Jase

You should analyze JT's body language and send it to BBC. They would love it.

I blame that on the stupid post-season tour we had last summer. I know it's all about $$$$$ these days but the board should have common sense and not organize such trips after a long hard season. If we want to get $$$$$ and strengthen our brand etc, then do it in pre-season. Because of that post-season, we had to start this year's pre-season later than usual and it's caused the players to be ill-prepared when the league started in August.

Saw the Monday Night Football analysis earlier today and it was quite depressing, especially when they compared it to our performance in this very same fixture two seasons ago. We were so good in that game - the pressing, the workrate, the intensity and everything about it were spot on. It was one of our best performances under Mourinho and it's a shame that we don't see many of those performances these days anymore.

So, City are the first English side to book their place in the last 16. That's somewhat unexpected. Fair play to them but in some ways, they have been fortunate that Juventus and Sevilla have been below par this season.

Tempted to see his reaction if we do end up in the Europa League. Would be such a major blow to his huge ego.

Impressive and defiant words from JT but at the end of the day, they mean nothing. Do the talking on the pitch, not off it and if the matches this season are anything to go by, they suggest the players are not behind Mourinho because they aren't responding to his methods, even when he has tried to tweak little things here and there.

Your non-love for Remy knows no bounds and regarding that offside point, are you (and maybe some others) really still going on about that because of the Arsenal game? If I was a new fella on this forum, I would think you're a troll Tomo (no offence). You seem to have a tendency to nitpick on the small little things or things that happened only once or twice. There's no point in buying a striker who can challenge Costa for the No.1 spot if Mourinho (assuming he's still here next year) has no intention of creating competition within the squad. Since Mourinho returned, he has - arguably - made our starting XI stronger but our options on the bench/squad depth weaker. There were at least some quality players to call upon two seasons ago (at least from August till December anyway) but now, there's hardly any. Mourinho seems fixated to trust only the starting XI and no one else beyond that. He has let several quality players go (some perhaps too easily) and failed to strengthen the team.

I really don't understand why people get so worked up about what Mourinho says anymore. It's like they don't even know who Mourinho is. We all know he talks BS more often than not and some times makes self-serving comments. Should just ignore them rather than scrutinizing and criticizing his every word (Mourinho must be the only manager in the world who will cause that kind of reaction). Better off talking about more important things.

As if this transfer hasn't been pointless enough...

Context mate. Context.

Well, good luck to him. First 5 games: Man City (H) Everton (A) Watford (H) Southampton (A) Arsenal (H)

If you are a leader, you should be able to speak, to lead, to galvanize your teammates. You don't need others to be able to do that. Even Terry has looked so disinterested this season.

Is Terry even doing his job as a leader these days?

I don't think the term 'merit' is very subjective here. Players are judged based on their form and performances on the pitch and if you are playing well, you deserve to start. If not, you don't. It's not rocket science. If we're going to use that point in every debate, then we might as well not discuss anything at all since that's like an excuse for saying we don't know anything about football. Hence, we shouldn't talk about it because we aren't coaches etc. Even managers are humans and just like any human, they make mistakes, can be stubborn etc. I don't see how one can defend Mourinho for his continuous selection of Ivanovic (for instance) all season (until he got injured) really. His defending hasn't been anywhere good enough and he has cost us so many goals and yet, Mourinho's logic for playing him is because he is tall and that. Any other player who does that and we won't see them again for weeks/months. It may sound like a superficial thing to say but it's all about weighing the options and see who can at least do a decent job. Besides, it's extremely non-progressive to see Mourinho play a RB at LB and CB at RB all the time. He has tried to tweak things here and there and that I don't disagree but perhaps the problem here isn't that. Maybe it's more of a psychological or confidence issue. And it's not betting on an unknown but giving the players belief, putting faith in some of the others (getting them to put 110% effort can go a long way to compensate for a lack of quality). Man-management. Don't think Mourinho has really excelled in that, especially in this crisis. He seems more concerned about picking fights with everyone - people within the club, referees, journalists, managers etc.

Good to see we have eclipsed Bayern Munich on that front.

Big deal. After 2-3 seasons, he will be getting his P45 from City. Mourinho seriously looks like a man in need of a sabbatical.

She's also going to sue the club by the way. Eva Carneiro to sue Jose Mourinho as well as Chelsea

No, it's not the wrong point. You can't preach about selecting players on merit (which Mourinho has done a lot since returning) and then do the opposite by continuing to select certain players even when they are performing poorly. Considering Ivanovic has done fuck all this season, Baba Rahman can't possibly do any worse than him. Yes, the latter has been shaky but he hasn't cost us any goals as far as I can remember and on top of that, how do you expect Baba Rahman to improve if he doesn't get opportunities to impress and adapt to the physicality of English football? Regarding Fabregas, I do agree with you but till a certain extent. Our options aren't exactly great but you can always look for alternatives, tweak things a little bit in the team, try something different.

But that's not the point here, is it? Others play one bad game and they get dropped immediately but not those two mentioned.

Unless you happen to be Ivanovic or Fabregas.

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11677/10052611/remi-garde-will-be-named-as-the-new-aston-villa-manager-say-sky-sources Remi Garde to be named the next Aston Villa manager apparently.

Would love to see Mourinho's reaction to that TBH, considering he's always criticized the competition.

But by then, the damage could be even worse than now, especially in the Champions League.

To be fair a little bit, while we all could see there are problems with this squad, no one would have expected us to be suffering this badly. Even if we're not challenging for the title, you would think we would at least be in the top half rather than the bottom half of the table right now.

The trick is having a manager who believes in youth players. Unfortunately at the moment, we have a manager who doesn't. That's likely to change if/when he gets the sack.