Rubber bullets

Well isn't that kind of us. We are basically going to help Man Utd become a force again. What the fuck are the board and Jose thinking.

I'm saying that in the last couple of years that you could call being in a transition we were still winning trophies, and its my frim belief that this team (compared to the others) should be able to win the title this season.

We've been changing coaches nearly every season, we still win trophies (we won an FA Cup, Champions league and Europa league under 3 different managers), so even if you believe in the whole idea that we are in transition, that does not give Jose an excuse not to win the title this season, considering he also has January to buy players he should have bought in the summer.

We are not. Last two years you could say we are in trasition. But we have also been spending of millions of pounds on players while making no attemp to use our youth academy. A lot of the players that we have nought have settled into the club and we should e capale of winning the title. And considering that Jose has given me little evidence that he will be a long term appontment and will leave in 4 years like all the other clubs. He needs to win things now, and not try and use that excuse. And consaidering that I don't think

Its good to see Mourinho actually trying to do the minumum of winning the Premier league title and playing good football without hiding bheind the whole "we're in transition crap".

Merry Christmas, don't get too drunk or fat with food .

To me it seems more like a marriage of conviernence. We needed a manager but no one else was around, while Jose appeal to other clubs went down after the Madrid fiasco, so we pretty much had no choice but to try it again. Problem for me is that I feel it will not end happily.

The problem for him is will Roman accept this type of football in the long term? Hundreds of millions of pounds of attacking talent all for us to aim for draws against the big teams. It may work for now but soon he could be falling out with the owner like last time when he got more negative with his tactics.

Mourinho is scared of big games now.

This will probably be the game that will define are season: Either we win it comfortable, showing that we really mean business and that we have got a good strategic plan on how we play, We win, but only by the odd goal and another unconvincing performance that does not help ease doubts on if we can keep going through the season by lucky individual performances Or we get slaughtered by a big scoreline that shows how ineffective our football is, which makes a huge hole in are attempt to win the title and it becomes about trying to secure a top four spot for the rest of the season.

Because he does not deserve praise of any sort, and it is my duty for at least five seconds to restore the balance. Also this is a thread about him.

Doesn't cloud that it was a crap performance from him again.

Jose Mourinho: "The quality of football we produced is amazing." Go home Jose, you're drunk.

Cahill, you backed off again!

Been classed as a Lee Cattermole own goal

Of course, I doubt all of this joyous feelings being felt right now will be there if Gala were to knock us out of the competition.

Oscar played in the middle I thought. It certainly was not Mata because I kept seeing him out wide, or only in the middle when both Oscar and Hazard were there as well.

Then again they were saying the same thing about Southampton with Nigel Adkins, and look how that turned up. Although if you look at his form from the calendar year - 9 wins from 41 games is pretty abysmal.

Has he ever played in the no10 position this season (I think once in the league cup)? Even when Oscar is not playing Jose seems determined not to put him there, preferring Schurrle or Willian there, even though they are better on the wing.

Maybe, but this is what he said about Raneiri Lampard: I'm in debt to Ranierihttp://www.theguardian.com/football/2009/feb/23/lampard-ranieri-champions-league For the second point: Yet we have Mata, David Luiz, Ramires, Hazard, Oscar, Cesar who had all settled into the squad last season and have won trophies and have some brilliant young talent who have proved them selves in the top flight such as Lukaku and Courtois. To me this does not indicate that we need to desperately rebuild the whole squad. If managed correctly and if Mourinho actually made the right transfers in the summer instead of mucking around on players we did not need then we would be in a even better position. To me he has to take responsibility if we do not win the title, because we have a squad capable of doing it and could have even been better if he had not made some stupid and bizarre decisions over the summer and seems to have no indication of wanting bring in young talent that we have in the youth and reserve squad.

Terry and Lampard were brought in and bled into the team by Ranieri, who also was responsible for the purchase of Cech, as well as being responsible for bringing players like Duff, Gallas, Makelele etc who played an important role in are double title winning side. Jose did not build that team on his own. And like I said, Jose will not build a long term team that is built on bringing in young players in constantly ala Barcelona, he essentially gets in control of good teams and is given huge amounts of money to spend on good players to quickly win trophies. Good for short term aims, not for long term ambitions, which is apparently the reason why we should be excited about his second spell.

I don't believe in any of this "we are in transition" ideas being used to essentially blanket Mourinho with excuses if he does not win the title this season. We have been in "transition" for a good couple of years now, getting rid of some of the older players and replacing them with top quality players that are near the peak of their powers (Hazard, Ramires, Mata, Luiz etc.). Most of these players have settle in this squad and we have got enough depth (I admit it’s not in all area, but it’s still sufficient to last a season unlike last when we had a thin squad) to not worry about injury an crisis. The simple fact is that this squad should be winning this title this year. Look at all the other teams season and it is clear to me that we are the only one that can be consistent if we are managed correctly. Yes we are a bit blunt with the strikers and central midfield, but Mourinho had a whole summer transfer window to buy these players, so it all lies at his door that we are weak in those departments and decided that he would rather pay £30 million for an attacking midfielder who is simply going to be used as a squad player, while having this deluded belief that players like Lampard can somehow be the backbone of the team. But even after all this, considering the inconsistencies of the other squads; we still should be able to win the title with some of the world class players we have got. Yet Mourinho is in two ways of what type of football we are wanting to play, trying to use flair players to constantly press defensively even though it damages their attacking abilities, and half the time is trying to convince fans that we are going to play attacking football while the other half is playing some messy counter attacking football that leaves us looking completely clueless. How can people say that Mourinho is trying to create an identity for us when after being in charged for 6 months still has no clue on what type of football we are playing? Probably the saddest thing about this is that players like Juan Mata, who are of exceptional class, able to influence games with one pass are being cast aside because of seemingly ego problems by Jose who decided that he would not like him because he does not fit exactly with his idea of everyone pressing even though there is serious doubt if this tactic even works while playing him out of form, never giving him the same chances as others who he plays out of favouritism (Lampard, Ivanovic) and never plays him in his best position, even when his favourite in the number 10 spot is not playing, he for some odd reason refuses to put him there and instead puts Willian or Schurrle there, even when it’s not as effective, like he won't do it because it would damage his pride. This whole idea that were are in some sort of transition (which has been used for the last 2 seasons at least) and that Mourinho is developing a long term plan that will last for many years is absolutely nonsense. This man is the antithesis of long term management and stability. His whole career has been built around going to a club that already had a good squad, getting a huge transfer bank balance to buy expensive players, create a stock mentality, win some trophies, and then in two or three years’ time, as soon as signs of the train starting to derail, he quickly jumps to another and starts again. I had no belief that he would be here to stay for the long-term and I have seen no evidence that he is capable of doing this. But I have seen loads of evidence of the complete opposite. Nathan Ake, young talent with a promising future who got his breakthrough last season is cast aside to the reserves. Chalobah, another brilliant young talent who a wonderful loan spell last year is not given a chance but loaned out again, Lukaku - very bright talent who also had a great loan spell last year, is put down in the pecking order and goes on loan again while we recruit a 32 year old who is on the decline. While relying heavily on a 33 year old defender who has serious injury concerns that could come p any minute, and a 35 year old midfielder who in no way in hell is capable of being the backbone of the team but plays pretty much every game so far. We pay £30 million pounds for another attacking midfielder who we absolutely did not need and is essentially used like a squad player, yet the talented Kevin De Bruyne another for the future who could have easily be used in the position of Willian and was getting rave review in Germany has been cast aside and looks set to leave the club soon. How is this in anyway a transition? A transition would be offloading Lampard, Cole, Cech etc, using Terry much less frequently while promoting some youngsters into the first team to be bled with are other talented regulars, creating a strategy that unites their strengths - we have seen none of that. To me this will play like any reign of Jose's career time wise, 3 years at the maximum trying to win as many trophies as possible before something comes that makes him leave, whether we have any success is another question all together. So no, I don't buy this transition idea or that Mourinho is trying to create a long term strategy that needs time. We have a squad that should win the title this season if managed correctly, of course as I have said he had plenty of opportunities to improve the squad, but considering that everyone else has been inconsistent and considering that most of the players that we bought the last few years have settle down with the squad, Mourinho has no excuse, we should win the title if the squad is managed correctly. And it seems to me he and some people here are using this "we are in transition" and "he is trying to create a long term identity" phrases in case we don't win the title this season as an excuse. When to me it’s obvious that Mourinho has no intention (or does not have the capabilities) of doing either of the two. By the grace of god we are second and a few points from the top, so he should be able to do this if he bucks up some of his ideas.

Its times like this that Cahill must be thinking how grateful he is that he was born English and is seen as one of the first names on the England first 11. Otherwise (especially if he was a certain Brazilian fellow) he would be absolutely slaughtered for some of his performances like today.

And some can't be blinded by tinted glasses.

Third in the league. This was any other manager you would probably be taking a very different tone.