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Jose Mourinho: A modern-day Herrera?
- The Real Madrid coach has striking resemblances to the ex-Blaugrana manager.
- Both have coached Inter before and both have won the European title with the same club.
- The styles of both mirror one another, and has been said to be a formality amongst Inter's most faithful, their Ultras.
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Now, before I start, this is not a thread to slander Jose Mourinho. I am not putting up a discussion thread to talk about him poorly and criticise him for certain things. This is a thread to just discuss the styles of Mourinho and his own ways going about things, on and off the pitch, that relate to someone in the past that did the same things he did. What I want to do is just make small comparisons between someone I think that he has relations in terms of the way he trains, communicates and motivates his players. Any criticism of him must be constructive and not just throw hatred towards him.
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For those who are unaware, Helenio Herrera (1910-1997) was a former football and manager. From the mid 1940's to the peaking of 1980's, spanning over four decades, Herrera was the manager of twelve clubs in four different countries, winning fifteen titles with four of today's notable European top-flight giants within their own leagues systems and being the man who galvanised a slowly dying
tactic in the Catenaccio tactic. He is regarded almost as a saint amongst Inter Milan fans at the San Siro, and also remembered for his spell with Neurazzuri during the 1960's, where he won back-to-back European titles (now known today as the UEFA Champions League). His nickname amongst the Italian media was affectionately known as 'il Mago', translated to The Wizard and H.H - the initials of his name, Helenio Herrera.
tactic in the Catenaccio tactic. He is regarded almost as a saint amongst Inter Milan fans at the San Siro, and also remembered for his spell with Neurazzuri during the 1960's, where he won back-to-back European titles (now known today as the UEFA Champions League). His nickname amongst the Italian media was affectionately known as 'il Mago', translated to The Wizard and H.H - the initials of his name, Helenio Herrera.
Through his time, living until 1997 at the age of 84, Herrera played a pivotal role in the history of Inter Milan, winning them their first and second European titles. Although not regarded as the best manager of all-time amongst Inter and neutral fans, his influence as a motivator and man of discipline sent waves across European and continental football to start a shift in power between the manager and squad of players. Now, managers have a larger say in the performances of the team before and after the match, and are not just by-standers or at the club for tactical development, training and morale support.
Nowadays, fast-forwarding half a century or so later, Jose Mourinho is regarded as one of the best managers in current time and has become a highly popular figure at almost every club he has managed since the start of his managerial career. Currently the manager of Spanish powerhouse Real Madrid, Mourinho can be safely talked about in the comfort of F.C. Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan fans as one of their best managers.
During his time with F.C. Porto, he both the UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions League titles, as well as back-to-back league titles and the winning of two domestic competitions in the Taca de Portugal and Supertaca. At Chelsea, he stopped the usual two-horse race of Arsenal and Manchester United of the Premier League title by winning it back-to-back in 2005 and 2006, as well as the League Cup twice, Community Shield and F.A. Cup. With Inter Milan, he won (again) back-to-back Serie A league title, the Coppa Italiana and Supercoppa, and a long-awaited UEFA Champions League trophy last season, bringing the Italians' tally to three and ending their wait of fourty-five years until the taste of European success touched their lips once more. And now at Real Madrid, he has won the Copa del Rey to stop Barcelona in their tracks of another sextuple and his first silverware as manager since joining the club in 2010. Both Herrera and Mourinho have things in common that are not usually seen in managers, but in players, and it is this comparison that makes people wonder whether Mourinho's styles today were original or in the footsteps of another.
Tactical and media influences
When looking at both coach's track records, the are quite impressive and hard not to praise or bring up during a conversation that involve the two in a topic. They have both achieved at the highest level and done things in their own way, but there are things within them that make them similar to one another, rather than two completely different coaches.
One of the main things that the two have in common, largely, is their tactical preparations before games and their styles when approaching opponents during matches. During Herrera's time at Inter, the Franco-Argentinian galvanised and popularised the strict, tight man-to-man marking concept started by former Servette and Austrian coach, Karl Rappan in Cantenaccio. The system, which prides itself in being a formation to stop the opposition attackers from moving within goal and gaining more chances to score, led to wins across the board for Inter in narrow 1-0's and the exhaust and fatigue of the opposing team, to which long passes up the pitch would be put ahead of the strikers and catch the defenders on the break. Often nowadays, the Cantenaccio would be crticised with the coloquial term of "anti-football" and a very negative, stubborn style of play, most likely because teams have evolved tactically and gone with much more balance, rather than a much larger attacking ratio than defensive.
But, with it also comes the need for it to be used when a team is a man down following the sending off of one of their players, and having to play a formation with a man less. This has often been used in modern footall by teams to stop the threats of the opposition taking advantage of the "10 v. 11" or weaker teams in lower levels to 'get by'. Through Mourinho, however, this has been exercised as the highest level and with great effect and success. Mourinho was able to use a variant of Cantenaccio during the 2009-10 UEFA Champions League semi-final between Inter Milan and Barcelona following the sending off of Thiago Motta and thus having to revert into a 4-5-0 formation, resembling the catenaccio. The extremely defensive strategy deployed by Jose only conceded one goal, but was enough to see Inter through and into the finals. It has been, a few times, hailed as one of the best defensive performances in recent footballing history, and a revival of tactics that date back to the 60's - precisely to Herrera's era.
The Champions League semi-final second leg can be found here on Youtube.
Secondly is their influences in the media. Both were outspoken managers, and often tended to do things that were not expected generally. Criticism of them, whether constructive or out of despise, was never really far and sparks would fly. HH was often known at Inter Milan to be the one taking the credit for the team's performances in a match, rather than the other way round. This was rare during the time, as football at that time had not really established itself with the media, nor was it televised often enough to have the sort of celebrity status that you have amongst footballers now. He must have done this because of his insistance to provoke the catenaccio to be used more and for it to become a widely-used formation by the players. The balance of power between managers and players shifted and the then-Inter boss was hailed a pioneer of this type of communication, to which would have an impact and effect on the players themselves. Even so, some of things Herrera said back in his days as a manager are quoted today, whether it be by players, managers, fans or even neturals.
This was actually in fact that his team were forced to play the remainder of their game with ten men.
With Mourinho, however, it's more or less the use of media to gain a psychological advantage over managers ahead of big games, and using the technology of today's game to gain an insight over players that are both his own and of the team he is preparing against. With Mourinho, it's more controversy than it has been professional or constructive in his own thoughts pre-match. At times, Mourinho has attacked other managers, or had sly digs at clubs in the way that they operate, whether it be in or out of their means. Here are some:
Mourinho in 2008 with comments made towards the former Juventus boss in Ranieri after the Italian criticised Mourinho for his coaching methods. At one point, he estimated Ranieri's age to be 70. Tounge-in-cheek moment.
Taking a dig, unsurpisingly, at Frank Rijkaard in the aftermath of Chelsea's loss to Barcelona in the 2005-06 UEFA Champions League over the two legs, to which Rijkaard would go on to win and tarnish Mourinho's quote of Rijkaard having never won a trophy.
Even with fellow countryman Cristiano Ronaldo, Mourinho has not been able to resist the temptation of spoiling the achievements of the ex-Manchester United winger. This was in 2008, following the Red Devils' triumph in the final in Moscow, only to be followed by Ronaldo winning the Golden Ball.
Discipline within training
A trademark in Real Madrid's current coach is his manipulation of the media, yes, but also his ways of creating a "us vs. the world" mentality amongst his players and an undivided loyalty to which was shown during his times at Chelsea and Inter Milan, but also of which with Real Madrid. This was inclusive within training players to maintain top conditioning amongst them and an avoidance of fatigue or injury. Despite this, Herrera has done this himself and with great effect. Despite being the person who actually started the common trend of motivational team-talks before the match and during half-time, Herrera was the enforcer of strict discipline and a code of conduct amongst players that sometimes made it seem like a military camp, rather than just an aspiring football club.
During his time at Inter Milan, he kept his players on a tight diet of nutrition and healthy food to keep the squad in good conditioning for training and matches, therefore forbidding the consumption of alcohol or smoking whilst on days off. It went as far as sending club personell to the homes of his players to check their houses for anything that may of been against his discipline, or something that may harm their game. Although it has not been documented that Mourinho has done this before to the extremes of sending club personnel to the players' homes, it was known that, upon his arrival at Madrid in May last year, he had put in a five-point disciplinary plan to put down an iron fist, and strict command over his players. This included:
Jose Mourinho's 'five-point disciplinary plan' at Real Madrid:
- During training days, those who arrived late to the club's hotel for the training session would not be waited for, and the team bus would leave them behind. A scheduled time had been placed for the players to get to on time, with no exceptions to lateness and/or lack of punctuality.
- The training sessions to which they would be in would be 90-minute intense sessions, to which would not be on a specific area of their game or fitness, but to invoke intensive work on the ball and with the ball.
- Those who were injured and felt that they could not compete in the training would have to arrive an hour before the training session, so that their condition could be asessed by the club's physios and doctors to see whether or not they were able to travel on the coach to Valdebabas. This was to avoid last-minute decisions and a bump in the schedule.
Unconditional loyalty, "Us against the world" mentality
Not the greatest picture of Mourinho, but it'll do.
Both Mourinho and Herrera share, or rather one of them shared, ambitious natures and personalities that were actually quite arrogant at times, and full of one's self to believe that their opponents were, not respected, but seemingly inferior to their own. Mourinho has done it countless times, to which it could be a load of hot air, but isn't because he justifies it with what he has won and what he has achieved. It almost promotes egotistical viewpoints and smarmy when such and such has been achieved.
This had to be reflected into the players, as well as their belief to be able to win and prove that what they said before was true. Herrera did it and so does Mourinho. At times, il Mago would have the cheek to predict the scores of a game, win or lose, to which he thought would be the outcome of the match. At many times, he would turn out to be correct, and send gateways of motivation and confidence into the players for them to win the next match, not by prediction, but by beating the manager's prediction. This sort of psychological method was not a very common thing to do, and was dabbled on more, famously, by Brian Clough. Herrera did it to improve the confidence within his players and to make them believe in themselves that they could win.
It goes as far as Herrera suspending a player at one point following his mistake in telling the press:
Rather than:
This justifies the lack of error he tolerated at the club and his wanting to win almost every game and achieve success at every possible angle. Mourinho has not had his arrogance of such reach predicting scorelines when they involve his own team, but more so in a following from his own players. It has been reported a few times by former players of Mourinho in their showing of faith and trust within him, following his successes at their clubs. Some are here:
"Lucio praises Mourinho for having faith in Inter players" - London Evening Standard, April 2010
Sergio Ramos: "Mourinho is the captain of our ship and we are with him to the death" - Goal.com, April 2011
Jose Mourinho almost in tears at Wesley Sneijder's Ball D'Or speech - WhoAteAllThePies.tv, January 2011
Managerial records with clubs
We cannot directly compare Herrera and Mourinho to one another, as one is living and the other has passed, but we can look at certain aspects of their records that they may or may not share a common interest in. Let's look:
- Helenio Herrera, over 908 games from 1946 to 1981 and in thirty-five years, won 441 games, drew 226 and lost 241. This averaged a win ratio of 48.57%.
- Jose Mourinho, over 501 games from 2000 to present and in eleven years, has won 342 games, drawn 101 and lost 58. This has averaged a win ratio of 68.26%.
- Herrera averaged a spell of two years at every club he was at out of twelve, with his longest reign being seven, from 1960 to 1968 with F.C. Internazionale.
- Mourinho has averaged a spell of two and a half years at every club he has been at out of six, with his longest reign being at Chelsea, from 2nd June 2004 to 20th September 2007.
- Mourinho's teams has already scored more than half of the goals Herrera's teams have. Herrera's teams scored a total of 1,712 goals. Half of that is 856. Mourinho's is 918, 62 goals more.
- Mourinho's teams have conceded less than half the goals Herrera's teams have. Herrera's teams conceded a total of 1,126 goals. Mourinho has conceded 359.
- Herrera's best win ratio came when he was the manager of F.C. Barcelona from 1958 to 1960. Mourinho's current best is with Real Madrid C.F. Herrera averaged a win ratio of 76.67% at Barcelona, whilst Mourinho is averaging just 76% at Madrid.
So, with all of that, is it safe to say that Inter found an heir to Herrera in Mourinho, and hat his styles deeply resemble the Argentinian during his days of management? It has been said before by the Los Galacticos manager himself that he would not retire from the game until he reached the age of 70 years old. Herrera retired from the game at the age of 71 - one year older than Jose's ambitions. But with how things are going currently for Mourinho and his ratio in comparison to Herrera's, it seems that it is going to be overtaken pretty soon by the Portuguese, as he continues his track record in being, currently, one of the best managers in the business. What do you think?
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