Has Mourinho got a point: why aren’t there more Chelsea pundits?

Following Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Chelsea, Jose Mourinho came out defending his Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto’o, for what seemed to be a blatant penalty for an off the ball challenge on Liverpool striker Luis Suarez.

Chelsea’s number 29 tripped Suarez in the Chelsea penalty area as the Uruguayan forward was chasing Eden Hazard, to retrieve the ball for the Reds. Howard Webb was no more than 10 yards away from the incident and yet waved away the protest, which could ultimately have seen Chelsea throw away a lead had Webb given the penalty.

The 2010 World Cup Final referee didn’t have his best game, as he failed to book Eto’o in the third minute for what was a horrendous tackle in today’s game. The striker not only dug all of his studs into Jordan Henderson’s knee, he then also raked his footed down the midfielder’s leg. Webb also missed a clear penalty for Chelsea when Lucas Leiva clumsily tangled with Oscar in the first half.

Despite Mr Webb’s poor refereeing performance and Liverpool being on the receiving end of some questionable officiating for the second game running, it was Jose Mourinho’s post match comments that took most of the headlines.

“There are lots of people on TV, but nobody a Chelsea man. Jamie Carragher? Liverpool. Alan Hansen? Liverpool. Phil Thompson? Liverpool. Jamie Redknapp? Liverpool. Mark Lawrenson? Liverpool. We don’t have one. When I retire, 75 years old, I go as a pundit to defend Chelsea on television.”

Jose’s drubbing of the media being Liverpool friendly was quite interesting as his side had knocked Liverpool outside the top four and were only two points off top spot after the victory. So why the attack on the media? Is Mourinho back to trying to play mind games again?

When you look at the people who are in punditry there is a common theme throughout. They are legends at their respected clubs, cult heroes from years past. Lawrenson, Hansen, Thompson all Liverpool Legends from the 1980’s when there was only one team dominating football in England.

Alan Shearer covers Match of the Day. He may not have won too many trophies with Newcastle, but a Premiership winners medal with Blackburn and his status as one of England’s greatest strikers surely grants him “cult” status.

While the BBC is now starting to incorporate less high-end names to do punditry such as Danny Murphy and Kevin Kilbane, there is still only one reason why it may seem like pundits favor Liverpool: because they grew up watching them play and win everything.

Why are there no Chelsea men in the media boxes before games? Because Chelsea were never a big club, it’s only with the money of Billionaire Roman Abramovich that Chelsea have managed to start winning trophies. On the odd occasion for international games you will get Marcel Desailly, or on a Champions League night you might see Ruud Guillet as a pundit but beside that, Chelsea have little experience of being winners. Therefore the general viewing public could be skeptical of what they say as a pundit. As the Liverpool fans quite rightly sing, “Chelsea have no history.”

Maybe in ten to twenty years time we will see a Frank Lampard, John Terry or Ashley Cole sitting in the press box before kick-off giving us analysis on the latest Chelsea game. But until then I can’t see a Celestine Babayaro or Michael Duberry telling the viewers how they would have done this or that in the game.

Jose Mourinho’s quote seems somewhat uneducated at best. For a man who was considered a tactical genius, I think you have to admit, he is starting to lose it.

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