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Jose Mourinho is no stranger to controversy, in fact it would be pretty easy to argue that he actively courts it.

During his two spells at Stamford Bridge, the Portuguese won over the west London faithful with his unprecedented trophy haul and his win-at-all-costs mentality - but since leaving for a second time a year and a half ago, Mourinho has gone about dismantling that legacy.

While it would take a revelation of catastrophic proportions to undo his achievements at the Bridge, Mourinho appears to be doing all he can to destroy whatever goodwill he has left at Chelsea.

Going to Manchester United was always going to create friction between Mourinho and his former club but his attacks on Antonio Conte over the last 12 months have just been embarrassing to watch.

Once held up as the master of the mind games, Mourinho's criticisms of Chelsea as "defensive" are a transparently self-serving re-write of both the past and the present.

Speaking ahead of the weekend's action, he said: "We try to play the best we can.

"We know that if you look in a pragmatic way, you see the last winners of the Premier League, the last winners of the Premier League, they did not play attacking football. They played defensive football and counter-attack football.

"So according to the results, that is the way to win the Premier League."

Simply put, this is utter crap. United have got off to an impressive start this season scoring 12 times in their four league games so far - but this reeks of desperation.

Only a purely statistical basis, Chelsea won the league last season with 85 goals from 38 games - and average of more than two a game and an astonishing 31 more than Mourinho's United team.

Last season saw the Blues won more than league games than any Premier League team had ever done before, breaking Mourinho's old record in the process.

Meanwhile, United fans suffered through one of the most infamously defensive performances for a top club across an entire season in living memory - drawing an incredible 15 times.

(Image: Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Mourinho's comments came on the back of three straight victories for United, a rare occurrence for the Red Devils during his reign.

Whether it's an attempt to unsettle Conte or simply because he cannot let go of Chelsea is irrelevant, to make such a claim is at best a little pathetic and at worst entirely desperate.

Manchester United may well romp to the title the season scoring hundreds of goals in the process, but Mourinho is not fooling anyone. For the man who pioneered the formula for parking the bus in the 21st century to lament the defensiveness of a team who outscored his own by nearly a goal a game is laughable.

The truth is that he does not really think Conte's team is defensive, he fears the accusations against himself and so he is attempting to control the narrative himself.

Mourinho's default setting is one of defensiveness, and not just on the pitch.

Do you agree with Mourinho's claims about Chelsea? Let us know in the comments below.