thought it might be therapeutic to analyze the match tactically and dissect exactly what went wrong. In that spirit, we’re featuring an article from the superb site Zonal Marking that explores the match in detail, albeit from the point of view of a neutral but keen football spectator.

Read through the article and post your thoughts about the match in the comments. And be sure to check out zonalmarking.net for great tactical explanations of key football matchups.

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