“What did you think about the penalty incident?” “I didn’t see it.”

“What about the potential red-card offence committed by your centre-back in the first half?” “I didn’t see it.”

Those were not the words of Arsene Wenger circa 2006, but Jose Mourinho on Sunday. Leighton Baines’ late equaliser for Everton had hit the Manchester United manager so hard he suddenly found himself channelling his sworn enemy when asked to recap on the 1-1 draw in the post-match press conference.

But perhaps there is more to Mourinho’s mimicking of the Arsenal manager than just the refusal to acknowledge unfavourable moments in the game. For just as Wenger spent years refusing to contemplate a switch away from the 4-4-2 formation to which he was wedded for so long, the Portuguese revealed that his decision to throw on accidental game-changer Marouane Fellaini came out of a deep-seated belief that the only way to withstand a direct approach from the opposition is to call upon the tallest player on your books.

“I thought you would know more about football than you do because the answer is obvious,” he blasted when asked why the Belgian had replaced Henrikh Mkhitaryan for the final five minutes at Goodison Park. “Everton do not play beautiful football anymore. They are now direct. Their style is direct. Williams is direct. Everything is direct, and when they are losing they intensify their directness. When you have a player who is two metres tall you bring him on to deal with that.”

Those were not the words of Arsene Wenger circa 2006, but Jose Mourinho on Sunday. Leighton Baines’ late equaliser for Everton had hit the Manchester United manager so hard he suddenly found himself channelling his sworn enemy when asked to recap on the 1-1 draw in the post-match press conference.

But perhaps there is more to Mourinho’s mimicking of the Arsenal manager than just the refusal to acknowledge unfavourable moments in the game. For just as Wenger spent years refusing to contemplate a switch away from the 4-4-2 formation to which he was wedded for so long, the Portuguese revealed that his decision to throw on accidental game-changer Marouane Fellaini came out of a deep-seated belief that the only way to withstand a direct approach from the opposition is to call upon the tallest player on your books.

“I thought you would know more about football than you do because the answer is obvious,” he blasted when asked why the Belgian had replaced Henrikh Mkhitaryan for the final five minutes at Goodison Park. “Everton do not play beautiful football anymore. They are now direct. Their style is direct. Williams is direct. Everything is direct, and when they are losing they intensify their directness. When you have a player who is two metres tall you bring him on to deal with that.”

So why not seek to use the option which had served them best as a way of relieving pressure? Why resort to the base level of football demonstrated by Ronald Koeman’s side in an attempt to fight fire with fire? Of course, Mourinho would have insisted it was a masterstroke of a move if Fellaini had not brought down Idrissa Gueye to hand Baines the chance to convert from 12 yards, but getting the right result doesn’t make every decision made on the way the correct one.

So why not seek to use the option which had served them best as a way of relieving pressure? Why resort to the base level of football demonstrated by Ronald Koeman’s side in an attempt to fight fire with fire? Of course, Mourinho would have insisted it was a masterstroke of a move if Fellaini had not brought down Idrissa Gueye to hand Baines the chance to convert from 12 yards, but getting the right result doesn’t make every decision made on the way the correct one.

Source:goal.com