Jose Mourinho Names Divers in Attempt to Win Friends

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