Max Allegri said that Jose Mourinho’s ‘arrogance hides deep-seated insecurity’ and the Roma coach throwing yet more players under the bus after the 4-3 defeat to Juventus suggests truth in that analysis.

The Special One continues to have the same nickname he gave himself when joining Chelsea in 2004, having just won the Champions League against all odds with FC Porto.

He took the Stamford Bridge side to success in the Premier League, then won the Treble with Inter in 2010, but everything since leaving the Nerazzurri has felt like a slow decline. His negative style of football increasingly out of fashion, parking the bus no longer as effective as it once was.

Relatively disappointing at Real Madrid, dismissals from Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and his return to Chelsea, followed by a new experience at the notoriously difficult Roma.

Allegri, who was in the stands due to a touchline ban yesterday, had said a few years ago that Mourinho’s “arrogance hides deep-seated insecurity” and constantly repeating the same talking points makes him “almost a parody of himself.”

Mourinho: ‘Roma players have weak mentality’

We’ve certainly seen that in abundance just seven months into his Giallorossi experience, flying from praising the Italian press for asking tactical questions to refusing communication with some of the media elements.

Above all, Mourinho has added a new element to his traditional blaming of the referee/authorities/unnamed and unidentified Powers That Be, now gleefully throwing players under the bus at any opportunity.

Following the 6-1 Europa Conference League defeat to Bodo/Glimt, he announced that the squad was only made up of 12 players and the rest were sub-standard filler material, not trusted to play again.

After the 3-1 loss to Milan, Mourinho assured it was “not a tactical issue, it was all individual errors” behind their poor performance.

Throwing away a 3-1 lead in seven minutes to lose 4-3 against Juventus, the coach zeroed in on the “weak” players and their mentality.

“The fear set in. A psychological complex. It’s not a problem for me having 3-2, it’s a problem for them. For my team.”

All agree the game changed when Felix Afena-Gyan was replaced by Eldor Shomurodov, but rather than take responsibility for making the substitution, Mourinho blamed his player instead.

“The 3-2 killed us, because Felix had an extraordinary game, which finished with a sprint against Cuadrado. I take him off and his replacement gets it all wrong.”

There are numerous examples this season of Mourinho individually calling out players who let him down, when he isn’t in the mood for a mere blanket condemnation of everyone at his disposal.

How many players can he point to before he eventually has to turn that harsh gaze on himself? Maybe Allegri was right, the arrogance is hiding insecurity.

23 thought on “Mourinho parked the bus, now throws Roma players under it”
  1. Did we watch the same game? Surely the 3rd and 4th goal from Juventus, and the failure by Pellegrini to score the tying goal, are all due to individual errors? The Roma defender on the goal line turns away from the scuffed shot, and instead of blocking it, deflects it into the net. He literally could have just stood there and blocked it. The 4th, Smalling must do better to either head clear, out for a corner, or to track the run from De Sciglio.

    Whichever way you look at it, the difference between 0 points, 1 point and 3 points on the day, was due to individual errors. And asking an experienced player to take the place of a youngster for the final crucial minutes of a game is quite standard for a manager, this is not some innovation that Mourinho has come up with.

  2. This has to be the most stupid write up ever!! 7 goals scored and you call it park the bus?? Maybe watch the game before writing such garbage!! 🤦‍♂️

  3. Absolutely agree with you Luigi!! Writing up about a game and it seems like the guy who wrote this didn’t even see it. Lazy journalism at its best!!

  4. I was pulling for Roma in the game, and watching them build that 3-1 lead seemed promising. The game was in hand for Roma, and then it all fell apart quickly. The penalty kick awarded to Roma towards the end was a gift, that was squandered TWICE!!! What a God awful touch on the rebound by Pellegrini, the hell was going through his mind!? I can’t put this loss on Mourinho. The Roma players flushed away three points.

  5. The game changed when Juventus brought Morata and Arthur on and pushed Locatelli further up the pitch. Roma never adjusted. The game was starting to get away from them and Mourinho made the wrong substitutions.

  6. Roma dominated this game until the collapse and get its titled Jose parks the bus lol!! The hate For Mourinho is strong with this one!!

  7. And Allagri is ultra attacking in his tactics? Who was he blaming for poor results in recent weeks – his players

  8. I think some people here didn’t understand the bottom line with parking the bus. Good point from the editor. “3-2 killed us” was super silly.

  9. If you don’t have what to say against a good coach just go and be with your family.
    We all saw the game how tactically it was played and managed by Roma due to Mourinho’ tactics. Don’t distract him, is doing a good job at Roma please give him chance.
    Those players were a disgrace. How can a player fail to score a rebound in such circumstances and I don’t know why he doesn’t surrender to others who are capable of scoring penalties.

  10. This love still shown for Mourinho (comments section and social media) is like I’m living in the Twilight zone!!

    I’ve never witnessed a (now) more incompetent and toxic manager, yet Roma fans somehow defend him, even though this team is so much worse than previous years (after spending $100m!!!).

    A great coach that is only able to trust 11 players, gets absolutely disgraced to a Norwegian side, blames ALL the refs, blames individual players, claims Villar and Diawara are sub par? This man is an absolute washed up fool and I even think think he himself believes it (he’s so insecure its not funny)!

    What side has Mourinho ever rebuilt? From what I’ve seen this season, there is absolutely no light at the end of the tunnel for Roma until he’s sacked (and out of work for good).

    Thank you Susy, this article is a breath of fresh air and please keep them up to enable me to keep my sanity!

  11. If Roma fans are satisfied with this washed-up manager then who are we to say otherwise. Be careful though, the way Mourinho is turning on everybody from the media to referees to his players and staff, soon he’s gonna turn on the fans too.

    As a neutral I believe Fonseca was doing a much better job, playing good proactive, attacking football with limited resources compared to Mourinho.

  12. @Milan fan you obviously didn’t watch the game, so mind your own club. Only people who live under the rock believes Mourihno still play ultra-defensive football with his Roma team.

  13. @Romanista, you are right – Mourinho does not park a bus anymore, he concedes so many goals against whatever team, and he is extremely toxic coach. Always badmouthing his team, refs and everything around it.

    But the worst thing is, that Roma will not change half of the line up in the summer and he will have to work with the same players he’s badmouthing.

    BTW, what is his salary?

  14. How many European trophies has all the other coaches (combined) won? The problem is that clubs sack coaches like it is a bodily function (Seinfeld ref). Give coaches longer and results will improve. At least he takes on underperforming clubs with no money, imagine Pep taking on a project like Roma? Never in a million years.

  15. Mourinho for me is ok, when he was back in RM he was the only one who had the courage to publicly complain about grave allegations.

    So for me when Mourinho says something I know he is serious.
    He’s a typical old school boss, the employee does well he praises the employee, if the employee stinks he tells you to your face, what’s wrong with that, he’s honest about things.

  16. Whether he failed to react or adjust, whether he made the wrong subs or not, whether there were individual mistakes or not does not matter.

    You just do not single out players like that in front of the media just to protect yourself.

    What a small man.

  17. @ Ravenelli – if he accepts the blame, he will be sacked as many decent coaches were – Shevchenko will be the next. Perhaps never to work again. These players are paid more than an average persons annual salary in one week. If they have a poor game or are just not good enough it is no harm to point that out

  18. Mrs. Campanale, you used to praise Osvaldo and Rudiger for criticizing Roma‘s mentality, because they speak what you, me, and many other romanisti think. But when Mourinho says the very same thing, you and your colleagues criticize him. What is the difference? Besides the name of the person who is stating what we all are thinking, besides the name of the person who is stating the obvious?
    Also, why this ridiculous title that has nothing to do with the content of the article? Mourinho didn’t park the bus. Roma happened between the 70th and 77th minute of the game, and as a romanisti you know what those words mean.

  19. Mourinho fans are like a cult as expressed by a pundit just recently. Mindless zombies.

    They ate 6 goals by Bodo/Glimt ! OWN IT. At least Juve ate 4 but it was by Chelsea. The team gets bought by Americans so all of a sudden they bring in Bryan Reynolds. As if the USA is going to start supporting Roma, lol.

    This year it’s either been the Referee’s or his players. Never him.

    The man has an inferiority complex because he never played at a decent level for a sustained period of time. Always picking fights with other Managers and he is always the one that instigates it. Conte, sure. Conte gives as good as he gets so no problem there. But Ancelotti? Why the need for the hate towards him years back? Then of course he tries to pick a fight with one of the true gentlemen in the game, Mr Claudio Ranieri. I mean, seriously, who does that? And his criticism is that Ranieri doesn’t speak as good English as Mourinho does. If you pick a fight with Claudio Ranieri, you got serious problems.

    Roma deserve what they are getting. As long as he’s around, long may it continue.

  20. Mourinho fans are like a cult as expressed by a pundit just recently. Mindless zombies.

    They ate 6 goals by Bodo/Glimt ! OWN IT. At least Juve ate 4 but it was by Chelsea. The team gets bought by Americans so all of a sudden they bring in Bryan Reynolds. As if the USA is going to start supporting Roma, lol.

    This year it’s either been the Referee’s or his players. Never him.

    The man has an inferiority complex because he never played at a decent level for a sustained period of time. Always picking fights with other Managers and he is always the one that instigates it. Conte, sure. Conte gives as good as he gets so no problem there. But Ancelotti? Why the need for the hate towards him years back? Then of course he tries to pick a fight with one of the true gentlemen in the game, Mr Claudio Ranieri. I mean, seriously, who does that? And his criticism is that Ranieri doesn’t speak as good English as Mourinho does. If you pick a fight with Claudio Ranieri, you got serious problems.

  21. Regarding to article. I think many of you got it wrong.
    I think it was saying that Mourinho used to park a bus and now he throwing his players under his own bus.

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