Jose has edge over Arsenal in Europe

Jose Mourinho's attitude to winning and losing in football was apparent from his very first game in charge at Stamford Bridge.

The new Chelsea head coach leapt from the dugout the instant he realised that centre-back William Gallas had been seized by a moment of attacking madness during the 1-0 win over Manchester United in the first game of the season.

Gallas cruised forward with the ball at his feet and was deep in the United half when he lost possession. As he turned to resume his defensive role he could see a furious Mourinho waving his finger at him from the sidelines.

It was clear that the coach was instructing Gallas to remain in his defensive position and not venture upfield again. Ever!

That moment reminded me of Brian Clough, who placed the same shackles

on the outstanding England defender Des Walker during their time together at Nottingham Forest.

Much of what Mourinho does and says reminds me of Clough. Egotistical, provocative and brash, they are similar in many ways - not least because they both conquered European-football's greatest challenge. The fact Mourinho won the Champions League last season with tonight's opponents Porto inevitably adds to the pressure on him and heightens the level of expectation among Stamford Bridge loyalists.

In real terms, though, Chelsea are still novices at this level of the game. This is their third season in the Champions League. Compare that to Arsenal, playing in their seventh competition and yet to progress beyond the quarter-finals.

There is evidence that suggests that new, improved Chelsea are better equipped for a European campaign than their illustrious London neighbours, now so dominant in the domestic game.

Reasons for the Chelsea fans to be optimistic include:

  • Mourinho, as the winning coach with Porto, now knows exactly what is required to sustain a successful challenge.
  • So does the coaching staff he brought with him from Porto - including, significantly, the 26-year-old scout Andre Villas Boas, who provides the detailed breakdown on the opposition.
  • Mourinho enjoys the benefit of a squad that includes four recent Champions League winners: Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho with Porto, and Claude Makelele and Geremi with Real Madrid.
  • The confidence born of knowing they got close under Claudio Ranieri last season when they beat Arsenal 3-2 over two legs in the quarter-final before going out to Monaco.

There is another element that should not be underestimated. Tactically, Mourinho is a rarity among top coaches in the modern game, encouraging the kind of siege mentality that was once so prevalent among the top Italian teams.

He favours a conventional 4-4-2 - much like Arsene Wenger - but the emphasis is on preventing the opposition from scoring. That's why Boas is so important. From his information Mourinho devises a game plan that enables his team to shut down the opposition and exploit their weaknesses.

As Gallas discovered on the opening day, defending under Mourinho is a matter of discipline and tenacity. They defend with an intensity that weakens the morale of the opposition.

Ferreira, the right-back who followed Mourinho from Porto, played every minute of last season's Champions League campaign and, for his new team-mates, is the classic example of a defender playing to instructions.

Last season he faced many of the world's finest left-footed players - Zinedine Zidane and Ryan Giggs included - and they didn't get a kick.

In eight first-team games this season Chelsea have conceded just one goal. In their eight games Arsenal have conceded seven.

But Arsenal's exhilarating attacking style has produced 23 goals in that time while Chelsea have scored just 10, three of those coming in 1-0 victories, once of course the speciality of George Graham's Arsenal.

Rather like Graham, Mourinho is a coach who values solidarity above spectacle, discipline above daring.

He demonstrated with Porto that, in Champions League terms, a wellorganised defence can be of greater benefit than a blistering attack.

Champions League statistics reveal the advantage of sound defensive play. Ten of the 12 winners since 1993 conceded less than a goal a game and, on average, kept clean sheets in virtually half of their matches. In this sense Mourinho's Chelsea fit the bill nicely.

While he concedes that neutrals might prefer to watch Arsenal, he's already pointed out that their flamboyant style of play is unlikely to add the Champions League trophy to the Highbury silverware.

"I'd always take 1-0 in preference to the risk of 4-5," he said.

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