Chelsea's Jose Mourinho says West Ham played '19th-century' football
José Mourinho accused West Ham United of playing "football from the 19th century" to nullify Chelsea
and the Portuguese claimed Sam Allardyce's players had feigned injury
and wasted time to secure their goalless draw on Wednesday.
The
stalemate cost Chelsea the chance to go above Arsenal into second place
in the table. An exasperated Mourinho did acknowledge that West Ham's
defensiveness was understandable, given their predicament in the bottom
three, but said the game did not befit the Premier League. Allardyce, when told of his opposite number's comments, laughed and said: "I don't give a shite, to be honest."
Mourinho
had been infuriated by the visitors' tactics and had spoken to
Allardyce in the tunnel after the game. "It's very difficult to play a
football match where only one team wants to play, very difficult,"
Mourinho said. "A match is about two teams playing. This match was only
one team playing and another team not. I told Big Sam that, because they
need points, to come here and do it the way they did... is it
acceptable? Maybe yes.
"I cannot be too critical because, if I was
in this position, I don't know if I would do the same. But at the same
time this is not Premier League. This is not the best league in the
world. This is football from the 19th century."
Asked to elaborate
on what he meant by that, he said: "Pretending injuries; cheating... I
don't know if that's the right word; the goalkeeper taking time not
after minute 70 but in the first minute; 10 defenders in the box,
defenders not putting a foot outside the box. All very basic. But I'm
nobody to criticise. They are happy. They get a point. I hope the point
means something for them at the end of the season.
"Sam was
laughing when we spoke. His objective was to come here and take a point.
His objective was not to come here and play good football, or win, or
feel part of the quality of the Premier League. He takes the point.
After that he's a happy man and I'm a sad guy.
"Hopefully they
have conditions in the future, if they survive, to present a different
kind of football coming here. They have good players, a good squad. Look
at their bench and it's full of quality players. So hopefully, for the
good of the Premier League, this was just a consequence of their need –
which I respect totally – and hopefully they can play football [in the
future]."
Allardyce, who praised his team's resilience after
recent poor form, could not contain his amusement when told of
Mourinho's post-match outburst. "He can't take it, can he?" he said. "He
can't take it because we've out-tactic-ed him, out-witted him. He just
can't cope. He can tell me all he wants. I don't give a shite, to be
honest. I love to see Chelsea players moaning at the referee, trying to
intimidate the officials, and José jumping up and down in his technical
area. It's great to see."
Chelsea's failure to win left them
third in the table, three points behind the new leaders, Manchester
City, whom they visit on Monday. Mourinho had made great play in the
build-up to this fixture that his team should not yet be considered
contenders for the title, with the priority apparently to qualify for
the Champions League and maintain the team's evolution.
"For many
months now have I said the same thing: one team [City] is an end product
and the other is a team trying to build," said the Chelsea manager.
"For me it's not a surprise to see them top. We go there next Monday and
the result at this moment is 0-0. Are they favourites? Yes. Are they
favourites to score again four, five, six goals? Yes. But it's 0-0 now
and we go there to compete."
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