José Mourinho accuses West Ham of playing ‘football from the 19th century’

José Mourinho accused West Ham United of playing “football from the 19th century” to nullify Chelsea and the Portuguese claimed Sam Allardyce’s players had feigned injury and wasted time to secure their goalless draw on Wednesday.

The stalemate cost Chelsea the chance to go above Arsenal into second. Mourinho did acknowledge that West Ham’s defensiveness was understandable, given their predicament in the bottom three, but said the game did not befit the Premier League. Allardyce, when told of his opposite number’s comments, laughed and said: “I don’t give a shite, to be honest.”

Mourinho had been infuriated by the visitors’ tactics and had spoken to Allardyce in the tunnel after the game. “It’s very difficult to play a football match where only one team wants to play, very difficult,” Mourinho said. “A match is about two teams playing. This match was only one team playing and another team not. I told Big Sam that, because they need points, to come here and do it the way they did . . . is it acceptable? Maybe yes.

"I cannot be too critical because, if I was in this position, I don't know if I would do the same. But at the same time this is not Premier League. This is not the best league in the world. This is football from the 19th century."

'Pretending injuries'
Asked to elaborate on what he meant by that, he said: "Pretending injuries; cheating . . . I don't know if that's the right word; the goalkeeper taking time not after minute 70 but in the first minute; 10 defenders in the box, defenders not putting a foot outside the box. All very basic. But I'm nobody to criticise. They are happy. They get a point. I hope the point means something for them at the end of the season.

“Sam was laughing when we spoke. His objective was to come here and take a point. His objective was not to come here and play good football, or win, or feel part of the quality of the Premier League. He takes the point. After that he’s a happy man and I’m a sad guy.

“Hopefully they have conditions in the future, if they survive, to present a different kind of football coming here. They have good players, a good squad. Look at their bench and it’s full of quality players. So hopefully, for the good of the Premier League, this was just a consequence of their need – which I respect totally – and hopefully they can play football.”

Allardyce, who praised his team’s resilience after recent poor form, could not contain his amusement when told of Mourinho’s post-match outburst. “He can’t take it, can he?” he said. “He can’t take it because we’ve out-tactic-ed him, out-witted him. He just can’t cope. He can tell me all he wants. I don’t give a shite, to be honest. I love to see Chelsea players moaning at the referee, trying to intimidate the officials, and José jumping up and down in his technical area. It’s great to see.”

Chelsea’s failure to win left them third in the table, three points behind the new leaders, Manchester City, whom they visit on Monday. “For many months now have I said the same thing: one team is an end product and the other is a team trying to build,” said the Chelsea manager.

"For me it's not a surprise to see them top. We go there next Monday and the result at this moment is 0-0. Are they favourites? Yes. Are they favourites to score again four, five, six goals? Yes. But it's 0-0 now and we go there to compete."
Guardian Service