José Mourinho hints at double standards as Van Persie escapes sanction
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Version 0 of 1. José Mourinho has expressed his surprise that Robin van Persie escaped sanction from the Football Association for flinging an elbow at West Ham’s James Tomkins and bemoaned the fact the incident has drawn less scrutiny than Diego Costa’s clash with Emre Can. Costa will serve the final match of a three-game ban at home to Everton on Wednesday, having been deemed guilty of stamping on the Liverpool defender during last month’s Capital One Cup semi-final second leg between the teams. That charge infuriated Mourinho, who had claimed there had been a media-driven campaign– apparently led by Sky’s pundits in their coverage on the night of the semi-final – to have his striker punished with the manager suggesting Van Persie’s offence had not been granted similar attention. Mourinho, who had chosen to cancel media duties around the recent fixture with Manchester City in protest at the coverage, had been frosty at his first press conference since the imposition of Costa’s ban last Friday. Asked whether his mood had improved in the period since, he said: “I was in a good mood the other day. I just need a little bit more time to forget why my player was suspended, to understand why some people are punished and others aren’t. “The same people who suspended my player didn’t want to suspend another player this weekend, and a player could have been suspended this weekend and he wasn’t,” he said. “I’m still processing that information.” Pressed on who should have been banned, he said: “Somebody who did this [gestures an elbow when Van Persie’s name was put to him] in the face of somebody, and nothing happened. I know that if it was one of mine … ” Van Persie’s clash with Tomkins at Upton Park was witnessed by the referee, Mark Clattenburg, who chose to award the hosts a free-kick but took no further action against the Manchester United forward. Tomkins, who had his nose broken in a clash with Marouane Fellaini in the same match, claimed Van Persie’s elbow had been deliberate and “malicious”, and worthy of “a yellow at least”. The West Ham manager, Sam Allardyce, was equally critical in his assessment before the game at Southampton. “From a challenge point of view I thought it was pretty naughty because it was the old have a little look to see where the defender is and then take him out, basically. Obviously the assistant referee on that side decided to flag for a foul and I thought it was much more than that. In the end as long as he’s available and fit to play on Wednesday that’s the most important thing for us.” Mourinho’s criticisms suggested double standards and he made reference to a retrospective ban handed to his midfielder, Ramires, for an elbow on Sunderland’s Sebastian Larsson last season when Yaya Touré had escaped similar sanction earlier in the campaign after a clash with Norwich’s Ricky van Wolfswinkel. “Last season, the same thing happened when Ramires was suspended,” said Mourinho, who should have Cesc Fàbregas available after hamstring trouble. “A Manchester City player had kicked a player at Norwich who was on the floor and nothing happened. I’m used to it.” Yet his sense of grievance appeared to extend to the analysis of Van Persie’s offence by the Sky pundits at Upton Park, Jamie Carragher and Dwight Yorke, compared to that delivered by Jamie Redknapp post-match at Stamford Bridge after the semi-final. “I was told they had a technical problem … the replays were not coming,” he said, jokingly when asked about the time spent reflecting on the Van Persie’s clash incident. “The problem was not the pundits, but the technical side of things.” Mourinho confirmed he had not moved to clear the air with Redknapp or Sky, but had spoken with Harry Redknapp, though only to discuss his departure from QPR. When asked about the way managers are being policed, in the wake of Arsène Wenger and Nigel Pearson escaping sanction for incidents on the touchline while Mourinho and Louis van Gaal have been charged over comments made to the media, he said: “I only speak about myself, but press conferences are difficult. I can be very defensive and say nothing, or I can be myself and say what I feel. And then there is a line where you never know the way they [the FA] analyse it and they think you can or can’t say that. “Apart from that, the only thing I can say is that if I push a manager in my technical area [as Wenger had done to him in October], you know that I will be stadium banned. We all know this. If I do something like that I would be in serious, serious trouble. That’s the reality.” |