Michael Owen has savaged the careers of Tottenham Hotspur boss Antonio Conte and his old rival Jose Mourinho by claiming that ‘my ten-year-old daughter can do something with a counter-attacking team’.
The former England striker has suggested that the style in which Conte and Mourinho deploy isn’t a real skill because he thinks, what Pep Guardiola teaches at Manchester City and what Jurgen Klopp has done at Liverpool, ‘that is a skill’, as he told Premier League Productions (06/11/22 at 7:20 pm).
Both Conte and Mourinho, as Spurs fans have witnessed, like to sit back, soak up the pressure, and put more emphasis on their defence, before allowing their attack-minded players to talk on the ball.
For Mourinho, when he was in north London, the feeling was his teams were brilliant in the first half, but too negative in the second half, especially if they opened the scoring, and it’s the exact opposite for Conte.
But, one thing that can’t be argued, is that their attacking players score goals and deliver trophy upon trophy under their stewardship.
When Mourinho was at Spurs, Harry Kane produced the best season of his career, scoring 23 goals and supplying 14 assists. He walked away with both the Golden Boot award and the top assist maker.
And now with Conte, Son Heung-min produced the best of his career in 2021/22 when he won the Golden Boot alongside Mo Salah, with 23 strikes to his name.
Despite all of that, Owen made it pretty clear that he ‘hates’ when the likes of Mourinho and Conte are praised for their teams sitting back and then producing a ‘masterclass’ if they win.
“After years and years of playing football, I think the hardest way to do it is to be brave, bold, is set to your teams to go out and attack, to out possesion and out football people,” said Owen.
“In all my years of football, counter-attacking and sitting back in numbers is not a hard thing to coach. It’s not a hard thing to play. Just sit back and play. It’s horrid (to play in).
“I hate it. I really hate it when I hear pundits and journalists saying he’s done a great job. Jose Mourinho, he’s outwitted them and it’s a masterclass. And Conte’s way.
“Do you know what? I am sure my ten-year-old daughter can do something with a counter-attacking team. The brilliant coaches are these people, the Pep Guardiola’s of this world, and Jurgen Klopp, they have got a style of play that just blows teams away. I don’t care who you are. When you go to the Etihad, you go to Anfield, and then you are getting whopped. When they are on form, it’s because they are just too good in every department. That is a skill.”
WHY DOESN’T OWEN GO INTO COACHING?
If Owen thinks counter-attacking football or defensive football is so easy to teach, then why doesn’t he put his boots on and coach himself?
At the end of the day, the likes of Mourinho and Conte have trophy-laden careers from it, including the Portuguese coaching his Chelsea side to concede only a record-breaking 15 goals during the 2004/05 season.
That’s a ridiculous record and is up there with Guardiola’s 100 points side, the great Sir Alex Ferguson teams and Arsene Wenger’s invincibles.
But I suppose it’s easy to coach, isn’t it Micheal?! Including those triumphant Champions League nights for Porto and Inter Milan.
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