The Mourinho Thread

[iceboy 992]

'We will destroy opponents!'... Mourinho believes Chelsea will turn into 'predators' once they get into their groove

[Barbara 15,149]

'We will destroy opponents!'... Mourinho believes Chelsea will turn into 'predators' once they get into their groove

I love this quote by him in the article:

‘If we do that, we will destroy an opponent,’ he said. ‘We’ll get a much bigger result because going that way you have to score goals.

‘We want to win matches. But what I like is that when you have the chance to beat them by three, four or five, we have to do it.’

And that's the Mourinho I've been repeatedly telling has been training RM for the past three seasons.

If anyone here expects the 2004-07-Mourinho to have returned, prepare yourselves for something else.

The man completely changed his view on football and while there are many things that continue the same from his first spell here, how he approaches the game isn't one of them.

He's been very effective with this new mentality in RM (imo) and I have no doubts he'll be the same here, especially because we have the players for it. He's betting a lot on André - although I'm still not convinced André will become what he hopes he will. He will be very careful with Lukaku and see if he can also become what he aims. I don't feel like I know both players enough to say, but if they aren't what he needs them to be, he'll bring others. Hazard, Oscar, Kevin, Moses in addition to those two are the ones he's going to watch closely.

I'm so excited about his time here with us. This season is the complicated one, the transitional, and it'd be great if we could bite one of the big trophies, but next season will be the hit. And from there on I think we may have the chance to become the next 'it' club in the world.

[Heisenberg 1,824]

I love this quote by him in the article:

And that's the Mourinho I've been repeatedly telling has been training RM for the past three seasons.

If anyone here expects the 2004-07-Mourinho to have returned, prepare yourselves for something else.

The man completely changed his view on football and while there are many things that continue the same from his first spell here, how he approaches the game isn't one of them.

He's been very effective with this new mentality in RM (imo) and I have no doubts he'll be the same here, especially because we have the players for it. He's betting a lot on André - although I'm still not convinced André will become what he hopes he will. He will be very careful with Lukaku and see if he can also become what he aims. I don't feel like I know both players enough to say, but if they aren't what he needs them to be, he'll bring others. Hazard, Oscar, Kevin, Moses in addition to those two are the ones he's going to watch closely.

I'm so excited about his time here with us. This season is the complicated one, the transitional, and it'd be great if we could bite one of the big trophies, but next season will be the hit. And from there on I think we may have the chance to become the next 'it' club in the world.

This is not a transitional season, there are not transitional season with José Mourinho.We'll win titles this year, maybe the Cup, maybe the League or even the League Cup but we'll compete until the end for sure.The approach may be a little bit different but the results of our new Chelsea will be the same like 2004.We'll be winners again, very well organised defensively, and maybe more possession-minded team since we have different profiles this time for José.

[Barbara 15,149]

This is not a transitional season, there are not transitional season with José Mourinho.We'll win titles this year, maybe the Cup, maybe the League or even the League Cup but we'll compete until the end for sure.The approach may be a little bit different but the results of our new Chelsea will be the same like 2004.We'll be winners again, very well organised defensively, and maybe more possession-minded team since we have different profiles this time for José.

Of course it's transition... for we have a new manager. There's no way it isn't a transition. RM team in 2010 was better than ours - any team that has Cristiano Ronaldo has something else compared to the others and they had him and a bunch more that were older, on their peak and experienced - and it was a transition season where he was spanked by Barcelona in the biggest beat up between the clubs lately (5-0) and although they finished 2nd in La Liga by only 4 points, that was mainly because Barcelona had a huge lead and they started dropping points towards the end of the season (9). They made it to CL SF - again their team was better than our current squad - and only won the Cup (Copa del Rey). I'm not saying we won't win, but to deny this is a transitional season seems nonsensical as we're under a new management, we have new players, we have many young players (9 under 23) and we'll change the mentality the club has had for the past few years. There's no way you don't go through a transition to reach the goals. There isn't magic in football and that's the capital mistake ManCity does year after year. They build a team with great names, and then the next season - because it didn't work as good as they wanted - they change half of the team again. There's no immediate and magical result. It's a process and Mourinho already asked time himself.

I never said though we won't win titles. I just said next season we will be a hit and that hopefully we are able to grab some titles already in this one. José faces this season as transitional. He already said that although he'll do his best to win titles now this is a team for the future. There aren't really many ways to interpret a sentence like that...

[Reddish-Blue 2,223]

Of course it's transition... for we have a new manager. There's no way it isn't a transition. RM team in 2010 was better than ours - any team that has Cristiano Ronaldo has something else compared to the others and they had him and a bunch more that were older, on their peak and experienced - and it was a transition season where he was spanked by Barcelona in the biggest beat up between the clubs lately (5-0) and although they finished 2nd in La Liga by only 4 points, that was mainly because Barcelona had a huge lead and they started dropping points towards the end of the season (9). They made it to CL SF - again their team was better than our current squad - and only won the Cup (Copa del Rey). I'm not saying we won't win, but to deny this is a transitional season seems nonsensical as we're under a new management, we have new players, we have many young players (9 under 23) and we'll change the mentality the club has had for the past few years. There's no way you don't go through a transition to reach the goals. There isn't magic in football and that's the capital mistake ManCity does year after year. They build a team with great names, and then the next season - because it didn't work as good as they wanted - they change half of the team again. There's no immediate and magical result. It's a process and Mourinho already asked time himself.

I never said though we won't win titles. I just said next season we will be a hit and that hopefully we are able to grab some titles already in this one. José faces this season as transitional. He already said that although he'll do his best to win titles now this is a team for the future. There aren't really many ways to interpret a sentence like that...

Well said. Manchester City's lack of team chemistry will hurt them sooner or later. I like the signings that Pellegrini has made, particularly the speedy Navas, who should solve their width problem but with large transfer fees, come large wages and big egos. It'll be interesting to see how Pellegrini controls the dressing room when Man City don't win games.

As for Chelsea, I agree with your point, this is a transitional season because of all the young players on our squad. I'm really interested to see what Mourinho does with the likes of De Bruyne, Schurrle, Lukaku, Van Ginkel as the season goes on..

I still feel we lack that dominant striker who can win us games single-handedly (e.g. Rvp for United) but we should be capable of winning something this season.

[Heisenberg 1,824]

Of course it's transition... for we have a new manager. There's no way it isn't a transition. RM team in 2010 was better than ours - any team that has Cristiano Ronaldo has something else compared to the others and they had him and a bunch more that were older, on their peak and experienced - and it was a transition season where he was spanked by Barcelona in the biggest beat up between the clubs lately (5-0) and although they finished 2nd in La Liga by only 4 points, that was mainly because Barcelona had a huge lead and they started dropping points towards the end of the season (9). They made it to CL SF - again their team was better than our current squad - and only won the Cup (Copa del Rey). I'm not saying we won't win, but to deny this is a transitional season seems nonsensical as we're under a new management, we have new players, we have many young players (9 under 23) and we'll change the mentality the club has had for the past few years. There's no way you don't go through a transition to reach the goals. There isn't magic in football and that's the capital mistake ManCity does year after year. They build a team with great names, and then the next season - because it didn't work as good as they wanted - they change half of the team again. There's no immediate and magical result. It's a process and Mourinho already asked time himself.

I never said though we won't win titles. I just said next season we will be a hit and that hopefully we are able to grab some titles already in this one. José faces this season as transitional. He already said that although he'll do his best to win titles now this is a team for the future. There aren't really many ways to interpret a sentence like that...

But Barbara, if the season ends up with titles, why should we say it is a transitional season ? Was the 2009-2010 a transitional season? No, was the 2004-2005 season a transition ? no ! even if we had a new manager and a new staff, we only added few names to complete the puzzle, with Rooney we could just do that.The maturity and the winning mentality that José brings does not need one year or two, in three months we'll be either on the top or nearly that, he may this time need one year to win the PL again, but I dont see us finishing with zero titles and for me a season with a good champions league run, one title or two is not a transitional season no matter the new players and the new manager.I remember very well the Real Madrid 2010-2011, the were for me the second best team in the world, it did not take long for José to make his touch and I expect the same here.

[Barbara 15,149]

But Barbara, if the season ends up with titles, why should we say it is a transitional season ? Was the 2009-2010 a transitional season? No, was the 2004-2005 season a transition ? no ! even if we had a new manager and a new staff, we only added few names to complete the puzzle, with Rooney we could just do that.The maturity and the winning mentality that José brings does not need one year or two, in three months we'll be either on the top or nearly that, he may this time need one year to win the PL again, but I dont see us finishing with zero titles and for me a season with a good champions league run, one title or two is not a transitional season no matter the new players and the new manager.I remember very well the Real Madrid 2010-2011, the were for me the second best team in the world, it did not take long for José to make his touch and I expect the same here.

sweetie, you're not understanding my point at all.

He's here to create a new style of playing and that requires time. It has little to do with winning titles. My post was about Mourinho creating a hit team, the team everyone will talk about. Just like Barça has been and now Bayern is. He has the quality to do that and while he doesn't have all players now, he has a few of them that will mature into the next generation of A players and a few more might continue to join. Read carefully what I've written. It's about changing our style because he's changed his. And becoming a reference in the world of football. It requires time and those young players to mature.

If we happen to win titles in the between, great and I believe we will. Next year I believe we'll be able to repeat the first 30 minutes against Hull to a T and for nearly 90 minutes in most matches already. This season we might do that a few times, but we won't do another few times. That's what I'm talking about. Titles are consequence of the philosophy and style. And let's not forget we have really hard competition in EPL - let alone in Europe.

And you said well in your post. RM had the second best squad in the world at the time. I'm not sure currently we make the top5 or even the best squad in England right now.

I think comparing this season to the 2004/05 is a bit of a stretch. The players were older, more experienced... a complete different profile. Again it's not only me saying it, José said it just yesterday...

My point is - as a RM fan I can say - in 2010 (from Aug-Dec) the team was still a mess tactically. Pellegrini was sacked basically because of yet another terrible CL result and a very embarrassing early exit in Copa del Rey. The team had great talents and when Mourinho arrived he of course brought a few more names, but that team while great technically, was still lost tactically. What tactics should we use to capitalize the talent we had? Let's not forget this is La Liga - the level of competition doesn't compare to the EPL and still they struggled to find a pattern and a style of playing. Until the 5-0 we were leaders and after that disaster the team was emotionally unstable, they lacked confidence and the main reason they continued to win is because a team like that playing against Mallorca, Levante, Hércules (), Deportivo, Almería, Getafe, etc would of course win. But we had problems, we struggled, it took José a long while to define and establish a pattern, a style and see what really worked given the players we had. That team changed Mourinho. He tried to emulate what he did in Inter (which was much closer to what he did in Chelsea), but he couldn't because he had completely different players in his hands. The squad itself presented a challenge to him and it took him a while (and an embarrassing loss to Barça) to understand that what he did here and in Inter wouldn't work with that profile of squad.

I remember vividly that season, I've followed Madrid very closely because I was excited to have Mou managing yet another team I supported. It took him months and we were very lucky with the teams we had on UCL (Lyon and Spurs). It wasn't until February-March that the team finally seemed to have settled and for Mourinho to learn how to work with a squad that was so prone to attack, fast, talented in every position (from the pivot on) and with the second best player in the world. But before that he tried ball possession, he tried tikitaka, he tried two strikers, one striker, he tried a lot of things, until he realized what Madrid did best was counter-attack and fast paced football. We had more possession than opponents, but we were in no way a tikitaka kind of football. It took time for him to find the balance and for the team get used to the new tactics and that was a team that had a lot of players on their peak (Casillas, Ramos, Marcelo, Alonso, Cristiano, di María, Higuaín and players on verge of peaking such as Benzema and Ozil - although some would say they were already peaking).

When Mourinho came to England the rest of the teams had to raise their level to compete with his team. And that improvement is still there for a couple of top clubs and the smaller clubs can be challenging because the league is very physical. Which league (among the big ones) is more unpredictable (or competitive) than the Premier League? La Liga and Bundesliga are all about two teams, Italy currently is about Juve and someone else that won't really threaten them but will still be much better than the rest. The rest (including Portuguese, French and Dutch leagues) are 2nd tier leagues. Winning in England is harder.

I prefer to keep my titles expectations low and look forward to this team progressing, maturing and taking the first steps into marking a generation in a couple of years. Everything beyond that is icing the cake. I have no doubts we'll be a force to reckon with next year and in a couple more we'll be the 'it' team. That's one thing missing in Mourinho's resume and it's great that Roman seems to aim the same. Whether they'll succeed or not, is yet to be seen, but I think we have all tools to make it happen and until then I'm prepared to see a lot of rotation, experiments and adjustments and hopefully titles mixed with all of it. It does help ManUtd has a new coach in nearly 3 decades and that ManCity pressed the reset button again.

[Heisenberg 1,824]

@Barbara

We think differently, you want Mourinho to build a team that can - after one or even two years - dominate domestically and in Europe, with a style of play different than the one he implemented here when he came first.I dont see this way, the challenge is too difficult and we simply cannot "do a Bayern

Munich after a shocking defeat against Barcelona in the 2008 2009 campaign started their revolution, changing managers and going in a direction, van Gaal took over and went on to nearly win the treble, before Jupp took over and won the treble after a disappointing season.My point is, it took Bayern four years to finally have a team that dominated europe without any doubts, this process needed money and good ideas.I dont think the board and Mourinho could for example accept to finish this season trophyless, I dont believe the journalist when they say this time its different for José.I think the aim is to win as soon as possible, to make a winning machine by playing good football, different to the one of 2004 because now we have different profile, but the aim is always to win as quickly as you can.We'll be a force, but what Mourinho wants is to build a dynasty here a la Ferguson, to win many leagues - not always brilliantly - to have that stability that will help him in this process.

We are going in a direction of challenging for the Premier League and Champions League this season, we are not building for the next years a squad, we already finished that process, José will try to implement his new ideas but also wont "do a Villas-Boas" and will at times sacrifice his ideas to win important games because he'll have a huge pressure from the big boss to deliver quickly and with some style.Chelsea is not Bayern and Barcelona, we cant accept trophyless seasons like Bayern did in 2011 and Barca 2007/2008.

[edetarod 2,155]

what i hope:

plan A: Roo

plan B: Ibra

plan C: Suarez

what i think:

plan A: Roo

plan B: Eto'o

plan C: that Portuguese guy

[Blue Armour 4,164]

"Football is full of top talents but not many top players." - Jose

Love it!

Mourinho is definitely not going to go easy on Hazard this season.

[mediator 2,026]

As Jose left presser, a Spanish colleague asked him for an interview in her mother tongue. “No, no: I don’t speak Spanish any more.”

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Tactics and team selection all wrong for tonight's game. He should share the blame with the players for the bad performance.

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

Tactics and team selection all wrong for tonight's game. He should share the blame with the players for the bad performance.

We won the game, what the fuck is wrong with you people ?

FFS.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

We won the game, what the fuck is wrong with you people ?

FFS.

We won the game purely by luck. Are you happy with that performance?

[Jase 43,479]

We won the game, what the fuck is wrong with you people ?

FFS.

TBF, think Benitez got slaughtered as well for his team selection and tactics even though we won but didn't play well. So, not sure why Mourinho should escape criticism for that either.

And just because we won, doesn't mean we can't criticize the manager for his decision making. We do that to players every time as well, win or lose. Otherwise, what is the point of analyzing and having discussion?

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

Villa scored 3 past Arsenal at the Emirates few days ago, this isn't some pub team we were playing. So many childish posts tonight (and in general the quality of the forums is declining since our Champions League win).

I'm very happy we won this game, I'm delighted. It was an ugly win, but United does it all the time and wins the league with those wins. So, calm down and enjoy.

[Jase 43,479]

Villa scored 3 past Arsenal at the Emirates few days ago, this isn't some pub team we were playing. So many childish posts tonight (and in general the quality of the forums is declining since our Champions League win).

I'm very happy we won this game, I'm delighted. It was an ugly win, but United does it all the time and wins the league with those wins. So, calm down and enjoy.

Just because we complain, doesn't mean we don't enjoy the win. We do but also we want the best for our team. We look at the deficiencies and speak about it, win or lose. Don't see what's wrong with that really. And mind you, even though United does most of the time, have seen their fans complain about Fergie before.

[Rmpr 8,977]

Tactics and team selection all wrong for tonight's game. He should share the blame with the players for the bad performance.

Agree with that, I said it in the beginning of the match.

However, those weird wins are what make teams champions...