Jose Mourinho won for the first time at Villa Park after five previous visits without a victory, while the home side ended the fourth-longest goal drought in Premier League history. But it seems some things never change.
The Mourinho camp was accused of being verbally abusive by Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert following a bad tempered exchange between the two dugouts in the first half of this thrusting encounter. Lambert threw his overcoat to the ground after someone on the opposite bench made a remark towards him midway through the half.
‘It was something said but not by Jose,’ said Lambert. ‘He is a great manager, it is fantastic what the guy has done, I would love to learn from him as football manager but I wouldn’t like to learn things off the pitch from somebody in his dugout. I don’t know what was said - I don’t speak Portuguese, maybe he doesn’t speak Glaswegian.’
Lambert also accused Mourinho of trying to ‘put pressure’ on him by calling the Villa squad, who are without a win at home in the league since early December, one of the best in the top tier. ‘I analyse teams by the quality of players and Villa have one of the best squads, very good players and a very good bench, lots of solutions.’ He even praised the home fans.
‘Maybe he is trying to put pressure on me, I don’t know,’ swiped Lambert, who also noted Mourinho was already ‘halfway down the pitch’ when he went to shake his hand at the end of the game.
Some animosity perhaps remains between the pair after Lambert refused to shake Mourinho’s hand when he attempted to leave the pitch before the final whistle when the sides met at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season, a game won 3-0 by Chelsea.
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