It's basic PR. If you don't want the media to talk about what happened, then give them something else to talk about.
Jose Mourinho's post-game TV antics -- "I have nothing to say" -- actually spoke volumes. Chelsea had just lost at home to Liverpool but the story quickly moved on to his martyred messiah routine.
The press conference for the written media was a bit different. There were no cameras, so the point was made even more obvious. Mourinho can't actually talk about a gigantic conspiracy -- for fear of being "punished" by the FA -- so he leaves a trail of hints and clues that even Inspector Clouseau could follow and then he dares the media to buy what he's selling.
"You're all intelligent guys," he said to the press. "If you want to write, you write. Next press conference, I will bring you nice glasses, maybe you see the game in a better way. Or I give you some five percent of personality so you can say what you see, you are not afraid of it."
You can't prove a negative so you can't prove there isn't a massive plot against him. And everybody is either a part of the plot, too blind to see it (hence the glasses) or too chicken to talk about it (hence that five percent of "personality").
The source of Mourinho's ire in Saturday's game was essentially two decisions by referee Mark Clattenburg. The first came when, having called for a minimum of two minutes of time added on at the end of the first half, he let play run to 47 minutes and 23 seconds. In those extra 23 seconds, Philippe Coutinho equalised for Liverpool.
Notwithstanding the obvious, which is that Clattenburg presumably couldn't have known that Coutinho was going to conjure up a wonder-finish, that "two minutes" is a MINIMUM and that the whole method of time-keeping in football is anachonristic, even former referees like Graham Poll and Howard Webb couldn't agree on Clattenburg letting the clock run.
Clattenburg's other contentious decision came in the second half when he didn't send off Lucas for what looked like a second bookable offence. (The referee also didn't send off Diego Costa for what might have been an intentional kick out at Martin Skrtel.)
All that is noise. Flip those decisions and does it change Chelsea's performance? Does it automatically turn into a convincing home victory?
No.
Mourinho would have had a better case arguing that both of Liverpool's second half goals were deflected and that, if they hadn't been, Asmir Begovic might have saved them.
Yet the fact that we've spent this much time talking about what happened later means we haven't been talking about what Chelsea showed on Saturday. First and foremost, that was an inability to hold on to an early lead at home, something which is ordinarily unthinkable in a Mourinho team.
Beyond that, we saw the manager make a string of decisions which either backfired or had little positive effect. He left out Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fabregas, his starting central midfield last year, in favor of Ramires and John Obi Mikel. He persisted with Kurt Zouma as his right-back, mainly because he seems to have zero faith in Baba Rahman's ability to take over on the left (thereby allowing Cesar Azpiliuceta to switch flanks). And he yanked Eden Hazard at the hour mark.
What strikes you most isn't that these were disastrous, masochistic choices, just that they were distinctly un-Mourinho like. The guy who historically built his success on having a corps of loyal star players, who would run through a brick wall for him, has lost that this year.
Look at his key performers from last season. Thibaut Courtois is injured. John Terry was dropped earlier this year. Matic has been dropped and also suffered the indignity -- against Southampton -- of coming and then getting substituted. Fabregas was dropped. Hazard, Chelsea's current Player of the Year, was substituted with the score 1-1.
History would suggest that Mourinho would protect and insulate his core and work with them to get them sort out the mess. That's what he's done successfully in the past. For whatever reason, he has decided to deal with the situation differently. And, for now at least, it's not working.
More bad news for Mourinho
In the 48 hours after the defeat, it was reported by BBC radio presenter Garry Richardson that a Chelsea first-team player had said he'd "rather lose than win for [Mourinho]."
And then on Monday it emerged that Eva Carneiro, Chelsea's former club doctor, is taking legal action against Mourinho (she already has active proceedings against the club). What's most remarkable about this is that Mourinho has nobody to blame but himself.
He could -- and if he felt that strongly about it, should -- have demoted Carneiro quietly rather than calling her out in public after Chelsea's game vs. Swansea on Aug. 8. Now it's one more battle for him to fight.
Liverpool show promise
Meanwhile, Liverpool's win was their first away from home since opening day and only their second league victory since August. As Jurgen Klopp pointed out, it was a "deserved victory" but we're still far, far away from this being a Klopp side.
We're only going really see Klopp's Liverpool once he's had time to work on physical preparation and instill the tactical movements he wants. You need time on the training pitch to do that and he hasn't had much of it.
Most obviously, you can't really judge this team -- or what Klopp plans to do -- until you see more of Liverpool with a real center-forward, whether it be Christian Benteke (who came on in the second half at Stamford Bridge and scored) or, at some point, Daniel Sturridge.
Saturday's front three of Roberto Firmino, Coutinho and Adam Lallana are square pegs in round holes and, particularly in the first half, looked decidedly underwhelming.
Yet the enthusiasm has been stoked and the Liverpool bandwagon rolls on. And those are much better conditions under which to work than those in the latter months of the previous regime.
Mancini still has issues to address
Say this for Roberto Mancini: He's not afraid to wield the axe. Ahead of Saturday night's top-of-the-table clash with Roma, the Inter manager dropped Mauro Icardi, his star striker and Serie A's top scorer last season, as well as his record summer signing Geoffrey Kondogbia, who wasn't exactly cheap at around $50 million.
Into the side came two new full-backs, Yuto Nagatomo and Danilo D'Ambrosio, who were making their second and first starts of the season respectively.
If you really believe it's all about results, then you can say the moves worked. Inter won 1-0 and moved to the top of the table alongside Paulo Sousa's Fiorentina, who were 4-1 winners against Frosinone. The pacy full-backs helped contain Roma's roadrunners, Gervinho and Mohammed Salah, and neither Kondogbia nor Icardi were particularly missed.
That's one way too look at it. Or you can also consider that Inter's goal came thanks to a long-range effort from Gary Medel which saw Wojciech Sczcesny move marginally quicker than a jug of maple syrup. And that, other than two strikes from Marcelo Brozovic, Inter created little, whereas their goalkeeper Sami Handanovic was man of the match with a string of highlight reel saves from the likes of Edin Dzeko, Maicon, Salah and Miralem Pjanic.
Inter have won seven games this season, six of them 1-0. That's a sign things aren't working the way Mancini wants them to work. (If they did, he wouldn't have dropped Kondogbia and Icardi). You can imagine, while outwardly beaming, inwardly he's wracking his brains to fix it.
Gladbach's remarkable turnaround
Give the manager time. It's a mantra trotted out knee-jerk fashion by the punditocracy. The thinking is that blame must be shared around and that there's no sense in finding a scapegoat.
But then you get cases which seem to fly in the face of that. Lucien Favre had taken Borussia Monchengladbach to third place in the Bundesliga last season. The canny, Swiss veteran seemed like the ideal guy to get the best out of Gladbach's young guns.
So much so that, when he began the season with five straight defeats, many -- including yours truly -- thought that he could turn things around once his injured starters, especially in defence, returned to the fold. The club felt the same way, which is why they initially refused to accept his resignation.
Boy, were we wrong.
Favre was let go on Sept. 20 and, since then, his replacement Andre Schubert has won six in a row in the Bundesliga, plus an impressive away victory at Schalke in the German Cup. If the season began in round six, Gladbach would be top, ahead of Bayern and Borussia Dortmund.
The only games Schubert hasn't won were in the Champions League and, even there, his team have looked good, drawing away to Juventus and only losing against Manchester City, who scored a last-ditch penalty after Gladbach missed a spot-kick of their own.
Sometimes, changing the manager is exactly what you ought to do.
Break glass if needed
OK, so now we know what those two other guys are there for. Luis Suarez and Neymar have scored Barcelona's last 14 Liga goals. That's not enough to make you forget about the injured Lionel Messi but is sufficient to take comfort from the fact that those two are stepping up.
It finished 2-0 to Barca against Getafe but, more than the result, Luis Enrique can be proud of his team's performance. They dominated, looked self-assured in just about every phase and they scored two gorgeous goals, particularly the first one.
If you haven't seen it, find it. The only question is what was more impressive: Neymar's move and run or Sergi Roberto's half ruleta and back heel to set up Suarez. (The latter, in my opinion).
One more point on Suarez: His goal was the 300th of his career in all competitions, for club and country. That's in 501 games. You would have thought he might have got there sooner, given his time at Ajax. Then again, he hasn't been a regular penalty-taker for much of his career.
Van Gaal should ignore the critics
Manchester United's third consecutive 0-0 draw (counting the League Cup) means they remain in the Premier League top four but, other than that, there wasn't much to cheer from their trip to Crystal Palace.
It was the same old, same old, in fact: Plenty of possession but little cutting edge, Anthony Marital aside.
Paul Scholes, now a pundit, has complained that his old side are boring. That earned him a stern rebuke from Louis Van Gaal Friday, which had a nasty edge to it.
"Why is he saying something? Because of the benefit of the club, or because of the benefit to himself?" Van Gaal said.
Notwithstanding that Scholes, who spent much of his playing career avoiding public speaking, has hardly been uber-controversial, there was more than hint of inconsistency in Van Gaal's words.
After all, back in Holland, in between managerial stints, he too worked as a TV pundit. And he was nothing if not outspoken and, at times, brutally honest. It made him a very good pundit, even though it led to him quarreling with half of the Dutch football establishment.
So why could Van Gaal do it then but Scholes can't do it now?
The Dutchman, perhaps realizing he was being a bit hypocritical, clarified his position on Monday. He said that when he went on TV as a pundit, he did so as a manager, critiquing the work of other managers. But Scholes, of course, has never been a manager.
Van Gaal is rather grasping at straws here and the best thing he can do is ignore Scholes. If United start to play and perform, he won't have to worry about what Scholes says. Besides, as Van Gaal himself pointed out, the only guys he needs to answer to are the Glazer family who own United and, to a lesser degree, executive vice-president Ed Woodward.
What now for Tevez?
He said he wanted to go home and play for the team he supported as a boy while he was still young enough to contribute in a meaningful way. And he said he was willing to take a pay cut to do it.
Carlos Tevez put his money where his mouth is and, on Sunday, was rewarded as Boca Juniors won the Argentine title. It's his eight league crown in four different countries with five different clubs.
"I've won championships in many places but nothing compares to this," he said.
Tevez is still 31 and you wonder what his next move is. Having scratched the itch and delivered on his word, might he be tempted to have another go at it back in Europe?
The way he's playing, there's more than a few teams that would gain an instant lift with him on board.
Points outweigh performance for Real Madrid
Right now, if you're Real Madrid, it's just about collecting points. Las Palmas on Saturday brought a deserved 3-1 victory with Cristiano Ronaldo getting a goal. Now, let's look ahead to Paris Saint-Germain in midweek, a visit to Sevilla at the weekend and, after the international break, the Clasico vs. Barcelona on Nov. 21.
There's no point really judging Rafa Benitez's work with a lineup decimated by injuries. With Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, James Rodriguez, Sergio Ramos and Keylor Navas sidelined, it's just a different Real.
Speaking of Ronaldo, the goal against Las Palmas means that, since coming to Spain in 2009, he has scored at least once against all 30 of the teams he's faced. Broaden it out to all competitions and he's done it against 54 of 58 opponents. The four who have kept him out? Dinamo Zagreb, Cruz Azul, San Lorenzo and, yes, PSG.
Pogba's psychological ploy
When Paul Pogba started writing "+" signs and the number five on the back of his No. 10 jersey, plenty wondered what it was all about. Now, apparently, we know.
The "10" became "1+0+5", which adds up to 6. That was his jersey number last year, when he was playing better than he is now.
It sounds hokey but, according to reports in Italy, it's a psychological ploy designed by Leonardo Bonucci's mental coach, a guy named Alberto Ferrarini. Wearing the No. 10 jersey at Juventus -- the one which previously belonged to Alessandro Del Piero and Roberto Baggio and, before them, Michel Platini and Omar Sivori -- carries a certain weight.
As it happened, the move yielded results on Saturday in the derby against Torino, which saw Pogba score the opener and help set up Juan Cuadrado's injury-time winner.
Whatever works for him, I guess.
Dost decisive again
OK, so he didn't score, but the love for Bas Dost continues unabated.
Against Bayer Leverkusen, Wolfsburg boss Dieter Hecking, in his wisdom, benched Dost for -- ahem -- Nicklas Bendtner. The great Dane did score the opener, but was yanked with 17 minutes to go and the score deadlocked at 1-1. Within four minutes, Dost set up Julian Draxler's winner.
The win allowed Wolfsburg to leapfrog Schalke and move into third place in the Bundesliga.
Gabriele Marcotti is a columnist for ESPN FC, The Times and Corriere dello Sport. Follow him on Twitter @Marcotti.