Jose Mourinho might have allowed himself a wry
smile when he read David Luiz’s thinly veiled
attempt at reverse psychology. The Brazilian, a
short-lived disciple of the Portuguese, claimed it
would be “dangerous” for Chelsea to solely
counter-attack in their Champions League
second-leg clash.
Nice try, David. The only thing Mourinho is more
versed in than mind games is parking the bus,
and he is unlikely to deviate too much from that
tactic against PSG.
The £50 million centre-back’s faux-warning, far
from laying any seeds of doubt, will only have
revealed the extent to which the French
champions fear trying to break down the west
Londoners. The super-rich Parisians are still
waiting for a landmark victory in Europe, and the
difficulty in achieving that has been ramped up
after Mourinho landed his own media blow,
highlighting PSG’s “aggressiveness” – a remark
aimed at the officials rather than Wednesday’s
opponents.
Mourinho knows how to play the press, and he
knows how to defend a lead in European football,
especially at home. The two-time Champions
League winner has overseen 10 second-leg
clashes on home turf and won nine of those
games, his first defeat coming at the hands of
Atletico Madrid in last season’s competition.
On the four occasions that Mourinho has
brought an away-goal advantage to his own back
yard, he has won – and progressed – every single
time, scoring almost six times as many goals as
he has conceded.
His response to last season’s setback was to
bring three of the Atleti antagonists from that
defeat back to Stamford Bridge. In the case of
Thibaut Courtois, who Mourinho refused to
mention by name that night, referring to him
only as “the Atletico goalkeeper”, he needed only
to end his loan. Chelsea are a better team as a
result; Diego Costa provides the sly pragmatism
the side’s previous iteration lacked, while
Courtois’s gargantuan presence was highlighted
again at the Parc des Princes.

Though this may be one of Mourinho’s more
gifted and exciting teams – they started the
season in astonishing fashion, unbeaten until
December and averaging 2.3 goals per game –
they are, ironically, at their best when
suffocating opponents. The more dug-in and
resilient the players must be, the more they
seem to relish the challenge, and they have
veered much more towards those defensive
traits as the season has progressed.
A New Year’s Day defeat to Tottenham, in which
Mourinho saw his side concede five times for
only the second time in his career, was exactly
the wake-up call his often overly cocksure team
needed. Since then, the Blues have conceded
just three league goals and have tied
Southampton for the most clean sheets (13) in
the Premier League.
They have transformed from a slick, expansive
side – one that could be accused of playing at
too frantic a pace in the early stages of the
season – to a stubborn, stingy one. Costa is a
perfect summation of that shift, moving from
free-scoring poacher to line-leading, mischief-
making warrior. In Mourinho’s eyes, though, his
side are no less commanding in how they
approach and control matches even without the
ball – especially when they grab an early goal.
That was the case in League Cup meetings with
Liverpool and Tottenham. At Anfield and
Wembley, Chelsea’s opponents had 61 per cent
and 63% possession respectively. In both
instances Mourinho ceded the ball to the other
team and got the result he needed – just as he
did in Paris.
“If dominate is to have the ball and to move it
without progression, yes, they also dominate,”
teased the Portuguese on the eve of PSG’s visit,
suggesting that his side will be happy to once
again afford the Ligue 1 outfit the side-to-side
possession they enjoyed, or endured, in the first
leg.
For Mourinho there is clearly a distinction to be
made between playing negatively and playing
sensibly. Setting up to counter can have a scent
of positivity if the side break with verve, pace
and cutting efficiency; you don't have to play
attacking football to create chances. His fabled
bus has led to many stale contests – as well as
masterful, absorbing defensive displays, like
that produced by the Inter side he took to Camp
Nou – but the emphasis is always on doing what is
necessary, on getting the job done.
In this respect, the second leg meeting with
Liverpool in the League Cup offers the biggest
hint at how Chelsea might approach Wednesday’s
game – even if the away-goal rule was slightly
different, kicking in only after 120 minutes.
Mourinho’s team were always organised and
compact, but never overly so. They shaded
possession with 55%, they refused to allow the
Merseysiders to settle and Eden Hazard was
given license to roam forward, dribbling at and
darting in behind the defence. They were
reactive and cautious but never on the backfoot.

The dilemma for Mourinho, then, is not whether
he should lean on his usual tactics, which are
increasingly in sync with his new-era Chelsea
side, but the extent to which he needs to revert
to type and, specifically, how he will use Kurt
Zouma. The young Frenchman has deputised
manfully for the part-suspended, part-injured
Nemanja Matic, but the midfielder will return to
the starting XI to face PSG.
The Chelsea boss must be, at the very least,
considering the prospect and implications of
pairing Matic and Zouma together in front of
the defence, of clogging up the midfield. Zouma
was effective in doing so against West Ham and
Spurs despite very much being an out-of-
position centre-back – he played seven fewer
passes than Petr Cech in the League Cup final –
but that would likely be a step too far even for
Mourinho, drawing PSG's attacking trident
closer to goal than is comfortable and ceding too
much momentum, a beast he is always careful to
control.
It is theSpecial One’s management of game
situations that has made him such a success, of
knowing how pragmatic he needs to be. PSG
demand caution and respect, but no more than
Liverpool or Spurs did.
The bus won't quite be parked, but the keys will
be in the ignition. It is that awareness of what is
needed to win football matches, the marriage
between playing your own game and stopping the
other team from playing theirs, that makes
Mourinho, and Chelsea, English football’s best –
and perhaps only – hope in Europe.

the special one has alot to watch out for because a game like this you av to involve psychology. a ealy goal lead will be gud for chelsea but d problem is dis is exactly wat d two teams will be looking out for.
so jose av to first demoralise PSG wit a playing style dat will not let dem enjoy thre time on d field (BRT parking) culd be a strategy or slow pace game like we saw schalke did to madrid. Seriously d two coaches av alot to do as well d players

afolag:
the special one has alot to watch out for because a game like this you av to involve psychology. a ealy goal lead will be gud for chelsea but d problem is dis is exactly wat d two teams will be looking out for.
so jose av to first demoralise PSG wit a playing style dat will not let dem enjoy thre time on d field (BRT parking) culd be a strategy or slow pace game like we saw schalke did to madrid. Seriously d two coaches av alot to do as well d players

which one be brt parkin o . looool

Ukeachu1:


which one be brt parkin o . looool

dat kind wey b say, zouma kahil terry curtious and peter czech go join