‘Boring, boring Chelsea’… the chants rang out from the Arsenal fans as the Blues held their side to a 0-0 draw to make another step towards the title and effectively kill off, arguably, their biggest rivals’ hopes of lifting the top prize. Barring a monumental collapse, the Blues will claim the top prize in the English game, and they thoroughly deserve it, too.

But despite the excitement in west London, Mourinho had to respond to the claims, digging at the Gunners for their lack of silverware in recent times. Arsenal fans have since pointed back at the often pragmatic style of play Mourinho adopts, but what’s wrong with it? The Chelsea boss is indeed an exciting manager, and here are FIVE reasons why…

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Success

In football, winning trophies is exciting. That’s the aim after all. And no manager does it better than Mourinho His honours list includes some of the biggest and best pots around in club action, including successes in Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and, or course, English football. He’s even won the Champions League with two different clubs and ended Barcelona’s La Liga dominance.

Say what you want about how it gets done, the excitement of those massive victories outweighs it all.

Been involved in some of the biggest matches

The ‘ghost goal’, the famous 0-1 with Barcelona at the Nou Camp, the 2004 Champions League Final win with lowly Porto… Just a small selection of the top matches Mourinho has been involved in, with excitement, tactical nous and controversy all on show. No matter what happens there’s a story, and isn’t that exciting?

Helped to nurture the best players

Didier Drogba, John Terry, Frank Lampard, Eden Hazard, Petr Cech… Just a handful of top, top players who have Mourinho to thank for their success and talent. Some bosses just let talented players go out and play, but the Portuguese coach moulds his stars. Look at Hazard, a world class talent in an attacking sense, but now he’s added a defensively resolute nature to his game which makes him, arguably, the best all round attacking midfielder on the planet.

Turned Chelsea into a great side

Before Jose Mourinho, Chelsea were very much a ‘second string’ top tier side. Title challenges were not commonplace, while top stars came and went. But with Mourinho, and Roman Abramovich’s cash, the Blues are now one of the most feared sides in the beautiful game and have cemented their slot at the very top of Premier League football. Pretty exciting for their fans, right?

Great quotes…

Over to the big man…

“I think he is one of these people who is a voyeur. He likes to watch other people. There are some guys who, when they are at home, have a big telescope to see what happens in other families. He speaks, speaks, speaks about Chelsea.” – on Arsène Wenger.

“We would have lost if there were six Inter players left on the pitch.” – After defeating AC Milan 2-0 with nine men.

“Sometimes you see beautiful people with no brains. Sometimes you have ugly people who are intelligent, like scientists.” – On the state of the Stamford Bridge pitch prior to their home Champions League game against Barcelona in 2006.

“Young players are a little bit like melons. Only when you open and taste the melon are you 100 per cent sure that the melon is good.

Sometimes you have beautiful melons but they don’t taste very good and some other melons are a bit ugly and when you open them, the taste is fantastic… One thing is youth football, one thing is professional football. The bridge is a difficult one to cross and they have to play with us and train with us for us to taste the melon.

For example, Scott Sinclair, the way he played against Arsenal and Man United, we know the melon we have.”

“I saw their players and manager go for a lap of honour after losing to us in their last home game. In Portugal if you do this, they throw bottles at you.” – on Manchester United.

“Barcelona have a great club. But in 200 years of history they have won the European Cup only once. I have been managing for a few years and I have already won the same amount.” – said during the 2005-2006 season. Barcelona went on to win the Champions League.

“How do you say cheating in Catalan?” – after Chelsea were beaten 2-1 by Barcelona in a match where Mourinho accused Lionel Messi of getting Asier del Horno sent off.

“It was a goal that came from the moon – from the Anfield stands” – defeat against Liverpool in the Champions League.