Title Run In

[BloodIsBlue 291]

If we don't win a trophy this season...Rafa did a better job last season, Truth hurts!

Nice one...

[Jase 43,479]

Not just people but Mourinho himself as well:

Jose Mourinho believes referee Chris Foy's performance in the defeat at Aston Villa could cost Chelsea the title.

Premier League leaders Chelsea, who play Crystal Palace on Saturday, lost 1-0 at Villa Park in a match which saw Mourinho sent to the stands following the dismissals of Willian and Ramires.

Mourinho maintains Manchester City are title favourites and Liverpool have a strong chance, while he refused to rule out Arsenal despite hammering the Gunners 6-0 last weekend.

If the Blues are beaten by one or two points in the title race, Mourinho will look no further than this month's defeat at Aston Villa, which still leaves him seething at the performance of referee Foy.

Asked if the Villa match could be pinpointed as costly come the end of the season, Mourinho said: "Yes, because the other matches we lost because we didn't play well, because the opponent was better than us, because we missed big chances.

"If you go to the other matches you find the natural reasons for losing a match, if you go to the Villa match it's difficult.

"What happened in the defeat against Villa I never learn, I never accept.

"Somebody was very successful in putting a hurdle in front of us. And we crashed the hurdle against Aston Villa and we lost.

"Villa was not a normal football match and we always hope that football matches are normal."

Mourinho will face a personal Football Association disciplinary hearing at the end of next week to challenge his improper conduct charge issued following his dismissal at Villa.

"If you lose in the right way you have to move on and try not to lose again," said Mourinho, who faces a B£10,000 fine for his second sending-off of the season.

"The only thing I didn't learn is to lose with that kind of referee performance, because it's not a mistake, it's a performance.

"I learn to control my emotions and I learn to calm down in the moment like I did, but I don't learn how to accept that kind of performance."

I knew somebody was going to put that up...

Like I said before, we were going to drop points at some point during this run-in, one way or another and it just so happened that it came in such controversial circumstances that everybody is talking about it. And of course, because the loss came the way it did and at such moment, it's easy to use that defeat as a reason for costing us the title. Maybe if we had done better before those red cards, create chances and score a few goals, we wouldn't be sitting down here talking so much about the Chris Foy debacle...

Also, you would be foolish to think if Mourinho doesn't view those other games against WBA, Newcastle, Stoke etc as a reason why we may end up not winning the title. Given what happened, I can understand the reasons he gave for us not winning those games. However had we approached some of the games better from the start, we would have won a few more and again, not sitting down here talking about the ifs and buts.

[Strike 7,474]

Agree with all your points there and just to add on the one above, Mourinho also always defend his players and will often take the pressure off the players onto himself so that they can go out there to perform without any anxiety or tension. Unlike Benitez (or some of our previous managers), he doesn't do that and more often than not, leave the players hung out to dry in the public. Didn't defend Hazard after the ball boy incident last season or said anything to condemn Suarez after he bit Ivanovic and instead, did an impersonation of Arsene Wenger of "I didn't see it"!

Benitez, in the six months here was trying his best to stay silent

[Caeruleus 1,148]

One wallpaper for the moral in this ''title run in'' race. London is Blue!

[Barbara 15,149]

No, in the position we're now, titles are simply expected. If Jose wasn't the coach people would be livid if we lose out on all trophies this season. We're one of the biggest clubs in Europe and winning nothing at all would be a failure.

LOL

If Jose wasn't here we wouldn't be fighting for the title at all in the first place, get a reality check...

For some people it seems like we're obliged to win titles, the opponents be damned as if it was easy. My words to them are just two: GET LOST!

How can people be livid for no trophies after what we've shown the last few years? At least we're competitive and if didn't win anything or won't, it's because there are serious contenders there... I can't with the idiocy of some things...

[didierforever 7,349]

LOL

If Jose wasn't here we wouldn't be fighting for the title at all in the first place, get a reality check...

For some people it seems like we're obliged to win titles, the opponents be damned as if it was easy. My words to them are just two: GET LOST!

How can people be livid for no trophies after what we've shown the last few years? At least we're competitive and if didn't win anything or won't, it's because there are serious contenders there... I can't with the idiocy of some things...

Get them BARB!!!!!

[didierforever 7,349]

Not just people but Mourinho himself as well:

Jose Mourinho believes referee Chris Foy's performance in the defeat at Aston Villa could cost Chelsea the title.

Premier League leaders Chelsea, who play Crystal Palace on Saturday, lost 1-0 at Villa Park in a match which saw Mourinho sent to the stands following the dismissals of Willian and Ramires.

Mourinho maintains Manchester City are title favourites and Liverpool have a strong chance, while he refused to rule out Arsenal despite hammering the Gunners 6-0 last weekend.

If the Blues are beaten by one or two points in the title race, Mourinho will look no further than this month's defeat at Aston Villa, which still leaves him seething at the performance of referee Foy.

Asked if the Villa match could be pinpointed as costly come the end of the season, Mourinho said: "Yes, because the other matches we lost because we didn't play well, because the opponent was better than us, because we missed big chances.

"If you go to the other matches you find the natural reasons for losing a match, if you go to the Villa match it's difficult.

"What happened in the defeat against Villa I never learn, I never accept.

"Somebody was very successful in putting a hurdle in front of us. And we crashed the hurdle against Aston Villa and we lost.

"Villa was not a normal football match and we always hope that football matches are normal."

Mourinho will face a personal Football Association disciplinary hearing at the end of next week to challenge his improper conduct charge issued following his dismissal at Villa.

"If you lose in the right way you have to move on and try not to lose again," said Mourinho, who faces a B£10,000 fine for his second sending-off of the season.

"The only thing I didn't learn is to lose with that kind of referee performance, because it's not a mistake, it's a performance.

"I learn to control my emotions and I learn to calm down in the moment like I did, but I don't learn how to accept that kind of performance."

Well, the villa game DID take the pressure off pool and city. That game will be costly.

[Jase 43,479]

Benitez, in the six months here was trying his best to stay silent

He probably didn't care much given he was only on an interim basis anyway but he really didn't help himself with the fans at all. He kept on complaining about the fans treatment to him since the start (however right or wrong) but yet did nothing to defend the players, defend the club and fight for it. He could have had a decent relationship with the fans, at least a little (just a little) if he did that but always take himself out of the firing line and left the players/club open to criticisms. This case is even more ironic when Benitez defended his criticisms of us fans when he was at Liverpool in his first press conference, saying he did so because he was managing a rival and the fans want to see their manager defend and fight for them. That was something that didn't even happen here and not to mention, (IIRC) he said he was being professional and help the club to achieve our objectives but then turned a blind eye on the Ivanovic-Suarez biting incident because he didn't want to condemn a player from a club he loves. Quite 'professional', isn't it? If we had Mourinho or even Fergie managing us then, they would have gone on a rampage over the two incidents mentioned (for example) and especially when others in the game condemn the ball boy, Suarez etc. Benitez? "I didn't see anything, I was concentrating on the game. I didn't see any incident."...

[Yeboii 1,844]

He probably didn't care much given he was only on an interim basis anyway but he really didn't help himself with the fans at all. He kept on complaining about the fans treatment to him since the start (however right or wrong) but yet did nothing to defend the players, defend the club and fight for it. He could have had a decent relationship with the fans, at least a little (just a little) if he did that but always take himself out of the firing line and left the players/club open to criticisms. This case is even more ironic when Benitez defended his criticisms of us fans when he was at Liverpool in his first press conference, saying he did so because he was managing a rival and the fans want to see their manager defend and fight for them. That was something that didn't even happen here and not to mention, (IIRC) he said he was being professional and help the club to achieve our objectives but then turned a blind eye on the Ivanovic-Suarez biting incident because he didn't want to condemn a player from a club he loves. Quite 'professional', isn't it? If we had Mourinho or even Fergie managing us then, they would have gone on a rampage over the two incidents mentioned (for example) and especially when others in the game condemn the ball boy, Suarez etc. Benitez? "I didn't see anything, I was concentrating on the game. I didn't see any incident."...

I felt like he did let reporters have it after the ballboy ("boy") incident. I felt he did defend Chelsea FC and justified Hazard's actions, trying to defend him.

[Caeruleus 1,148]

One more wallpaper by me for the title run in.

[Jase 43,479]

I felt like he did let reporters have it after the ballboy ("boy") incident. I felt he did defend Chelsea FC and justified Hazard's actions, trying to defend him.

No, he did not. Benitez only had a go at the reporters/journalists because they kept on asking him the same questions in the press conference after that game. Otherwise, he said this then..

"I didn't see the incident from the bench, but afterwards the boy came in to talk to Hazard, and both apologised to each other," Benitez told Sky Sports.

"The boy knows he was wasting time, Hazard was frustrated because he wanted to get the ball back. They apologised, they made a mistake, and that's it.

"We're disappointed because we lost a player but the best thing is to move forward."

Source - http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/story/189884.html

TBF, he did try to draw a line on the incident after the game (OR he was just trying to take himself out of the firing line) but subesequently, when you see some other managers, journalists and/or pundits condemning the ball boy and defend Hazard, you do wonder what was Benitez doing and this is not even taking into account of his Wenger impersonation "I didn't see it". The only defending, if you like or can call it that, was that he said he will appeal against the FA charges if they ban Hazard for more than 3 games and even then it was because he is a key player for us and didn't want to lose him.

[Fernando 6,585]

We have to win every game and that's already looking hard as it is.

[boshman 1,073]

Title = over

[LAM09 7,043]

Now for all our attention to be on the CL!

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Over if city win