What do you make of the apparent dig at Antonio Conte's Chelsea tactics by Jose Mourinho?

Sitting in sixth and a massive fourteen points behind Chelsea despite being on a fifteen match unbeaten run, Jose Mourinho has taken apparent aim at Antonio Conte and the tactics he has adopted at Chelsea.

Looking at Mourinho from the outside now, you begin to see him in a slightly different light compared to when we adored him here at Stamford Bridge. Back in those days he had a smile on his face, laughed and joked with the Media and enjoyed life as he became "box office". Back then, even if you were not a Chelsea fan, you couldn't help but to be drawn to him whenever he spoke on TV.

Now? Well the smile is gone, I do not see him laughing and joking around with the media and to be honest, people are not as drawn to him as they used to be because to put it simply, the move up to Manchester United (which is arguably what he always had his heart set on - but we still love him for what he did for us) has not worked out as expected despite the masses of money spent on Paul Pogba!

Mourinho seems like someone with the weight of the world on his shoulders at the moment knowing that he is in a dog-fight just to finish inside the top four this season. I am not surprised that now he has taken an apparent aim at the likes of Antonio Conte and the tactics at Chelsea.

After extending their unbeaten run to fifteen games (seven of those being draws) having beaten Leicester on Sunday, he said:

"My team is playing very well but for many, many years in my career, especially in this country, when my teams were ruthless and phenomenal defensively, and very good in the counter attack, I listen week after week that it was not enough in spite of winning the title three times.

It looks like this season to be phenomenal defensively and good in counter attack is art, so it was a big change in England.

But my Manchester United, I don’t want to change the profile of our play, this is the way the fans want us to play, this is the way the club wants us to play.

But I also don’t want to be a manager of a team who plays very well, creates a lot of chances and doesn’t win matches. We need to score goals, and today we did." - Source: Metro.

It sounds like jealousy doesn't it? Forgive me but we are talking about Jose Mourinho, the one man who could deliver results week in, week out and arguably the best manager left in the game? Jose should know more than anyone that football these days because of all the money on offer for being successful, is purely now a results business.

Ever since Roman Abramovich took over our football club, we have heard how he has made the same demands of his manager in charge at the time. He wants to see his team play good football similar to that of the fantastic Barcelona side under Pep Guardiola. During Mourinho's time he did receive criticism and of his style after those first two seasons. Back in 2004-5 and again in 2005-6 Chelsea were a fantastic attacking team who were solid as a rock at the back and it was the perfect blend.

However, as more and more money has been ploughed into our game the quality of ALL of the sides in the Premier League is of a vast differential compared to that of twelve to thirteen years ago. You cannot steam roll these teams anymore playing attacking football without facing much of an attacking threat yourselves. Now that is impossible.

In those seasons Jose Mourinho was at Chelsea, after the back-to-back title wins in his first two seasons, he had to develop his tactics to become defensively sound and hard to beat to ensure that we took three points as often as possible because initially we could not afford to miss out on Champions League football. Now, with the Sky money combined with that of BT Sport, you MUST deliver results week in, week out to challenge for the riches on offer.

There were times when Chelsea were battered for possession but remained defensively solid under Mourinho and hit teams when they had a chance on the counter attack. It worked and became so effective. If Manchester United miss out on the top four AGAIN this season, do you think the United fans would want the team to continue to try and play the United way that Mourinho has stated above? Or, do you think they would settle to win games week in, week out by playing counter attacking football to force their way back into the top four to then possibly challenge for the Premier League once again?

Antonio Conte deserves all the credit and the plaudits he has received from all quarters of the game. That's because he has built a team and a formation that is defensively sound, a team that can sit deep and dig in looking to hit on the counter attack (Manchester City away 3-1 for example) or as we have seen numerous times this season, a team that can attack and dominate you.

Sorry Jose but your argument doesn't hold up for me. The pressures of expectation coupled with the money in the game have changed and you should know better than anyone that this is now a results business!