Peter Bosz has in an interview with SoFoot once again expressed his dissatisfaction with Jose Mourinho’s playing style. The coach, who currently upholds the honor of the Dutch trainers’ guild at Olympique Lyon, criticizes the way his AS Roma colleague sends his team into the field. Jorge Sampaoli, who currently holds sway at Olympique Marseille, could count on praise from Bosz.
Bosz’s season has been going through trial and error to date. The Dutchman is seventh with Lyon, but has not lost a game at home. “When I signed here, a lot of people said that Ligue 1 was a difficult competition,” says Bosz. “Because except for two or three teams, all teams use a defensive tactic. Frankly, I haven’t noticed that until now. Our opponents defend well, but they also know how to attack and put high pressure at times. I don’t know whether it’s new this season or was the case before, but I didn’t expect it to be like that.”
Bosz emphasizes that a large part of his vision is based on the vision of Johan Cruijff, which he had to deal with during his time as trainer of Ajax. “But I don’t copy it,” emphasizes Bosz. “If I copy Johan Cruijff, the players will realize I’m not real. It’s like imitating Mourinho, imitating his nonsense. It would be fake. That’s him, he’s real. His style of play? I hate that one “But it’s the way he plays, and it works. He’s won a lot of awards with his views. I’m trying to be realistic. It’s not a kamikaze strategy.”
It is not the first time that Bosz has turned against Mourinho’s style of play. Ajax lost the Europa League final under Bosz in 2017 to a defensive playing Manchester United from Mourinho. The Portuguese threw the lock on the door and watched for mistakes by the team from Amsterdam. Even then, Mourinho’s playing style paid off, who triumphed 0-2 in the Friends Arena in Solna, Sweden. “I will never play like that”, Bosz said about it at the time kicker. “But I’m not stubborn. Being stubborn means you’re ignorant. That’s not very smart. I think I have a plan from A to Z.”
On a tactical level, Bosz takes many things from Cruijff. “But also from other coaches. Sampaoli for example, I love that. What he does is really special. When he coached Chile, he played with two small central defenders, when everyone thought you needed super strong two-meter guys His way of playing, where he put a lot of pressure, was impressive to see.” Sampaoli was at the helm of Chile between 2012 and 2016, winning the Copa América in 2015 for the first time in history.