The Jose Mourinho comments about Philippe Clement that may serve as a warning to Norwich City | OneFootball

Comments made by the former Chelsea manager in March 2025 highlighted a potential issue with Norwich City's surprise new managerial appointment.

Norwich City surprised everybody when they announced Philippe Clement as their new head coach, but comments from earlier this year from a legendary manager could serve as a warning to Canaries fans.

Norwich City had a surprise in store following the sacking of head coach Liam Manning earlier this month. Earlier this week, the Canaries announced that Manning's replacement would be Philippe Clement, who's signed a three-and-a-half year contract at Carrow Road.

The new manager has a big job on his hands. Norwich are in 23rd place in the Championship, with only the crisis-stricken Sheffield Wednesday beneath them. They're without a league win since the end of August and have lost all seven of the home matches that they've played so far this season in the Championship.

Clement's last position was in Scotland with Rangers, but he was dismissed from that role in February following a disastrous run of results which included getting eliminated from the Scottish Cup by the minnows Queens Park.

And comments made by the legendary Jose Mourinho a couple of weeks after Clement's sacking have raised a question that may give Norwich fans pause for thought over whether the club have made the right decision in appointing him.

Jose Mourinho blasted now-Norwich City boss Philippe Clement shortly after Rangers exit

A week after Philllipe Clement's sacking at Ibrox, Rangers lined up for tough Europa League quarter-final match against the Turkish giants Fenerbahce, and at a press conference prior to the first leg of this tie, the Fenerbahce boss Jose Mourinho made a comment about Clement which raises a question or two about the new Norwich manager.

In an excerpt posted to the Sky Sports account on the social media platform X, Mourinho was asked about how he felt about facing the Clement's replacement Barry Ferguson in their upcoming cup tie.

Mourinho admitted that he didn't know much about Ferguson as a coach, but went on to add: "I think it's going to be much more difficult with him than with the previous coach because the previous coach was more worried about philosophy than on the pitch. It's on the pitch you win matches, it's not with philosophy."

Returning to the matter at hand, Mourinho added, "And for sure Ferguson will be more pragmatic and more objective, and it will be hard for us, but it's going to be hard for them."

Rangers went on to win the tie in a penalty shootout after the two teams drew 3-3 on aggregate. Mourinho himself was sacked after his team were eliminated from the Champions League play-offs by Benfica at the end of August.

Tactical inflexibility had been an issue at Rangers over Philippe Clement's time with the club - Norwich City should be cautious

Tempting though it might be to put these comments down to 'Jose Mourinho doing Jose Mourinho things', his comments about a perceived tactical inflexibility on the part of Philippe Clement had been a known issue at Ibrox over the months prior to his sacking.

This was highlighted in an article by Rangers Review in November 2024 which spoke to several of his former colleagues in order to try and answer the question of why Clement wouldn't change formation on the pitch when things weren't going well.

The reposnse they received was illuminating. One source told them that "at Club Brugge, Clement’s team did have the option of playing two different tactical systems – a 4-3-3 and a 5-3-2" but that "Clement only introduced the option of a second system a year into his tenure at Brugge."

Tactical flexibility has become increasingly important in coaching in recent years. Having the ability to switch formations in reaction to circumstances has become a fundamental part of a coach's armoury.

Philippe Clement's philosophy is direct, attacking and dependent on wing-play, but one of the biggest questions that he will face will be that of how he reacts against teams who are happy to sit back and defend against them. He was ultimately unable to make his system work in Scotland.

But it's also worth remembering that Clement was successful in Belgium. He won the Belgian league three years in a row with two different clubs, in 2019 with Genk and then in 2020 and 2021 with Club Brugge.

But Norwich fans will be hoping that Clement has learned the lessons of his largely unsuccessful spell in Scotland, and that he's not waiting until the second season to bring a greater degree of that all-important flexibility to their team.