5 biggest mistakes in Jose Mourinho's managerial career

Jose Mourinho divides opinion like few others. Some love him for his charisma while others hate him for his perceived arrogance.Regardless of your opinion of him as a person, you can't argue with his ability on the touchline. His record of going without a home defeat in a staggering 151 games, over nine years with four separate clubs is unparalleled.He is undoubtedly one of the best managers in the world, but he has been plagued by some disconcerting situations. Some of these were tactical mistakes while the rest were moments where he brought trouble down on himself.Here are the 5 biggest mistakes made by the ‘Special One'.

#5 Transfer dealings in 2013-14

In the summer of 2013, Mourinho wanted to sign Wayne Rooney to solve his striking problems. After failing to do so, he ended up with 32 year old Samuel Eto’o because he didn’t have a better plan B. While his rivals had Luis Suarez and Sergio Aguero leading the line, Mourinho was left with Samuel Eto’o, Fernando Torres and Demba Ba.

His decision to loan out promising youngster Romelu Lukaku to Everton back fired after he went on to score 15 goals which was 6 more than any other Chelsea striker could manage.

In January of the same season, he decided to sell Juan Mata to rivals Manchester United. That seemed strange considering Mata had scored 32 goals and had an incredible 48 assists in all competitions in the previous 2 seasons and was crowned the club's Player of the Year two years in a row.

Mourinho favoured Oscar in the No.10 role but Mata has more goals and assists, made more key passes, created more chances and has a higher shot and passing accuracy than the Brazilian since his move to Old Trafford.

Chelsea went on to finish the season trophy less and Mourinho’s managerial miscalculations probably had something to do with it.

#4 Bizzare decision in the FA cup vs Newcastle

During Mourinho’s first spell in charge of Chelsea, he came up against Newcastle in the quarterfinals of the FA Cup with his team chasing an unprecedented quadruple.

With his side trailing 1-0 at the half-time, Mourinho strangely decided to make all three of his substitutions at the break. His gamble soon backfired as his goal keeper Cudicini was sent off, Wayne Bridge was stretchered off and Damien Duff was forced to play on through injury effectively leaving Chelsea with just eight men as they crashed out of the Cup.

Had this move paid off, he would have been branded as a genius, but on this occasion it didn’t. Chelsea’s dream season that promised so much was over, and Mourinho had to settle for just the Premier League title. If Mourinho chose to look back at his career, he would probably single this out as one of his biggest mistakes.

#3 The deliberate sending off of Alonso and Ramos

During the 2010 Champions League group stage match with Ajax, Mourinho appeared to instruct Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso to pick up deliberate second yellow cards for time wasting. Both players duly obliged. This meant that Ramos and Alonso would serve their suspensions during a meaningless game against Auxerre, and start the knock out stages with a fresh disciplinary slate.

After investigation, UEFA fined Mourinho €30,000 and Real Madrid €100,000 for "improper conduct". Money is never an issue for Madrid, but the guilty verdict was an embarrassment for the club.

As brilliant as this move was, it was dishonest and against the spirit and rules of the game which is why it led to Mourinho losing the respect of many.

#2 Losing the Dressing room at Madrid

Mourinho is known for having one of the biggest egos in the game. That ego sometimes comes in the way of his ability as a coach. The perfect example of this was his decision to drop the hugely popular Iker Casillas during his time with Real Madrid. Casillas was the No. 1 choice for the World Cup and European Championship holders and had just been voted into the FIFPro World XI for the fifth consecutive season.

There was no tactical reason behind the decision. It was simply Mourinho’s way of showing everyone who was boss.

His fractious time at Madrid was also marred by high profile bust ups with Sergio Ramos and even the team’s best player Cristiano Ronaldo. Casillas and Ramos were the club captain and vice captain respectively and along with being hugely influential in the dressing room were also fan favourites. Judging by the fans' jeers and whistles at him, he had angered the Madridistas.

Mourinho had picked a battle he could not win and eventually led to him leaving the club.

#1 The Anders Frisk incident

In March 2005, during a Champions League game between Chelsea and Barcelona, Jose Mourinho accused Barcelona head coach Frank Rijkaard and referee Anders Frisk of breaking FIFA rules by having a meeting at half-time in the referee’s dressing room.

Mourinho claimed that this ‘meeting’ led to Chelsea striker Didier Drogba being sent off in the second half. It was a grave accusation, one that was never proven, but led to the resignation of Anders Frisk after he received a lot of criticism and even death threats from Chelsea fans.

In the aftermath of this incident, Mourinho was hit with a touchline ban and fined £250,000 for inappropriate conduct. UEFA referee’s chief, Volker Roth later labeled him an “enemy of football” which has left the biggest stain on his career.