Mourinho accuses Wenger of abandoning attacking principles

The season is only one game old but already it looks set to be defined by a simmering feud between Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger following a Community Shield where afterwards, Wenger refused to shake hands.

Mourinho, who threw his loser’s medal to a young Arsenal fan, began the joust by suggesting Arsenal abandoned their attacking philosophy to clinch the 1-0 victory. “The best team lost, the defensive team won,” he said. “But I also have my opinion that the team which defends well — and the team that leaves its philosophy in the dressing room and changes that attitude and philosophy to accumulate ten players behind the ball and play all the second half with nine players in front of the box — this is very good tactical organisation.

“In this perspective they scored one goal and deserved to win. If you want to be pragmatic, like I normally am, then you can say in a simple way that they scored, didn’t concede — and so congratulations to them.”