Jose Mourinho was angry and could no longer contain his feelings. So, after a crucial match had ended, he walked into a packed press conference, chose his words carefully and publicly criticised one of his players.
‘When he scored the goal, the game finished for him,’ Mourinho said. ‘After that, I needed 11 players for my defensive organisation and I had just 10. He has to improve when the team need him to be part of defensive organisation.’
Those words were delivered by Mourinho on October 3, 2004 and they were about Joe Cole. He had just scored Chelsea’s winner against Liverpool.