Featured Image Credit: Alamy
Topics: Jose Mourinho
Jack Kenmare
Jose Mourinho and Andre Villas-Boas spared no expense in their preparation for Barcelona in the 2005/06 season.
To be fair, it would be underselling what the two Portuguese football managers did in their tactical analysis on the Spanish outfit.
Thanks to Performance Analysis in Action, football fans now have the opportunity for a behind-the-scenes look into the Special One's management.
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Check out some of the highlights below.
Mourinho and Villas-Boas looking at Carles Puyol: "Aggressive, but very emotional. Gets crazy with the referee in fouls against him and goes mad in provocations. Aggressive defender, plays in anticipation using [his] body.
"Bad positional sense (comes to midfield with striker) and bad leadership of defence (wants to do offside when it's not possible). Because he uses his body strength to regain possession, we can provoke contacts in the final third or outside the box. Good heading ability and power."
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Mourinho and Villas-Boas looking at Andrés Iniesta: "Always comes on from the bench. Very dynamic player. Great radius of action. Speed of movement and speed of execution. Tricky player."
Mourinho and Villas-Boas looking at Ronaldinho: "Technical quality to avoid defender on first touch. When opened receives the ball and the attacks full-back 1 vs 1 (inside to shoot or outside to cross).
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"Much more dangerous when provocating spaces inside (between lines) from those positions forces a central defender out and then with a pen. Pass releases Messi, Eto'o or the penetrating midfielder. Very poor defensive transition and defensive work -- exploit. Constant cheater -- falls easily."
The current Roma manager was well aware of the threat posed by Lionel Messi, too, who had broken into Barcelona's senior team back in 2004.
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Mourinho and Villas-Boas looking at Messi: "Quality + speed, but very left footed. Exactly the same behaviours as Ronaldinho. Inside between lines or diagonals. Encourages team forward by ball driving. Amazing 1 vs 1. If option is to foul him, it's important to do it outside the box and as early as possible. [Has] recovered from an injury recently."
What did you make of the report?