23 September 2019, by: Leonard Solms

Analysis: Benni McCarthy Playing Mourinho Mind Games

Benni McCarthy is facing his biggest test so far since taking over at Cape Town City. There have been tough times before, but it is difficult to recall one when the coach publicly clashed with or criticised so many in his ranks. The former FC Porto striker’s recent approach has been similar to that of his old boss, José Mourinho.

McCarthy is playing a risky game by openly slamming his players. It has not always worked for Mourinho, but there have been times when the bombastic approach has paid off to perfection for the Portuguese great.

With the Citizens a disappointing 11th on the PSL table with seven points from six games, McCarthy has gone kamikaze in an attempt to get his team firing on all cylinders again.

BET: PSL

After Cape Town City’s 3-3 draw with SuperSport United, McCarthy was in no mood to focus on the positives. Instead, he told SuperSport TV:

“We’re coming off the back of a loss against Chiefs, so you’d think that you’d be happy to take a point from this game, but very disappointed.

“We weren’t anywhere close to our best. Too many players had off days and lack of concentration, lack of aggression.”

Although he singled out Thabo Nodada for praise, McCarthy was not as complimentary of his defenders.

“Some of my players are in their comfort zone. It’s easy because they know whatever they do, they’re going to play next game. I can’t wait for my injured players — Putsche, Fielies, Kouadja to come back,” he said, repeatedly emphasising how eager he was to throw Fielies straight back into action, as he later did in the 1-1 draw with Golden Arrows.

“The schoolboy errors we did at the back — wow, disgusting. Unfortunately, I can’t go and beat up people in the dressing room. I wish I could put on some boxing gloves and go through a few of them because that’s what they deserve. Maybe they’ll wake up after that.”

21-year-old Keanu Cupido, in particular, wouldn’t have wanted to hear that from his boss. The centre-back’s air swipe at an attempted clearance allowed Bradley Grobler to level the scores at 2-2.

However, if Cupido has been paying attention to Manchester United in recent years, this criticism would have likely sounded eerily familiar. Indeed, Mourinho reserved similar words for many of his players during his time at the Red Devils, Luke Shaw being one.

Mourinho was not only often critical of Shaw’s defending but also repeatedly called the left-back’s character into question.

“I wanted to defend better, I wanted my defensive line to be more solid and I want more personality in my team because many times I felt that Matić was an island of personality, desire, and control surrounded by a lack of personality, a lack of class, and a lack of desire,” was one particularly provocative barb from Mourinho after he hauled Shaw off for Ashley Young at half-time of an FA Cup match against Brighton.

There were reports at the time that this had led to Shaw wanting to leave United, but he stayed and repaired his relationship with Mourinho to some degree.

Shaw appeared to earn his then manager’s respect with his performances early last season. In a sense, one could argue that this vindicated Mourinho’s decision to rip into him.

However, player discontent was, at least to some degree, the undoing of the self-proclaimed ‘special one’ at Real Madrid and Chelsea as well as United.

At Los Blancos, he alienated dressing room stalwarts such as Iker Casillas, Pepe, and reportedly Sergio Ramos and Cristiano Ronaldo. Real Madrid’s third season under the Portuguese was unimpressive.

His Premier League title defence at Chelsea in 2015-16 was even more disastrous. Mourinho was disposed of in mid-season with the club languishing 16th. He had only just admitted to feeling betrayed by his players following a 2-1 defeat to Leicester. Then technical director Michael Emenalo was frank about the “palpable discord with the players” which forced Mourinho out.

Then came Manchester United. Although Shaw eventually gave him the response he wanted, Mourinho seemed to simply rub too many players the wrong way at Old Trafford. Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard were among the others singled out for public criticism by the Portuguese.

Mourinho’s struggles adapting to the mentalities of modern players have been well-documented. He has reportedly suggested that they are particularly sensitive to criticism.

Whether or not this applies at Cape Town City is anyone’s guess. However, having already slammed his players openly following the 2-1 defeat to Kaizer Chiefs, one must wonder how many more times McCarthy can do so whilst keeping the dressing room onside.

In the wake of the home loss to Kaizer Chiefs, the City coach bravely called on John Comitis to bring him another defender.

“Like I said I’m make-shifting, I’m playing a left-back at centre-back and it should be clear now for my chairman that we need a centre-back,” the former striker said.

City had started with a centre-back pairing of Cupido and Dove in that game. In McCarthy’s mind, this was a sign of a lack of depth and the need for a defender of Robyn Johannes’ ilk.

In response, Comitis told KickOff: “We don’t need anything. We have a top squad and had the players to secure that win.”

This was a sign that perhaps Comitis is not on board with McCarthy’s bombastic interviews. Any tension could surely be papered over with a few positive results. There is no suggestion McCarthy’s job could be on the line any time soon, but he as much as anyone no doubt understands that football is a results business and he will need to act fast.

His former mentor, Mourinho, has been known to struggle in his third season at each club he stays with for that long. It appears McCarthy is managing his own issues at this stage in similar fashion.

It could be that he inspires his players to turn up and prove him wrong. On the flip side, it could end in tears.

All we can quite confidently say is that if the so-called “old Benni” is here to stay, there will be plenty of fireworks.

MORE SOCCER

Leonard Solms

Leonard Solms is a sports journalist who features regularly on various local and international platforms including ESPN, New Frame, FARPost, Tagged Online and Careers Magazine, as well as this one. He enjoys the occasional bet and the most important tip he can give you is to bet within your means.