Sport
IS THE VENDETTA AGAINST JOSE REAL?
“The rules for me are different’’ Mourinho bemoaned after Manchester United slipped to another disappointing home draw against Hull. “I am different in everything, I watch my team play in a hotel, I was forbidden to go to the stadium, my assistant [Rui Faria] had a six-match stadium ban and he didn’t touch anyone.
Jose goes about it all the wrong way, but he has a point this time.
We have seen this schtick before. Jose Mourinho’s anger and general abrasiveness is old news, and we have all fallen for the general optimism, light-hearted nature of the uber-charismatic Jurgen Klopp.
Mourinho latest ire was actually directed in the Liverpool boss’s direction, with the Portuguese claiming the FA overlook Klopp’s conduct with officials, insisting that he gets a raw deal in comparison to the German.
“The rules for me are different’’ Mourinho bemoaned after Manchester United slipped to another disappointing home draw against Hull. “I am different in everything, I watch my team play in a hotel, I was forbidden to go to the stadium, my assistant [Rui Faria] had a six-match stadium ban and he didn’t touch anyone.
“Yesterday one fourth official told to a manager [Klopp]: ‘I enjoy very much your passion, so do what you want to do.’”
Sound like sour grapes? Well, yes. United were lacklustre in the extreme against Hull, and the decisions that ‘went against’ United were not the reason United couldn’t score.
But, in this instance Mourinho has a point. After Simon Mignolet saved Diego Costa’s penalty in the Reds’ draw with Chelsea on Tuesday night, Klopp literally celebrated in the face of fourth official Neil Swarbrick. Right in his face, punching the air, it could not have been more aggressive.
Klopp the escape artist
Not only did Klopp escape sanction, he received no reprimand whatsoever, he apologised, and we all went back to laughing it off as just him being overtly passionate.
Arsene Wenger is never far from Mourinho’s thoughts, and he too was named by Mourinho as a man who gets favoured treatment from the footballing powers that be.
It may seem churlish to suggest that Wenger gets away with anything as the Frenchman is amidst a four-game touchline ban, but was the punishment severe enough for a man who physically laid hands on an official? Imagine if Mourinho would have done that?
A stadium ban would almost certainly have been dealt to Mourinho if he had undertaken such an action, which some would say would be warranted when you take into account the Portuguese’s past misdemeanours.
However, some of those punishments handed to Mourinho can also be deemed harsh, when you compare them to what Klopp did midweek.
Kicking a bottle saw Mourinho sent to the stands? If Klopp would have done the same, nothing more would have been said.
This is not in defence of Mourinho of his actions. His conduct during the Eva Carneiro episode was nothing short of utterly deplorable, this is more of a call for parity.
Mourinho doesn’t deserve to be let off when he constantly barrages officials with abuse, or blames the referee for his team’s incompetence.
But, on the flipside, Klopp doesn’t deserve to be able to get away with what he did on Tuesday night. If Mourinho gets a ban for kicking a bottle, Klopp should at least be dealt with, even in a much less severe manner.
Klopp’s past record doesn’t come into it, but he hasn’t been in the firing line on our shores for as long as Mourinho, and just because he hasn’t misbehaved so far in the Premier League before doesn’t mean he should be immune to sanction. If he can get away with this, what else can he get away with?
The FA
The House of Commons have voted they have ‘no confidence’ in the FA – a sentiment Mourinho and his team would certainly concur with.
We can’t ban every manager for their protestations, but there is a limit to what they can get away with, and Klopp should have crossed that line, and it is time the FA looked at cases more on their own individual merit, to ensure officials are protected.
