Mikel Arteta has been complimented for his respect in victory by the Bodo/Glimt manager who specifically referenced Jose Mourinho’s lack of it when his Roma side lost 6-1 in Norway.

That there is a massive difference between Mikel Arteta as a person and Jose Mourinho should come as no surprise to anyone.

After his side lost 6-1, Mourinho blamed the plastic pitch for causing an injury to his player, while there was also an altercation between both benches.

However, speaking after Arsenal’s hard-fought 1-0 win in Norway, Arteta said of his opponents, “They deserve a lot of credit.

“I said before the Emirates that they’re a really good team who are going to cause you problems.

“The conditions of the pitch are another element where you could see it was too fast for us, but there are no excuses.”

These comments were put to Bodo/Glimt’s manager, Kjetil Knutsen, who replied, “It is nice. English people are nice and good at giving praise to others.

“We have to take that to heart. Today I feel we were competitive against them. I think he sees that. As well I think he also sees that there is a lot of similarity between the teams. I am excited about how Arsenal plays football and he is the same about how Glimt plays football.

“I haven’t spoken to Arteta – he is in the game and busy with his job. It wasn’t like that when we met Roma. There were a hundred excuses. It’s been a completely different attitude. That’s the way it should be, you have to respect each other.

“I hope we can have the opportunity to visit Arsenal and get some inspiration. The way he has developed the team is extremely impressive.”

As the self-anointed ‘special one’s’ powers continue to fade, the flaws in his personality that were once hailed as ‘traits of a winner’, stand as evidence of who he is as a person – and it isn’t very nice.

I’d imagine that Jose Mourinho doesn’t overly care who thinks he is nice but it is something he could stand to ponder as he drags around his lack-of-respect-chip.