MrExcalibur100

Correct me if I'm wrong on this, but this will be the first time in the Abramovich era a manager wins nothing for a full season and does not get sacked?

What, Rooney is shocking in tight spaces nowadays, constantly gives away the ball. Maybe the Rooney of 2005 - 2006, but now he's just bad. I think Costa is actually pretty decent in tight spaces. The best I've seen in this regard is Aguero. For me when that guy is fit, he's the best striker in the world.

Just to make this clear. I was a big fan of Mourinho prior to the start of the season. I even followed very closely his career after he was sacked by Roman. Just like most CFC fans, I was happy to see him return, though I had my reservations. I was then surprised to listen to a CFC fan call Chelsea TV and tell Cundy that he didn't believe Jose was the right man for this Chelsea team. He presented some strong cases, but I chose to ignore what he was saying. Now come the end of the season, my opinion on the man has changed. Having watched almost every press conference and read almost every interview, my opinion on him changed for the worse. He developed this new found trait (that i HATE) of publicly criticizing players, discussing players weaknesses and publicly criticizing the team at the same time, absolving himself from blame. (Apart from the Basel loss which was caused by poor rotation of the squad). This concerned me more than style of play and much more than not winning anything. Football is not just about winning stuff (though I'm not sure if Mourinho knows this). I'm not going to go into detail because its been discussed to death here already. I hope people that are at least tolerant to an opposing viewpoint can at least see where I'm coming from. There seems to be an almost cult-like strain of following of Mourinho among us some fans. That's a cause for concern because it then allows Mourinho to get away with stuff that no manager should. My loyalty lies with CFC. Not to no player, manager or even Roman Abramovich. Slavish Hero worshipping anyone is not to be recommended as the ability to retain constant lucid and objectiveness diminishes beyond reason. My loyalty lies only to the football club and to it alone. While Mourinho is manager, I will support him, but don't force me to agree with everything he says or does. And I disagree with many things he says and does.

So you resort to racism?

Not quite the same as "Specialist in failure" now is it? Wenger has already had his success in the past without spending big. He created the greatest ever team in PL history without spending big, the Invincibles.

I don't know whether you meant this tongue in cheek but Arsene is much much more respected and liked by other rival fans than is Mourinho, despite his constant moans. Wenger revolutionized English football in the late 1990's and I have nothing but respect for the man. This is why I was amazed at Mourinho's ridiculous "specialist in failure jibe" Even Ferguson, the greatest manager in history would have never dared to say such a thing because he respects himself and the institution, Manchester United, that he represents. It's not Wenger's fault that he has not yet managed a team with unlimited financial resources before, even though he's had many opportunities to do so. Ironically, Wenger might actually win something this year as well while Jose wins nothing.

The fact that is was the extreme right wing nationalist, Ultras Sur that was the only supporter of Mourinho in his last days at Madrid tells you everything you need to know. Portuguese love him? They respect him, not love him. Even the Porto fans have mixed feelings of him given the way he left the club and his subsequent apathy towards that institution. What you forget is how much Milan and other teams were or were not affected by Pre-Calciopoli Juventus. The fact is Ancelotti built a magnificent team that lasted for years and years (Inzaghi, Seerdof, Cafu, Dida, Pirlo, Gattuso, Ambroseni, Kaka, Sheva and so on) a team that dominated in Europe and played very stylish football. I don't think anyone can belittle Ancelotti's achievements to just his Serie A record. He has also won the leagues in Italy, England and France, won the CL 2 times, reached 3 finals (the joint highest with Ferguson) and has won many other domestic cup competitions.

Considering I was born in North London and have been a Chelsea fan all my life, saw my first game before Roman even knew what Chelsea was your comment is indeed hilarious. But even besides that, I don't think you should be telling anybody who or what they can or cannot support. It sets a bad precedent. And I'm not even sure if your comment was cloaked with a bit of good ol' RACISM as well. I hope the mods are watching.

Klopp would be the most ideal. Great with young players, young himself, a winner, winning without heavy investment, fantastic football, no controversies and most importantly, good ambassador for the club. Unfortunately, he isn't ready to live Dortmund just yet.

Zero trophies in 623 days. 2 trophies out of a possible 14. Hated in Italy, Spain and now England. Have you ever asked yourself WHY he has so many haters? Don't you think this is incredibly strange for a manager/ How he criticizes his players in public? How he discusses players' weaknesses in public (Mata, De Bruyne, Torres, Hazard). But to answer your question, Ancelotti's CV is quite impressive, so is van Gaal and Hiddink and Capello and Trap. And some others combine success with good football. Guardiola, same with Klopp, van Gaal, Ancelotti and Hiddink. . Even Simeone's and Conte's teams at least play decent football. How long are we going to continue to live in the past? His teams clearly have a problem breaking down defensive sides. Look at the personnel we have and look at Mourinho's managerial style. It's obviously oil and water. This team was not built for Mourinho to manage. I'm not the first person to say it (one of the few Chelsea fans that will), because many pundits and football analysts said the same thing. Mourinho will take the flair out of the team and turn us to a counter-attacking team that relies on a strong defense and quick counter-attacking transitions for goals (like Madrid, difference is we don't have Ronaldo). We will struggle against teams that are happy to sit back and defend. It's only a matter of time before Roman gets frustrated.

"This forums is so insufferable at time. I might leave if it continues like this. How dare anyone question Jose, his football or his weird behaviour? Are you not aware of the great things he did in his first spell at the club even though he's told us not to judge him by that?"

Yeah, that's exactly what I typed. We could do it with Costa and Lukaku. That's more than good enough. Lukaku on his own isn't but with a partner like Costa, it would be menacing.

Hazard "offered" himself to Barcelona a few months ago because he is frustrated with the manager. http://www.mundodeportivo.com/index.html http://www.101greatgoals.com/blog/chelseas-eden-hazard-wants-barcelona-move-after-reaching-point-of-no-return-with-mourinho-mundo-deportivo/#.U2YbaUSxx00.twitter These bastards are capitalizing on the situation. I don't even like posting this type of shit because it disgusts me but just for the sake of putting it out there.

I also think we should look to the possibility of playing a flat 4-4-2 next season as an alternative formation next season. Certainly, the arrival of Matic gives us more flexibilty from a tactical point of view. The amount of kilometres he covers in a game, blocks and interceptions, and his general reading of the game is what makes him a fantastically reliable player in this system. I seem to remember Jorge Jesus even using a 4-4-2 when Matic's influence on the side began to grow. Just look at the teams that have scored the most goals this season. Man City play with two up top, Aguero and Dzeko/Negredo. Liverpool play with two up, Suarez and Sturridge regardless of the system, be it 4-3-3, 4-4-2 (diamond), or the 3-5-2 Rodgers was using earlier this season. These are the two highest scoring teams in the league. During our double season under Carlo, when we broke the goal-scoring record, we played many games with both Drogba and Anelka up top, with Lamps at the tip of the diamond. Drogba and Lampard had their best seasons ever that year. Ferguson's great Man United sides played with two strikers. Either with Cantona/Hughes, Andy Cole/Yorke, Rooney/van Horseface and so on. Those sides were almost always the highest scoring team in the division. Nowadays, a lot of teams have gotten to conservative with it and want to overcrowd the midfield area. Perhaps it's time we use this system as an alternative (or even the main system) against ultra-defensive teams at The Bridge. We can do that to, especially with the personnel we (potentially) have. Can you imagine a 4-4-2 with Costa and Lukaku up front, Hazard on the left, Willian right and Matic holding midfielder? That screams power, pace, skill, technique, we can go long, we can go short...... we can score more goals and win more matches.

He said Oscar was our best player for months? From August to October for the first few matches, apart from a few games here and there, he has been below par since then contributing little in attack and getting subbed early. So that is a huge exaggeration from Mourinho. http://www.whoscored.com/Players/41065/Fixtures/Oscar

And neither should there ever be. More rubbish from the journos

Yep, he is known to score great goals. He was the guy that scored this insane goal vs Dortmund that went viral a month or so ago.

Namika, we are not the only team that the opposition defend deep against. Other teams don't seem to have a problem. You mention Costa, sure, he will provide some much needed quality up front, but he is not a striker that creates space for himself, though he does bully defenders. Those type of strikers are very very rare. We also need a creative CM and we also need Azpilicueta back at RB and an attacking LB on Hazard's wing to prevent teams from double marking him. Mourinho also should (I dunno, maybe he is!) focus more on build up play and less on counter-attacking football. If we do these things, then I'm certain we will win the premier league and play some of the best brand of football in the world.

Of course I did enjoy them, but those games are few and far between. We don't really have a defined style of play when the opposition gives us the ball. Most of the games we've played this season have been very bad to watch, especially when we are expected to dominate possession.

You don't have to look to Europe. Man City clearly play much much better than us. Both Liverpool and Everton play better than us with less resources. If i'm being honest. we play some of he worst brand of football among the big European clubs.

Considering we lack a competent set-piece taker (Lamps is not a regular starter) and a genuine, direct competitor to Oscar, I won't mind us signing this guy.

haha, beat me to it. They have a point really. Does Mata ever dominate a game when his team is not playing well?

All City have to do now is beat Villa and West Ham at home, two midtable teams. I think the league is done and dusted.

Goodbye Fulham. Too bad because I wanted them to stay up. The Man City - Everton result gives me double feelings because on one hand, we still have a mathematical chance to win it however improbable, but on the other hand, it denies the Scousers.

Class act, Gus. Great player and great guy.