As readers of this blog are aware, I hold idealism in something very much approaching contempt. The point of competitions is to win them, adding constraints in the forms of ridiculous philosophies diminishes your chances of so doing. It will not surprise anyone that Jose Mourinho agrees rather emphatically, but even if his beliefs come as no surprise to the reader his quotes on the subject are worth a read anyway.
Thanks to @sidcelery for compiling them:
Question: Jose, given you're at home and you need to out-score them if you're going to go through in 90 minutes, will we see a slightly different approach tomorrow to the one you've used in the last two games, or are you happy to keep things tight even if it goes 0-0, extra time, then penalties?
Mourinho: You know, in this moment, football is full of philosophers. It's full of people who understand much more than me. Is full of people with fantastic theoretical philosophies. Amazing. But the reality is always the reality.
A team that doesn't defend well doesn't have many chances to win. A team that doesn't score lots of goals, if it concedes lots of goals is completely in trouble. A team without balance is not a team. And after that, I can't say much more than this.
When Atletico has the ball we have to defend. When we have the ball we have to attack. When they hae the ball we have to try to stop them from scoring. When we have the ball we want to try to score. And this is the football that I know, Opponent has the ball, you have to work. Defensively, you have to be organised. You have the ball you have to try to play, according to the qualities of your players and according to the qualities of your opponent.
You know, I remember to say in my first period here, if you have a goalkeeper like Petr Cech that puts the ball in the opponents' box. If you have a striker like Didier Drogba that wins every ball in the air, why do you play short? Because you are stupid. If your opponent is very fast in counter-attack and they want space behind your defensive line, if you give them that space, you are stupid.
So when a team plays strategically and thinks about the qualities of his team and the qualities of the opponent, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago... good team. Intelligent team. In this moment, depending on the coach and the club, obviously, the critics, they speak. But, no problem.
If you think football is about ethics or glory or a right way to do things, Jose Mourinho thinks you're stupid. I also think you're stupid, but Jose Mourinho's opinion counts for more.