As a certified Mourinho fan (was one even before he came to Inter) I can both agree with people who say that Mourinho is the absolute best and those who think he is great but “overhyped”.
Let’s put it like this - Mourinho absolutely did the best he fucking could and overachieved with multiple teams in his career (I will single out his 2nd place + EL with the absolute shitshow of an MU team as even bigger overachievement, which most people recognized only in hindsight seeing what MU became after he left); that, for instance, can’t be said about someone like Ancelotti or Guardiola, even if the two are arguably some of the best managers ever (I’m unwillingly admittin that about Guardiola, because I absolutely despise him, but simply can’t look past his achievements with all the known caveats) - they never won “against all odds”, and Guardiola on multiple occasions lost despite all odds - with the resources at his hands it took him an obscene amount of time to win CL with MC (after failing to do so with Bayern though he absolutely should have).
Mourinho is certainly the absolute best at making his teams play at 200% of their potential and often despite not playing like a winning team. But winning like that requires a certain type of a team, where players are warriors rather than primadonnas. Due to that one could say that the 2010 Inter team was ideal for Mourinho’s mission to win another CL for us and himself, and exactly for the same reason he never achieved anything after leaving RM - it’s not even that football changed that much and he couldn’t adapt - it’s the footballers who changed. CR7s testimony about the contrast between the locker rooms of his first and second MU stints are a prime example of what has happened over the years.
But Mourinho and his tactics did overrely on the grit, that is a true fact. We qualified from our CL group on pure combination of grit and luck. When you look at our overal treble run - it did not at all look effortless. I did remember predicting back then that we would almost 100% win the CL if we went past the Round of 16, because we needed to break the psychological barrier, then we’d have CSKA which was a walk in the park (but wasn’t at all effortless either), and by semis we’d gain so much mental momentum, we’d be unbeatable because Mourinho, more than any manager, is capable of chanelling this momentum the right way.
Yet sometimes when I look back at some of those games - I often realize we weren’t playing as good as I thought we did in my memories. Sneijder, for one, is the player who shocked me many times with his decision making in that seasons - lot’s of pointless long shots, a lot of questionable passing decisions and simply misplaced passes in oftentimes simple situations. Despite his achievements in that season overall, I have since retracted my opinion he should’ve won Ballon d’Or that year (but I also still disagree with Messi getting it - Xavi or Iniesta certainly deserved it more) - he was simply miles away from Xavi or Iniesta game-wise, even if it really was his stellar season. But the reason why I bring Sneijder up is because I think he is very emblematic of our Inter team that season - we weren’t for the most time playing the greatest football. Our football that season was like Milito’s second goal in the final. We weren’t cruising past our opponents. We weren’t playing smooth, we didn’t play great combinations or show technical miracles (aside from Maicon’s goal to Juventus and Motta’s to Milan). A lot of the times we played simple, but very effective. And we won, because many (if not most) times in football playing great football is unnecessary to win a competition like CL. A lot of times you just need a team of players where every single one (even fucking Balotelli) wants to win for everyone else.
Having said all that, comparing Inzaghi to Mourinho is, well… nuts.
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. The reason Italy has so few young talents to choose from for the national team.