The Chels

lol £27m for this guy is a joke. Please, please avoid.

He even looks average-good in his YT compilations so I'm not holding out much hope for him being an upgrade on Willian.

Sums it up brilliantly. Thanks for that.

You're Spanish right, so I assume you watch Atletico Madrid a lot and would like to know your opinion - do you think Jose's approach is better than Simeone's for the big games? People on here don't watch much of Atletico and just like to moan about things like how they beat a team near the bottom of the league (2-0 vs. Granada) at home with a penalty (completing forgetting that we did the exact same against QPR in our 2-1 win). You say it is impossible for the opposition to reach our goal but I find the opposite to be true. We concede a lot of possession around our box, against both the smaller sides and bigger teams because our defending can be very passive with the pressing non existent or easily overcome. This is shown in the statistics: on average Atletico concede 8 shots on goal per game whereas we concede 10.3 and for comparison Liverpool concede 11.4 and Newcastle concede 11.9. Because our lack of defensive compactness (big gaps within midfield & between midfield and attack) often allows the opposition to play between the lines and take more shots on goal it's no surprise that we've kept so few clean sheets away from home this season. There are also other tactical reasons why Atletico are more defensively solid - they create pressing traps, defend with more numbers (Costa is rather static compared to last year in defence), and overload a lot whereas we often defend 1v1 in very dangerous areas which makes it more likely that we will concede a goal. With regard to the attacking play, I agree with you that playing deep can be an advantage because there is lots of space behind the opposition defence. However if the opposition press us and squeeze us into our own half we find it difficult to get out. We are not very good at counter attacking from deep positions because our transitions are not so great and we would be a lot more successful if the counter started higher up the pitch - obviously done by pressing higher as a unit which Atletico do brilliantly. In the big away games under Mourinho we tend to either defend deep with little to no attacking output (away to City this year) or press high and be defensively very open (Liverpool/United away in the league this year). The game away to City last year was clearly the exception and not the rule. This season we have yet to play away to a big side where we create good chances and look defensively solid. Atletico do that in the majority of their big games and they are playing against much better opposition in Real and Barca. For me it is very clear which is the more balanced and better defensive system.

I don't think anyone really expects us to get battered at home by any of those teams because that rarely happens (with the exception of last year's CL SF). We were definitely battered away to City though and our defensive stability away from home has been non existent. To be fair it was pretty damn good afterwards. Not heard them that loud for a long, long time. Guess it shows how much they hate Chelsea and how desperate they are to 'get Gerrard to Wembley'.

Both are issues. If he's a master at pressing why is our press so ofen bypassed (not just this game) and why did Liverpool have so much of the ball in dangerous positions and create at least 3-4 clear-cut chances? Effective pressing should keep them as far away from our goal as possible and limit their chances whilst also creating chances for us by turnovers high up the pitch. If Mourinho manages to set us up to press well, create chances, maintain defensive solidity and compactness in just one big away game this season I will retract my argument but for now I think he doesn't know how to do that.

When pressed we tend to kick it anywhere, randomly. If you watch other top teams' transitions from defence to attack their clearances very often reach a teammate in a good position and that's by design. We don't seem to have anything planned except for lump it anywhere and invite more pressure. 2/8 in the CL which is the most important cup competition and where Jose's weaknesses comes into play most. It was absolutely tragic that we couldn't beat Liverpool in 05 with the side we had but even more tragic in 07 after going into the away leg with a 1-0 lead. I have no idea why he played for a 0-0 when one away goal would have ended the tie ffs. This is why I'm such a big fan of Simeone even though he has several detractors on here. He is very similar to Mourinho in that he is an excellent motivator and top class defensive manager (imo he is currently better because his side remains amazingly compact while still pressing brilliantly) but he is a lot braver than Jose in the biggest games. The way they dominated us at the Bridge was unreal. Lack of courage in the biggest games has been the one significant flaw in Jose's managerial career and Simeone doesn't appear to have that drawback.

He's won 3/7 CL SFs. I'm not at all saying that Mourinho is a bad manager. I'm saying that he has an overly negative approach towards certain big games, particularly SFs (and also that he hasn't sorted out our issues with pressing and compactness). Can a manager's flaws not be pointed out without his apologists resorting to patronising and sarcastic posts?

My analysis is that they didn't have their best game going forward but made sure they would not concede and inevitably won. Granada has 5 shots on goal, 2 on target. On the same weekend we were completely dominated by Newcastle in the first half while also having a poor game going forward. We conceded 11 shots, 5 on target and they hit the woodwork a couple of times too. With regard to the bolded bit, need need I remind you of the game against QPR and how we couldn't beat them but for a penalty - should we too sell our entire team then considering QPR have an atrocious away record? We don't even have the excuse of not having WC players or losing our best players. And believe me Simeone turns bad Atletico performances around at half time a hell of a lot. The number of goals they score at the start of the second half is amazing. Just see their recent second half performances away to Athletic Bilbao or Real Madrid miweek. They were also being completely dominated by Barcelona until the second half where they were very close to 2-2 if Mandzukic could actually pass. How often does Mourinho change things significantly at half time when we're playing poorly away from home? Cty away? Nope. Newcastle/Sunderland away? Nope. Tottenham away? Nope. Liverpool yesterday? Nope. Managers don't have all the answers, obviously. I accept that Mourinho will make mistakes but when it's repeated and avoidable ones (requires more courage and better tactical work on pressing) then it does get very frustrating. And I don't know why you feel the need to slate Simeone in any way you can when the point is that he uses more balanced and proactive defensive tactics than Mourinho. If you think Atletico having a bad first-half away to a Barcelona side with Messi, Suarez and Neymar all playing brilliantly is comparable to Chelsea being dominated by Tottenham and Pool then we should probably end this discussion here.

Not excited for this transfer at all as he seems too similar to Willian. The last transfer I was really excited for (after Fabregas) was Tiago because I knew he'd be such an upgrade on Luiz/Mikel. Shame.

The end of the CL final is not a good example to use of Atletico defending. How often do they defend so deep with no pressing? Hardly ever. They had absolutely no outlet with their 2 best offensive players, Turan and Costa, injured. Luis was also just taken off injured, they only had 2 subs to use after the early Costa one, and they were obviously tired from a long season and a title-decider against Barcelona the week before while Real Madrid were able to rest all their best players. To play like that was not their intention. Their final La Liga game with Barca - they could have played for the draw but went out to attack even at 1-1. Against us at HT it was 1-1 and they could have just sat back but they went for the kill. You cannot accuse them of actively choosing to sit back at the complete expense of attack like you can with Jose. Also where do you think their clever 1-2s and ability to hold the ball against the big teams (e.g. against us at Stamford Bridge or their last game against Real) comes from? Simeone of course. Those players are not better footballers than the ones in our team.

Barcelona at the Nou Camp when at their best are unplayable (yet didn't defeat Atletico the whole of last season). Jose would of course know all about that. Liverpool and Tottenham, who we made to look like world beaters, are nowhere near that standard and would never dominate Atletico like they did us. You're going to moan about Atletico's playing style after they had the core of their squad ripped out? The fact they're still competing is unbelievable. I'd like (not) to see us cope with losing 3 of our best players and having to rely on the likes of Torres! If you expect Simeone to be playing brilliant football every week while competing on that budget with Barca/Real then there's not much to say. Is it unreasonable to expect Jose to have this side not be so defensively vulnerable and offensively poor against big teams? I don't think so. We were clearly outplayed in that tie. Could you let me know of an example when Mourinho's side clearly dominated the tie, missed chance after chance and were extremely unlucky not to go through to the final? At least that way we can say Mourinho's poor CL SFs record is down to bad luck rather than poor tactics. Any idea?

Did I say that? Nope. I said losing 6 of those 8 is a bad record for Jose's standards and there is, in my opinion at least, a clear reason why he consistently fails at that stage apart from the excuse of 'oh there's lots of good teams at that stage and Jose's always had the worse team'.

On occasion yes, but we should aim for a higher success rate. I'm always screaming at someone (usually Ivanovic) to help out in a 1v1 or 2v2 situation when he's so near and us overloading would make it so much more likely that we gain possession from the press. Instead we often rely on 50-50s. Also Atletico don't use a high line to press and they have no issues with compactness.

Relative to the best we really, really can't. Honestly the number of times our press is overcome and the huge gaps in front of the midfield are exposed is staggering. If we could press well we would be creating more chances and wouldn't concede so many clear-cut ones in the big games. Just watch Atletico do it and it is extremely rare for a team to consistently beat their press within a game and if they do they are nowhere near as porous as we are. Only Barcelona are really capable of beating Atletico's press because they have technically incredible footballers and even they sometimes struggle whereas ours gets beat a lot, even at home.

He's won 2 out of 8 CL SFs in his career. Yes there are plenty of good teams in the latter stages of the CL but he's had some brilliant sides himself and that's a fairly awful record for someone who is often descirbed as one of the greatest (big game) managers ever. I posted on here when the draw against Liverpool was announced about how we'd struggle if Jose did his usual SF approach - an extreme fear of conceding that results in a lack of attacking ambition and ironically less defensive stability. I didn't actually think he would do that against this Liverpool side in the Capital One Cup but I really shouldn't be shocked by his tactics anymore.

It wouldn't be if it wasn't so chaotic. The most frustrating thing is when we press high with 3-4 players, the opposition move it out wide and our next closest player (this is often Ivanovic) does not push up meaning that was all for nothing. Our pressing is easily bypassed and we've not nailed it once against a big team this season. In the majority of cases our pressing leave huge gaps and Jose would surely have fixed this by now if he knew how. The fact that he hasn't suggests he doesn't.

Why is this incompetent and lazy 'defender' still undroppable at the expense of a genuinely top class FB (Luis/Azpi)? He has absolutely no football intelligence or technique and is incredibly prone to making mistakes and losing concentration. But at least he gives the GK an outball eh

I would also be of this attitude if it was a one off but it is clearly not. I've lost count of the number of SFs Jose has lost because of the type of tactics we saw today.

Took that shot from distance to salvage some pride for the team. Having just 1 shot on goal, a penalty, would have been atrocious. Nice work Filipe.

Agreed. It is not coincidental that Mourinho regularly loses SFs - matches where he uses his flawed defensive methods. He either sets his team up to defend deep with no attacking output (Liverpool away last year) or to defend by pressing high and leaving huge gaps in the midfield (Liverpool in the PL this season) or both (today's game).

Makes Liverpool look like Real Madrid while Simeone makes Real look like Liverpool. Please watch Atletico to see how to press while maintaining compactness and defensive stability. (This is not knee-jerk - I've been moaning at our defensive system for a long time.)

Not only is Ivanovic bloody awful in possession but as usual he refuses to press (unlike Luis/Azpi) which means once they get past our first press and past Willian we're so open.

I always find it harsh when players who do well throughout the competiton and play all the lesser games are dropped at the SFs stage.

The PL game against them was pretty bad. The pressing was awful in the first half which allowed them to get in behind our midfield so easily. We were also lucky not to concede a penalty after sitting too deep once taking the lead. Hope we don't repeat those mistakes on Tuesday.