Ronald Koeman: 'Jose Mourinho could learn a lot from Arsene Wenger'

By Shane Callaghan, Reporter | 10 October 2015

Under-fire Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho could learn a lot from Arsenal counterpart Arsene Wenger in regards to 'killing' their opponents, according to Ronald Koeman.

Ronald Koeman has told Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho to take a leaf out of Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger's book and "kill" their opponents with a fluent attack.

Koeman is the latest coach to pile the pressure on the under-fire Portuguese after his Southampton side came back from a goal down to beat the Blues 3-1 at Stamford Bridge last Saturday.

The following day, Wenger's Gunners courted praise for the way in which they thumped Manchester United 3-0, courtesy of a rip-roaring start which yielded three goals in the first 20 minutes.

Consequently, the Dutchman feels that Mourinho - whose Premier League champions have dropped 16 points already - is too defence-minded, urging him to adopt a similar philosophy as his bitter rival.

"Chelsea prefer to defend when attacking is also an option," the Dutchman is quoted as saying by The Mirror. "Mourinho always chooses to defend. Even if his team goes 1-0 up, they would rather defend their lead than try to score more goals.

"Yet Arsenal can kill an opponent. That is why their victory against Manchester United was so impressive. Attacking-wise, they completely destroyed United. For 20 minutes, they played the most fantastic football, while Chelsea do the opposite thing.

"By defending, Chelsea give their opponent a chance to come back in the game. It was a shame that Mourinho was putting attention on the referee after we beat them. He wanted to have a penalty in the first half. But, in the first half at Stamford Bridge, Southampton should have had two penalties."

Chelsea sit 16th in the table, 10 points behind leaders Manchester City and eight adrift of their London rivals.