Chelsea boss believes Sam Allardyce should be named manager of the year if he keeps West Ham in the Premier League top four.
Jose Mourinho has called a Christmas truce with Sam Allardyce by admitting that it was stupid to accuse West Ham United of playing football from the 19th-century last season. Mourinho also believes that Allardyce, 60, should be named manager of the year if the West Ham manager keeps his team in the Premier League top four.
West Ham secured a goalless draw at Stamford Bridge last season, which helped them to secure top-flight safety, but they travel to Chelsea, the league leaders, in fourth place this term. The Hammers’ backs-to-the-wall display in January prompted Mourinho to say: This is football from the 19th century. The only other thing I could bring was a Black and Decker [tool] to destroy the wall.
Asked about the 19th-century remark almost a year on, the Chelsea manager said: Stupid, silly words. You know, I think both teams are different than last season. We are a better team, we have more creativity, more goals, more attacking dynamic.
West Ham are also a better team. They are not a team just not to concede, they also try to score goals, so the game will be very difficult. I think both teams have the capacity now to give a completely different game.
Last season, I had a couple of words about the way they played, not the way they played, but the way they started wasting time after two minutes, which I don’t like.
Mourinho got to know Allardyce well over the summer when he managed a rest-of-the-world team of celebrities and former players against Allardyce’s England for Soccer Aid. The pair have stayed in touch and Mourinho is an admirer of West Ham’s transformation under Allardyce, who he believes should now have shaken off his long-ball manager tag.
We exchange lots of messages, Mourinho said. We had a week together for the Soccer Aid match. We had a week together, having lunch, having dinner. You get a different type of relation, know the person much, much better, which you can’t do when you play each other and see each other for one minute before and after. I like him very, very much. I’m very happy that everything is going well.
If they finish top four then Big Sam will be manager of the season and West Ham team of the season because it would be an amazing achievement, if you compare West Ham’s investment with the other teams around them, to finish in the top four. To be fourth for a team that everybody was expecting them to fight for survival, to fight to be fourth, I think is a fantastic achievement.
West Ham effectively sealed their Premier League status by winning four successive games after drawing at Chelsea last season and are now playing far more attractive football after a successful summer in the transfer market.
Mourinho said: Last season, they were in big trouble. When you are fighting against relegation, you have to do everything to get points. It was a turning point for them as it gave them the confidence they needed. They stayed in the division, but this season is different. You see the way they play every game.
They are a more complete team, more difficult, different team, better players and I think also Big Sam is showing now that he’s not what people sometimes say. They say he’s a defensive coach, only knows how to play physically, direct, long balls, but he is giving a different impression of himself, which can make the game more difficult for us but at the same time more attractive for everyone.
He’s got a big history in the Premier League. But now he’s giving not just the image of the competitive coach who plays in a certain way, he’s playing in a different way. That is what he deserves. He’s had a fantastic career. So many games, after Harry Redknapp he’s the one maybe with as many matches. He deserves my respect. I respect him as a coach, as a person and as a coach he has had a beautiful career.
The omens are good for Chelsea, however. Mourinho has not lost against the Hammers as manager at Stamford Bridge and has never lost against Allardyce. Chelsea have also not lost a Boxing Day game since Mourinho began his first spell at the club, but the Portuguese warned: Maybe I lose the next three games, so [zips up mouth] I say nothing.