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Arsene Wenger Winning Mental War Against Jose Mourinho
By Josh Sippie
Arsene Wenger had long lived with the frustration of knowing that Jose Mourinho had never lost to him. That can cause quite the strain on one’s mental prowess, no matter who you are.
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However, since securing Petr Cech and downing Mourinho’s Blues in the Community Shield, Jose Mourinho appears to be unraveling. After a clawing draw against Swansea and a stomping at Manchester City, it is quite clear that the Portuguese manager is flustered and it all comes back to the FA Community Shield and his gross cockiness against his counterpart.
Prior to the Shield match-up, Mourinho displayed his already-frayed nerves by jawing to his heart’s content, but even for Mourinho, it felt like too much. And it was, as he was downed by his arch rival 1-0 with his team looking flat and lifeless in the process.
Just a day ago, prior to the week two match-ups, Mourinho again turned his attention to Arsene Wenger. In response to a question about Manuel Pellegrini’s new deal, the chatty one had this to say, via BBC Sport: “Some other clubs, they have disappointed for 15 years and the manager is the same.”
It used to be that Mourinho seemed to live in Arsene Wenger’s head. He always seemed to be a few steps ahead of the Frenchman which was emphasized by his consistent string of victories.
But now it appears that the opposite is true. It looks as though Jose Mourinho’s sole purpose in this world is to put down Arsene Wenger and make him out to be a failure. Arsene Wenger is not a failure, no matter how Mourinho spins it and now he is on the back foot in the endless duel.
It seems like just yesterday that it was Arsene Wenger who was boiling over. We all remember the shoving episode, but let’s watch it again in slow motion, just because we can:
It was the tipping point that showed that Jose Mourinho was frazzling Arsene Wenger and that the mental war was heavily in Mourinho’s favor. A 2-0 win and he provoked the stoic Arsene Wenger? Advantage Mourinho.
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Advantage no longer. Even with Arsenal’s 0-2 loss to open the season, this campaign has completely unraveled Mourinho. As mentioned, he jabs at Wenger for absolutely no reason, he had a now infamous run in with team physio Eva Carneiro for doing her job and now, after the Man City loss, he came out with this gem:
“In the first half the best team was winning and in the second the best team was Chelsea and we didn’t score,” (via the Telegraph). He went on to add that the result was “out of context” and essentially that the second two goals did not even happen. If you asked Mourinho what the final result was, I am not too confident he could give you the right answer.
The excuses have always been a prominent part of Jose Mourinho’s game, but he usually had the results to back up his lapses in sanity. After all, you can say whatever you want so long as you can back it up.
These latest episodes can just about all be attributed to his bizarre obsession to top Arsene Wenger. For that, Le Prof deserves some credit, I suppose. May the festivities continue.
Next: Tactical Dissection of Arsenal's Victory