Jose Mourinho Names Divers in Attempt to Win Friends
By: Daryl | October 21st, 2008
Jose Mourinho takes the term “charm offensive” far too literally. He seems to think the only way to charm one group is to be offensive about another.
Only yesterday, The Special One was telling us how much he wants to return to England once he’s finished at Inter. Today he seems to want to redress the balance, so he’s denouncing the Premier League as a villainous den of diving where they don’t play proper football like in Italy, Spain and Portugal.
And Mourinho’s naming names (conveniently pointing the finger at one player from each of the big four). Here’s what the The Special One had to say:
“There is a diving culture in England.
I think I am right if I say that Drogba, Ronaldo, Torres and Van Persie are all divers. These are strikers who have won plenty of penalties over the years.
English football criticises divers but it’s the coaches’ who teach the players to play this way. Where as in Spain, Italy and Portugal, players are taught to win in the right way by playing proper football.
Therefore when a player moves to the Premier League, he has to adapt and learn how to dive.”
My favourite part is “it’s the coaches’ who teach the players to play this way”. Mourinho knows he spent three and a bit years coaching Didier Drogba, right?
Clearly Mourinho is doing this to score easy points with the Italian press, but is there any validity to what he says? My feeling is that diving is so widespread at this point that no league is any more or less innocent or guilty than any other.
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Category: World Football
Tags: Cristiano Ronaldo, Didier Drogba, Divers, Fernando Torres, Jose Mourinho, Robin van Persie, World FootballSubscribe
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Comments
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Its pretty bad everywhere I’d say. No-one is as good at it as Gilardino yet though. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBbv9vembLA
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United States
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I thought its traditional for the Portuguese/Spanish players to dive for some time in the English game, before seeing the no one else actually dives so much.. then they change… just a thought
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I play in the Los Angeles Metro League. Diving is mandatory, not optional here, and it’s actually quite the incredible art form. My Ecuadorian and Costa Rican mates make Drogba and Torres like like gumshoes.
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I have to give some props to Gilardino, he’s eliminated diving from his game for the most part. I think it bears note that in Italy it has historically been regarded as a tactical/intelligent part of the game, rather than cheating. Serie A, despite what everyone thinks, doesn’t have that much diving though.
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United States -
Kris Boyd is up there in the pantheon with Gila.
http://nl.youtube.com/watch?v=5OCn5lfF-Hc
Alberto had more flair, but there’s not much separating the two.
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What was he sniffing?
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This one is a favorite as well, the legendary Bas Savage: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9JHt_9RltY – its so rubbish its brilliant.
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As long as he can be a winning coach… Jose will be able to direct his future.
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i think you’ll find jose, that diving originated in southern europe, look at the english top flight before the massive influx of foreigners, we were all hard bastards who wouldnt dream of diving back then!!
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United Kingdom -
Notice how none of the players he has mentioned are English…
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The quotes in that article were a pack of lies (as usual). Try checking your facts rather than believing the rubbish on Goal.com
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What Mourinho ACTUALLY said:
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United Kingdom
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