The Mourinho Thread

[Special 59]

Embraced Pochettino before the final whistle. Any GIF from that scene?

[Tomo 21,681]

Our last 6 home games: W W W W W W

Our last 6 away games: W D L W D L

This is the concern.. We can't keep relying on home form. Titles are won and lost on away form.

Im not too concerned, if we win 17 home games (which is very possible) another 4/5 away will be fine.

[lucio 5,385]

Hes a great midfield player but would one of the best DMs in the world get ripped apart by Christian Eriksen and Chadli? I said in another thread, he is vitally important to us but there are better DMs. His protection is vital to our system and it wasn't there. When hes good hes good but when Matic is bad hes truly awful.

they would when they are exhausted. please name the better DMs in the league

[bababoom 4,478]

Matic is definitely one of the best DMs in the world, one below par game doesn't change that...

[Tomo 21,681]

Am I reading right? Mourinho picks players on reputation?

This is the guy who dropped Cassilas, sold Mata ans De Bruyne when most Chelsea fans and media thought the team should be built around them, drops Cech. Infact wouldn't Luis be a regular by now if he picked on reputation?

Im all for constructive criticism but to say he picks on reputation is absolutely absurd.

[GodZola 630]

You can always rely on a poor result/display to bring out the pessimism.....all the games we drew this year we prob should of won bar Sunderland & the only other game we lost at Newcastle we should not of done, it was one poor defeat - I'll wait til we lose like this a few more times before throwing in the towel!

Last night was a disaster, no question, however it was just one of those games where everything Spurs struck went in (can't remember Courtois actually making a save?) this coupled with our best players bar Hazard having their worst performance of the season, most are rightly pointing the finger at Matic but Fabregas was also woeful. Hazard was exceptional but every other player put in their worst performance of the season all in one game & that accounts for the dicking we got, even José has to shoulder the blame as his substitutions were baffling to say the least.

That said I would much rather be in our position than City's or any other team, all the top sides have to come to the Bridge bar Arse & West Ham, we gave now played 2 more away games than at home & at least all the poor performances have come in one game so this will give those players time to have a very long look at themselves & hopefully a kick up the arse!

I don't subscribe to this tiredness bollocks either - Hazard is testament to that but José now as the chance to rest most of the squad & give the fringe players a chance to prove themselves & give jose food for thought in future selection.

Lastly the transfer market is now open so the defeat has come at the right time in more ways than one.

[Fernando 6,375]

I think we are paying the price for believing in 2 myths:

*our team was superb, and only one good striker was needed.

*our defense is the best in the world.

Since last season I've been saying this: our weak point is the defense. Mourinho is fooling himself when he says Terry is as good as 2005. Azi is easily our best at the four back. Its unbelievable how Ivanovic became the untouchable right back. He was never that good going forward, but this season even his defending is average. About Cahill, I always said people saw him as an amazing CB because of David Luiz factor. He is average and always will be.

I think its also funny to remember people saying Matic was a god in the midfield, or that was the reason why we were set to win the trophy last season. For me he is a correct player, definitely better than Mikel, but being better than Mikel doesn't make you a super DM. I think he is very limited, going forward and defending.

To be honest I don't see us winning the trophy. City is a better team in every aspect. Their squad depth is unbelievable. I think we lost an amazing opportunity when we lost 4 points against Manchester teams. At this moment we could be 5 points ahead of City. Now we definitely lost our momentum.

I think with the striker we are okay for now.

If city can pass by with no strikers fit why can't we?

The defense you have always been right and something I agreed from the beginning.

In fact I'm baffled that mourinho never really solved this problem in the first place, since mourinho always construct his team from the back.

I guess he wanted to take a different approach this time?

And totally wrong about Matic. There's no better DM in the world at the moment.

Matic is a beast and has made our team look amazing, especially the defense part.

Yesterday he was not on top form and the defense gets tear apart.

Part fault Matic but even greater fault from defense in being that slow and average.

We got world class players in every department except in defense with the exception of azpi.....

[illmatic 901]

Today is the turn of whiplashes for Matic ?. Incredible what make one lose.....

Fortunately Hazard played a good game, if not, would be the white version of Victor Moses.

[iseah100 5,612]

Hes a great midfield player but would one of the best DMs in the world get ripped apart by Christian Eriksen and Chadli? I said in another thread, he is vitally important to us but there are better DMs. His protection is vital to our system and it wasn't there. When hes good hes good but when Matic is bad hes truly awful.

Disagree. Players have off games, you're gonna conveniently forget his masterclass performances vs City last year, Arsenal, Stoke, etc.?

[MrBlueGuy 1,552]

On paper our defense is indeed one of the best in the world and statistically it is proven to be similar too. However that is down to our style of play, when we tried to play gungho attacking football like yesterday the lack of speed in our defenders were exposed.

Imo now I understand why he wants to park the bus most of the big game away from home, hopefully that is what he does from now on instead of deciding to go toe to toe with other big teams because he clearly cannot instruct the team to dominate away from home while keeping defence discipline at the same time. Lets face it, he is not as good as Pep in this area, will we ever see a dominant display like Bayern at City last season? Or Barca at Arsenal, against MU in both CL finals...etc. Probably not...

Lets hope he goes back to keeping it tie AWAY FROM HOME IN BIG MATCHES.

[DH1988 1,193]

Big manager

Big players

Perhaps the kick up the arse we needed to be more clinical whilst 1-0 up, cost us again.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Hes a great midfield player but would one of the best DMs in the world get ripped apart by Christian Eriksen and Chadli? I said in another thread, he is vitally important to us but there are better DMs. His protection is vital to our system and it wasn't there. When hes good hes good but when Matic is bad hes truly awful.

Everyone can have a bad game pal... He's been absolutely superb this season and has hit a little bit of a rough patch, doesn't mean he's suddenly not one of the best in position.

It's very funny how Henrique decides to pop up when Matic is going through a bit of a rough patch also...

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,738]

I think with the striker we are okay for now.

If city can pass by with no strikers fit why can't we?

The defense you have always been right and something I agreed from the beginning.

In fact I'm baffled that mourinho never really solved this problem in the first place, since mourinho always construct his team from the back.

I guess he wanted to take a different approach this time?

And totally wrong about Matic. There's no better DM in the world at the moment.

Matic is a beast and has made our team look amazing, especially the defense part.

Yesterday he was not on top form and the defense gets tear apart.

Part fault Matic but even greater fault from defense in being that slow and average.

We got world class players in every department except in defense with the exception of azpi.....

City can get by without strikers because they have midfielders who can score. Even their holding midfielders, like fernandinho, are living in the box when they get on top.

Their midfielders, as a collective, are better than ours. Willian,Salah,Oscar, and even Schurrle wouldnt get in there for them.

[iseah100 5,612]

Everyone can have a bad game pal... He's been absolutely superb this season and has hit a little bit of a rough patch, doesn't mean he's suddenly not one of the best in position.

It's very funny how Henrique decides to pop up when Matic is going through a bit of a rough patch also...

Didn't you know all the best DM's never have poor games? Yaya...I mean, Martinez..I mean....Vidal...wait...

Of course he came now, he was quiet as a mouse when Matic dominated vs Arsenal and vs Stoke. He's been the most consistent player in the PL all season. he's allowed a bad game.

[Barbara 15,149]

Today is the turn of whiplashes for Matic ?. Incredible what make one lose.....

Fortunately Hazard played a good game, if not, would be the white version of Victor Moses.

No, it's not. Henrique doesn't like him for whatever nonsense reason and made sure to stay away while he was killing it. Now he has a bad match because he's exhausted, he timely comes back with a nonsense comment on him.

Just ignore it.

[Strike 6,960]

Purposely avoided TC today

[Liquidator 5,176]

Me for every Mourinho press conference now the transfer window is open

[xPetrCechx 13,546]

Mourinho will also face no action from the FA for his comments about Dowd, according to Sky sources.