Alex Ferguson achieved a great deal at Manchester United during his long and successful reign at Old Trafford, but one of his greatest skills was his mastery of the art of diversion.
Many a time United would be below par but would fans be talking about United's struggles afterwards? No, they would be preoccupied by Ferguson's choice comments on the officials, opponents or even, infamously, the colour of his side's kit.
Ferguson often sacrificed himself, earning touchline bans and fines for calling out referees for the sake of his team, taking the attention off his misfiring players when results and form was against them.
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He may now be long since retired, but his misdirection ploys have not been forgotten, judging by Jose Mourinho's efforts in the news conference on Saturday.
Chelsea looked stale for large parts of their opening-day draw with Swansea City, but the focus instead, of his own making, was his criticism of Chelsea's medical staff, and particularly club doctor Eva Caneiro, for treating Eden Hazard when he did not feel it necessary.
Yes, he was asked why he had been so animated on the touchline in the news conference post-match, but given how loyal he normally is to his staff, it was surprising to see Mourinho make so much of it in public.
As it was, most attention was focused on that incident and the sending off his goalkeeper, Thibaut Courtois, rather than how average the champions had looked, even before going down to 10 men, with largely the same personnel who won the title last season.
Next Sunday's game at Manchester City is one of Chelsea's hardest of the season, on paper, and being under scrutiny for rows with his medical staff is much more appealing to Mourinho than doubts over whether last year's side still has what it takes.
Performance-wise it was a decent start Saturday for the league's three promoted sides.
Watford led for much of the day at Everton before drawing 2-2, Bournemouth had Aston Villa on the back foot for much of their encounter but lost 1-0, while Norwich City went down 3-1 to Crystal Palace despite pressurising their opponents for much of proceedings and having the best early chances.
One point among the three of them was not a fair reflection of their endeavours but, then, that is the harsh realities of the Premier League.
Watford earned the one point, but it felt like two lost after the club led twice in the final 15 minutes.
Hull City, one of the sides relegated last season, offer a lesson for all three new teams to heed.
Steve Bruce's side eight times conceded goals in the last 15 minutes of games, costing them either victories or draws. A total of 12 points was given away, and that was the difference between a nice mid-table finish and going down.
Hull were not one of the three worst sides in the league, when evaluating performance, but they deserved to go down for failing to see out games and focusing for a full 90 minutes.
Watford, Bournemouth and Norwich should learn from Hull's mistakes. Playing well will not keep a team up if it is not backed up with the points reward, and all three sides must pick up the winning habit quickly if they are to stick around for long.
gcaygill@thenational.ae
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