You Bet | League Cup can once again give Jose Mourinho a platform for success
The Portuguese’s first trophy as Chelsea manager was the 2005 title and he is hoping for more glory with Manchester United
The first trophy lifted by Jose Mourinho in English football was the League Cup with Chelsea in 2005 and the same competition offers him his first chance of major silverware with Manchester United – if we don’t count the pre-season Community Shield - in tomorrow’s final against Southampton.
The EFL Cup – to give it its branded title – is the third of English football’s major competitions, behind the Premier League and the FA Cup, but there is no doubt Mourinho targeted victory in his first season with Chelsea as a means of proving himself quickly to the club and the fans and of convincing the players they could be winners.
At that stage, remember, key players such as John Terry and Frank Lampard had not won major honours. Lifting the League Cup gave them the confidence to know they could be winners and most importantly to finish the job in the Premier League, which in the week before that success they led by a similar margin as the current Chelsea side do now.
Mourinho may not have put his United side in title contention in the Premier League, but he has followed a similar path in the League Cup in his first season in charge at Old Trafford. He knows that a quick first trophy will convince everyone his methods are working, whereas his predecessor Louis van Gaal did not win the FA Cup until the end of his second season and by then confidence in him had drained away.
United certainly have the form to beat Southampton, having lost only one of their last 25 matches in all competitions. That defeat was 2-1 away against Hull in the second leg of their semi-final tie in the League Cup, when they were defending a 2-0 lead from the home leg.
During that long run United have been almost the equal of Chelsea in the Premier League and they have made impressive progress in several competitions, especially considering they have had a much heavier workload than the current leaders. In the past week Mourinho’s side have reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and the last 16 of the Europa League, setting up more opportunities of silverware.