The Mourinho Thread

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

How can people pretend that a dozen players weren't trying AND NOT blame the manager for that? If he can't control or motivate his team, he deserves to go anyway. I have never liked the cult of Mourinho. No player is bigger than the club and managers are worth a lot less than players. There was no scenario where Mourinho keeping his job made sense. We were awful, his antics were childish and disruptive, and Chelsea were not improving at all. This was not a rash decision in the least.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Bar Azpi, did anyone else thanked Mou yet?

Says alot about the whole thing realy...

[Polo7 3,496]

Bar Azpi, did anyone else thanked Mou yet?

Says alot about the whole thing realy...

Fabregas was the first I think.

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

The more I think the more vilified I become. Fucking mercenaries leaves a bad taste in the mouth

[Fernando 6,375]

i'm sure being 1 point off relegation had more to do with it.

And being that we are in December.

In October not much of a worry because hopefully we can bounce.

But the same shenanigans in December is not good.

[The Chels 2,502]

Bar Azpi, did anyone else thanked Mou yet?

Says alot about the whole thing realy...

I'd imagine a lot of them will have done it privately.

[MichaelDance 552]

Roman is going to regret it, and any non Mourinho fans will also regret it when the "new" manager comes in and we go to the Championship, out of the UCL and we fail to beat Aston Villa and Birmingham City.

[The Skipper 20,593]

When Rafa came in, there was anger. Now there's a general mood of despondency.

I understand those criticisms, but we won the league last season. We won it playing some great football up until January and then coasted, but nothing we did in the summer looked to give us something more this season. There was no improvement to the squad, in fact it got weaker. That to me isn't Jose's fault, so then expecting him to put young, inexperienced players into a weaker side seems disadvantageous to both the team and the young players. Surely you want to integrate them when you're on the front foot, not when you're looking for consistency of results.

OTK,

First off. Thanks for a very eloquent response, very much appreciated. Now, I must respectfully say that I disagree with various points you've made.

The first point I'll make is that you can't say that the squad weakened so much that we should be hovering a point above relegation at this stage of the season; no matter what you say that isn't good enough. As for integrating the youth when we're on the front foot? That's not how Mourinho works, he never has. Last season, when we clearly were on the front foot, Mourinho still was very reluctant to field youngsters. CL group stage against Sporting when RLC got a few minutes is a great example of this - we were utterly brilliant around that time but we still didn't see enough youngsters. I don't buy that we would've been playing the youth if we were doing well this season.

I'm not asking for rationality though. Nothing about supporting a club is rational, it's an emotional response. Supporting this club is about the experience of being with not just my family and friends but also about being with thousands of people with the same love. It's those emotional bonds you build that are important and we built that with Jose too. His influence, his personality is all over this club. We sang his name in 2012 because we knew how key he was to that.

And that's all well and good. He's deserved it. He's been a very influential person in our club. I'll always hold him in the highest regard but that doesn't mean he's always going to be the right person to take us forward.

Maybe we weren't playing stylish football, but some things are more important than that to some people.

People talk about right paths and potential but I'm unclear as to what it is you're alluding to. So for instance when the scousers talk about it, they mean get back to 'pass and move, it's the Liverpool groove' and when United talk about it they mean an attacking, wing-based play and when Arsenal talk about it, they probably mean the Wenger-style of play.

So what is this right path you're alluding to because for the last decade or so it's been very much Jose's fingerprints on everything. A return to fancy football that lacks steel?

It's not about stylish football, it's about the plan we had as a club. The right path I've been alluding to is the very one Jose harped about when he came back - the ability to win in style, to nurture our young talents that we've smartly bought, to use our excellent academy and get in a few chaps made by Chelsea. We saw it last season, and we were progressing well in that aspect but we fully stalled, and started regressing, and under Jose we were not showing that we were going to get back to that level. The styles you talk about from other big European clubs - we were getting there. We're so far from that now.

[Fernando 6,375]

This is how most matchday fans see it, how opposing fans see it and how neutrals see it: A spineless board caving into player power once more.

We've sacked one of our own to protect a bunch of cunts.

Pretty much but most people agree that it's much easier to fire the manager then get rid of the entire team.

[Fernando 6,375]

Roman is going to regret it, and any non Mourinho fans will also regret it when the "new" manager comes in and we go to the Championship, out of the UCL and we fail to beat Aston Villa and Birmingham City.

We was doing good before he came.

And we can do good after he's gone.

[Special Juan 27,093]

Bar Azpi, did anyone else thanked Mou yet?

Says alot about the whole thing realy...

With social media you are damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Being such high profile it's difficult, Cesc has done it and had pelters, best let leave it lie if it was me.

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

Pretty much but most people agree that it's much easier to fire the manager then get rid of the entire team.

But it's not right and the players deserve all they get. Maybe they can learn the consequences of their awful actions; the players have been backed by the fans all season long, maybe they needed to be reminded what it's like to be hated

[Tomo 21,681]

Team I play for this season, their is one player who is a massive moaner, when im on the same side as him (whether in training or both selected) im a lot more cautious in my play and more reserved, when he doesn't play or he on other team in training I tend to play with a lot more freedom and play a lot better as a result, few others in the team have said the same to me alone.

A little perspective there for anyone who will take a good performance on Saturday as "proof" the players didn't care all this time, never underestimate the physiological part of life.

Also lets not forget last time we slated the players for attitude towards the manager resulted in massive humble pie 2 months later after Munich.

[Fernando 6,375]

But it's not right and the players deserve all they get. Maybe they can learn the consequences of their awful actions; the players have been backed by the fans all season long, maybe they needed to be reminded what it's like to be hated

Yeah but it will only last for the first few weeks.

No one will care if we are doing good come March and have a positive outlook for next season.

[Tautvix 1,321]

Pretty much but most people agree that it's much easier to fire the manager then get rid of the entire team.

That is easier but the thing is. We have sacked Scolari, AVB, Di Matteo and Mourinho twice for losing the dressing room. So ffs something must be done about that because it will continue to happen... Everytime we sack the coach it's because the players power. AVB tried to play attacking style but he lost the dressing room. Jose tried to play defensive style and he also lost the dressing room. The club was the first that came out and say we are looking for stability. What stability? Imagine we get Guardiola now (even if it's not likely) so how many years he is gonna be here for? 3 or 4 years and he is gone because he is not that kind of coach who will stay for longer. But he would probably be sacked earlier anyway. Also, I see you always talking about a lack of youngsters in Jose teams. Yh that's true. But the thing is. Roman has to come out and say that he more or less takes responsibility if we fail playing with more youths. Because he asks titles and youths at the same time but it's not possible. While we would waste one season integrating young players but Mr Abramovich will not waste it. He wants titles at the same time.

[Styles 9,790]

Emenalo

Absolute legend. I just wish he made his statement about there being a 'palpable discord' between the players and manager sooner. And what a beautiful way to put it, too.

The only thing Emenalo has done wrong in this sorry episode is allow himself to be dictated to by the the fired one.

He should now push for a manager that a) knows how to actually get a team to play some decent fucking football and b ) will give the young talent a chance

Let's get it, Emenalo.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Who was waiting in the wings to push them? Let's talk about the deals that were mooted - was JT worrying about the sun setting on his career because John Stones was waiting there to pounce? Do you think he's turned up to training once, seen Djilobigi's second-hand Peugeout 206 and thought he might get dropped for him?

So you attribute this utter disaster of a season to the fact that we failed to get in the right players in the summer? Now, I would accept that if we were underperforming to a certain level, let's say we were lingering in mid table at 10th right now, but that line has been crossed long ago. It's way bigger than that. To have a squad this talented be 1 point above the relegation zone is utterly unacceptable. And Jose to me is hugely responsible for that. Okay, let's say... He couldn't motivate this set of players anymore. Fine. But this drop off is completely unprecedented.

Or how about the second-coming of Lampard, Paul Pogba, smashing them in from 30 yards as Fabregas languished on the bench?

We stood still and when you do that you get overtaken.

Yes, we stood still, and Jose then almost reversed us into oblivion. As I said before, with the amount of talent we have in the squad, this is not acceptable from any manager.

What is the club you love? Is it the badge? Is it the stadium? Or is it the people?

Now tell me a person more important to this club's identity over the last 20 years than Jose? We were already disliked by a lot of rivals yet we had a chip on our shoulders because of where we were based. Now you have a manager who takes all of that and turns it up to 11. You think we're arrogant, well here's the special one. You think we're nouveau riche scum well fuck you, we're going to stop you playing and then destroy you.

What I love about the club? It's a family thing for myself. There's plenty of Chelsea fans in my family and we all have strong emotions towards the club in that sense. It's very simplistic to say it's as simple as the badge, the Bridge or fellow fans. It's a deeply rooted connection. Jose's confidence/arrogance fits the club well when we're performing but he's lost that sort of aura about him. He isn't the same person as he was a decade ago. He sounds a lot different, bitter and deluded a lot of the times, and I'm certain this club isn't about that. Not to me anyway. Jose Mk II isn't the same as the Jose that stepped in a decade ago. Not at all.

What's more amazing is that people think the board will back whomever they place in the seat (for the next 18-24 months) next whilst they try and fabricate some 'Barcelona-lite' ideology of beautiful football.

I don't want us to play like Barcelona. I want us to develop our own identity and we were on our way of doing so. If a manager isn't producing the goods then yes, he has to go. I'm sorry to keep harping about this but... We need to get past the stage where we let a manager dictate the philosophy and ethos of this club. It needs to be the other way around.

It seems like we'll just go around and around in circles with this, so respectfully, I'll agree to disagree with you. I admire your loyalty to Jose, it's great to see - but for me my first loyalty will always be the well being and progression of the club and Jose, the legend that he is, is an unfortunate casualty of that.

[Tomo 21,681]

That is easier but the thing is. We have sacked Scolari, AVB, Di Matteo and Mourinho twice for losing the dressing room. So ffs something must be done about that because it will continue to happen... Everytime we sack the coach it's because the players power. AVB tried to play attacking style but he lost the dressing room. Jose tried to play defensive style and he also lost the dressing room. The club was the first that came out and say we are looking for stability. What stability? Imagine we get Guardiola now (even if it's not likely) so how many years he is gonna be here for? 3 or 4 years and he is gone because he is not that kind of coach who will stay for longer. But he would probably be sacked earlier anyway. Also, I see you always talking about a lack of youngsters in Jose teams. Yh that's true. But the thing is. Roman has to come out and say that he more or less takes responsibility if we fail playing with more youths. Because he asks titles and youths at the same time but it's not possible. While we would waste one season integrating young players but Mr Abramovich will not waste it. He wants titles at the same time.

If they lose the dressing room then they have to go, plus the romantic notion of managers being in complete control and players doing what their told like good little boys is an urban myth, not even Fergie had his players in complete lock down (Roy Keane prime example).