Title Run In

[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

[Bacika 188]

And we were woried about city losing points haha I'll wait until the end but if we don't win title, this season will be huge fail for Jose...we had everything in our hands and we lost it...Jose and players to blame..

[Melanicus 5,208]

Bye, bye title!

[boshman 1,073]

And we were woried about city losing points haha I'll wait until the end but if we don't win title, this season will be huge fail for Jose...we had everything in our hands and we lost it...Jose and players to blame..

Wrong. Not a faliure, read previous posts to understand why.

[Barbara 15,149]

well this morning I was cheering for Arsenal, now I'm cheering for City win all their remaining matches, starting today.

Anything but Liverpool winning it. Not that I think City will lose it, but I hope they really win it. They're the best team of the league. Let's keep our unbeatable run against the top teams and at least draw with Liverpool at Anfield, but our title chances just died.

[Vybz Kartel 1,613]

Told u its better we focus on the Champ League, with some luck we can win

[Barbara 15,149]

And we were woried about city losing points haha I'll wait until the end but if we don't win title, this season will be huge fail for Jose...we had everything in our hands and we lost it...Jose and players to blame..

dude don't take me wrong. But did you put us at the top of the table? No, the manager and the players did. If they couldn't sustain it, it doesn't make them a failure, it makes the team limited - as Mourinho said it was (as well as many of us) from the beginning. Yeah, WE lost the title with two ridiculous losses. But we had matches like that way more often in the previous years and this season the last two away matches weren't the only ones.

Mourinho made several mistakes today imo, but our inability to play tight defenses isn't something new.

But my point is, I don't get how people blame Jose and the players for something that wasn't even in the books for us this season, but that they unexpectedly put us there... we don't have strikers, and still we were in the fight until the end. That's quite the accomplishment. Jose would have made Liverpool the champion with a comfortable lead at this stage or a better partner for Eto'o would have made us champions. Nothing will change that imo, but it's unfair to blame the people who made it possible in the first place to lose it. We were never ready.

[different level 1,056]

I don't think it's over yet. We're gonna have to win the remaining six games and then see what happens...

[xPetrCechx 13,570]

Over

[BlueLion. 21,491]

And we'll be third by tomorrow afternoon.

Suddenly the little horse looks all the littler.