It's all an act!

Jose Mourinho’s post-defeat antics are orchestrated to steer the negative attention away from his players, according to journalist Rob Beasley. 

Beasley, who is a close friend of Mourinho, confirmed that the Portuguese manager prefers the media to focus on him rather than the performance of his team. To ensure that this happens, he often commits a controversial act immediately following the game so that the next day’s headlines are about him rather than individual players. 

A recent example of this would be Manchester United’s 4-0 defeat to Chelsea last Sunday. Once the final whilst blew, Mourinho immediately went over to Antonio Conte and angrily whispered a lengthy comment into his ear. The majority of the post-match analysis then focused on this incident rather than the poor result that United had suffered. Beasley said this was “game, set and match” to Mourinho and that he had achieved exactly what he wanted. 

Whether this is the right thing to do is a matter for debate but it certainly seems to be a tactic that Mourinho has used regularly over the years. It is widely known that criticism does little to affect him, from both the media and fellow professionals alike, so perhaps sparingthe confidence-based players of extensive pressure and focusing it on himself is an effective approach.  

Written by Sean Allibone  

This article has come from a talk that Rob Beasley was delivering to first year Football Journalism students at Derby University. Rob just one of various guest speakers that have also included Jacqui Oatley and Henry Winter.