Patrick Barclay: Jose Mourinho is just being honest, that’s the truth of the Mata

Managerial press conferences can be unsatisfactory. Newspapers tend to see them as a source of headlines more than elucidation and, because the managers themselves are aware of that, the product sometimes lacks detail. Jose Mourinho’s pronouncements last Friday were a refreshing exception.

He was so open and honest about the Juan Mata problem that I could not understand the negative reaction. Mourinho was obliquely accused of risking the Spanish playmaker’s disaffection by hinting that he would have to take a wide role and work harder at its defensive aspects while Oscar remained the team’s No10, operating behind the front man.

Unless you believe that Mata would be a better No10 than Oscar — and even those of us who think that a reasonable argument would have to concede that it is a decision best left to the Special One — I can’t see what’s wrong with Mourinho’s assertion that Mata will have to stay wide and help to block the advances of opposing full-backs.

The manager could have lied and obfuscated, bought time by suggesting Mata had an injury or something, but instead gave the public an explanation of what, as admirers of the player's “clever assists and clever passes, fantastic actions” (Mourinho’s description), they might otherwise have found annoyingly mysterious.

In truth a child of five could have worked out that the squad Mourinho took over, with its three No10s — oddly, no one seems worried about Eden Hazard — would require adjustments to fit his system. Joe Cole had to do this last time round and became an England regular.

When Mourinho was at Inter, Samuel Eto’o did it and, with Diego Milito up front instead, became a double European champion. Among the many others who have played wider to suit the modern game are Thierry Henry, who won the Champions League under Pep Guardiola at Barcelona. Mata has the opportunity to follow their example.