Jose Mourinho, in his post-match interview to Sky Sports, after his side Chelsea's goalless draw with Arsenal, was in his "I'm going to behave myself and not get provoked by anything" mode, batting away questions over the penalty incidents and even refraining from criticising two of his pet subjects – referees and Arsene Wenger.
However, that was not going to last too long was it? In his post-match press conference the Jose that we all know and love/hate (depending on your perspective) came out.
Asked a simple question over the Arsenal fans singing "boring, boring Chelsea" after the would-be champions put in another ridiculously good all-round performance, Mourinho decided to go on the attack, putting in a sly dig at the North London club's Premier League title drought and the fact that Wenger apparently made defensive changes towards the end.
"You know, 'boring' I think is 10 years without a title -- that's very boring," said Mourinho. "You support a club and you're waiting, waiting, waiting for so many years without a Premier League title, so that's very boring.
"But maybe they aren't singing at us. Maybe, when you're the home side and you want to win a game but you take your No. 9 [Olivier Giroud] off [with around six minutes to go] ... maybe the home fans want to see [Danny] Welbeck and Giroud up front together.
"We had a very good experience. The 'boring' team are the second highest scorers in the Premier League, and the team with the best goal difference. Only Manchester City have scored more goals than us.
"So I think we scored a lot of goals and, in a period where we don't have Diego Costa or Loic Remy available and we have only one striker (Didier Drogba, who started the game from the bench], who we have to rely on to help us with all the matches we have. We changed a bit our dynamic and we are not scoring so many goals as before. But, even so, we are the second-highest scorers."
Yes, Chelsea are the second-highest scorers and yes, without a shadow of a doubt, they deserve the English Premier League title in a season David Moyes said "was the poorest he had seen in a long time." (See sly digs are pretty easy to do).
But hey, all Chelsea can do is beat what is in front of them right, and boy have they done that well. The problem, though, lies with how you win as well.
How often did you see Arsenal and Manchester United, in the late 90s and early noughties, play out a boring match? Not often was it. Manchester United vs Arsenal was the match of the Premier League during that era, the battle of the usual No.1 and No.2, with no quarter given and not even a single one asked for, and with a ridiculous amount of quality and spectacular goals added to it.
What is the point of harping back at the past, you ask? Well, how often do you see Chelsea put on an attacking performance, much like they have done against the smaller teams this season, and gloriously at that, against the perceived title contenders?
After all, Oscar found himself in the doghouse for a while this season after the Brazilian made a comment about wanting to play more attacking football during a team meeting; that is how Mourinho works, and while there is no reason to change it at all, taking potshots at others who try and add a little more colour to the pattern of play on the pitch is just plain unnecessary.
It just is sad when the manager of the team that is going to waltz towards the Premier League title has to take a swipe at the Arsenal fans, the manager and the club in general without too much provocation. Yes, the question asked at the media conference was leading, but then Mourinho could have easily refrained from taking the bait, like he did so well in that TV interview after the game.
Indeed, after soaking the draw in and knowing that wins in his next two matches will see Chelsea crowned champions, should have made him a lot happier going into that press conference; but instead, that inevitable swipe at Arsenal is made and all the remotest of goodwill, from that really, really good performance away from home, is put into the back burner.
To criticise an opposing team's manager is one thing, but to take a swipe at the fans singing whatever it is they were singing (as long as it wasn't offensive or racist) is completely of a different level.
And going back to that Giroud substitution, for Theo Walcott, mind, coming from a manager who brought on Kurt Zouma for Cesc Fabregas, it does seem a little ridiculous, especially when the Arsenal manager had taken off his only defensive midfielder – Francis Coquelin – to bring on a striker in Welbeck on 76 minutes.
For the longest time it looked like this match would not be made about Mourinho and his comments, when out came those "quotable" quotes, yet again, when all he need have done was praise his team's performance and say "yeah my team probably should have won with all the penalty shouts, but I will take the point, as it takes us closer to the title."
But that is never Jose Mourinho is it? And in this case, more is the pity.
