Gary Neville has said that when it comes to managing crucial matches, there is no one in the world who can beat Jose Mourinho.
Chelsea secured a fantastic win the other day against their biggest title rival Manchester City and that too playing away. The Blues would have been a bit low on confidence going into that match as they had managed to grab only one point in their previous league encounter against West Ham United, but, they executed their plans perfectly at Etihad and made up for that setback that they had against the Hammers.
Chelsea is still behind Manchester City in the league table though, but, with that win, they have shown everyone what a quality side they are. If they get on a roll from here on, it would be really difficult for the other title contenders to stop them.
As far as Mourinho is concerned, he has taken a lot of hammering from various former players for his tactics this season, but, he didn’t do anything in that Manchester City game which the critics can point their fingers on. His tactics were spot on and he guided his team to the invaluable 3 points.
Talking to the reporters about Mourinho yesterday, Neville said, “He is one of those guys who just wait for the big occasions. You would have seen how busy he was during that City game. He wanted to get every minor thing right.”
“I don’t think there are too many managers who are smarter than him. He has the capability to outthink most of them.”
Most of the Chelsea fans who were unhappy with Mourinho after his decision to let Juan Mata go would have softened their stance just a little bit after that emphatic win over City.