Villas-Boas: Comparisons with Mourinho are difficult to accept

Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas is clearly unhappy with the comparisons made in the press with him and Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho.

Villas-Boas worked under Mourinho at Chelsea and Inter Milan before moving out to make his own career as a football manager. The pair now has a frosty relationship, but the Portuguese is humble enough to admit that Mourinho holds a special place in his career.

Speaking in an interview with L’Equipe, he says:

“I learnt with Jose Mourinho, but I am completely different with my character, my working methods and my communication.

“We have different philosophies. Of course Jose has been very important in my career, he gave me experience I could not get with anyone else. We have a great professional relationship, but as soon as we parted I started to do things my own way.”

However, Villas-Boas is annoyed with constant comparisons made between him and Mourinho. He added:

“Comparisons with Mourinho are difficult to accept for several reasons. My philosophy is to have attacking teams that have initiative in the game, that like to keep the ball. Any match we play to win it and sometimes we pay for that.”

The former Porto manager also added that he was not given more responsibility during their time working together, which was the primary reason why he parted ways.

Further, Villas-Boas has reflected on his failed tenure at Chelsea and says he has learnt a lot from the experience (bitter though) he gained.

“Chelsea was a good experience to me because it allowed me to understand there are things I could not do,” he revealed. “I was the same coach I was in Porto. I wanted the team to follow my direction but I didn’t find enough support to follow that direction.

“That experience taught me a lot and now at Tottenham I do things a different way. It is a matter of dynamics: if you win on the weekend, the leaders will follow you. And at Chelsea you are quickly under big pressure.

“Now I manage things a different way with key players. At Chelsea, I treated everyone the same way. But to make such decisions you have to get the club’s support and you can’t find it everywhere. At Porto, you get it.

“Chelsea was an experience to have. It made me stronger. I failed indeed. I had to win and I failed. Was it an impossible mission? It could have been possible, but indeed maybe it was impossible.”

Spurs are currently joint top of the Premier League table having won four of their five games so far. Chelsea on the other hand have had a stuttering start (worst under Roman Abramovich era) but are currently occupying the third place in the league.