Arsenal abandoned their philosophy to win Community Shield – Mourinho

Jose Mourinho accused Arsenal of leaving their footballing philosophy in the dressing room during Chelsea’s 1-0 defeat in the Community Shield at Wembley.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored the only goal of the game 24 minutes in as Arsenal got one over on the Premier League champions ahead of the new campaign.

Arsene Wenger was finally able to celebrate a first win over Mourinho in 14 attempts and, while the Portuguese congratulated Arsenal, his praise could be interpreted to include a thinly-veiled dig.

“For me it depends on the perspective,” he said. 

“Normally [the media] like to say a team that is defensive and defends very well doesn’t deserve to win. But I also have my opinion, different from your opinion.

“My opinion is the team that defends very well, that leaves their philosophy in the dressing room, changes their attitude, plays all the second half with nine players in front of the box, doesn’t concede and scores one goal, from that perspective they deserve to win.

“This is football. This is very good tactical organisation. Congratulations to them.

“One team played counter-attack football well. One team played with initiative well but without the sharpness you need to be more aggressive with the ball. The team tactically tried everything.”

Mourinho and Wenger – who have a fractious relationship – avoided shaking hands after the game, with the former throwing his medal into the crowd.

Asked about the end of his unbeaten record against the Frenchman, Mourinho added: “I never had a psychological edge. It’s not normal what happened before, and because it’s not normal I never paid attention to that.

“I always thought one game is one game and has no relation with other games. Thirteen matches is an eternity.

“It has never been a question of beating someone and losing to another one.”